Movie Review: "Incredibles 2" Is Everything You Hoped For, Except In One Important Way

The Incredibles was the movie so nice Pixar made it twice. They just waited 14 years to do it.

In 2004, there was no such thing as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Spider-Man 2 starred Tobey Maguire, not Tom Holland, or Andrew Garfield.

It honestly feels like I’m describing the Dark Ages. I can’t even remember if we had penicillin back then.

In that ancient, presumably polio-ridden era, Pixar’s The Incredibles stood tall. It was the studio’s first feature about humans, meaning writer-director Brad Bird and his team had to imbue animated men, women and children with humanity (which has historically been harder than making animals—and, um, toasters—seem sympathetic). It was also a rollicking action flick with heart that proved a team of superheroes could work together on the big screen. Hollywood responded one year later… with Fantastic Four. These were the lean times.

No longer. Pixar has finally delivered Incredibles 2, helmed by Bird after an excursion to the realm of live-action for Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol and Tomorrowland (a flop that may have sped up his return to animation).

Filmmaker Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, WALL-E) similarly scuttled back to the studio to make Finding Dory after his live-action John Carter fizzled. And like Finding Dory, Incredibles 2 recaptures what made the original so fun and funny, without finding much new material to mine (or undermine, to refer to a supervillain who emerged in the last climax and returns to wreak havoc here).

Incredibles 2 takes place in Metroville, an archetypal American city perpetually stuck in what looks like the early 1960s, aside from the technological advancements. Our heroes, the Parr family, pick up where The Incredibles left off, to battle "the Underminer" as a united front. They end up causing millions of dollars worth of damage, further hurting the image of vigilantes, who, in Metroville, are outlawed. As in real life, I suppose.

The Parrs include Bob (Craig T. Nelson) and Helen (Holly Hunter), retired superheroes who married, settled down to workaday drudgery, and had three kids: moody teen Violet (Sarah Vowell), troublemaking Dash (Huck Milner) and baby Jack-Jack. Bob was always most keen to relive his past as “Mr. Incredible”. But now, it’s Helen—aka “Elastigirl”—who’s recruited for the limelight by sibling millionaires Winston and Evelyn Deavor (Bob Odenkirk and Catherine Kenner, who share a vocal croak). They want to change the law by showing off all the good superheroes do, so they give Elastigirl a new outfit with a body-camera. If you’re wondering if Incredibles 2 is a trenchant satire of American policing, it’s not. The new outfit is basically there to enrage the Incredibles’ overlooked costume designer Edna Mode (Bird).

There are twists. Samuel L. Jackson once again voices the ice-cool Frozone. A masked villain—“the Screenslaver”, natch—emerges. Bird, as a capable action director armed with characters unencumbered by gravity or fleshy, fragile human bodies, crafts some thrilling sequences. And Jack-Jack reveals a suite of bizarre, uncontrollable powers that threaten to kill his family (while he giggles). All these elements add up to make Incredibles 2 a delight.

However, Bird did not suddenly—or, given the 14-year break, very slowly—forget what made The Incredibles special: the simmering drama embedded within the trap of the heteronormative family unit. (Kids love this stuff.) Nelson, as old-fashioned Bob, bites his tongue as Helen is summoned back to work, while Hunter, as Helen, wrestles with the realisation she’s loving it. Vowell also shines in her emotional sequences, oscillating between a desire to do good, and frustration at the social cost of being in the family business. (Dating and vigilantism mixes poorly, we learn.)

Still, something’s amiss. Is it that the Parrs—great together—are divided for so long? Is it that the picture sidesteps the promise of a crime-fighting family? Or is it that Pixar’s totally capable, predictable sequels don’t reach the heights of their adventurous efforts, like Coco and Inside Out? They best capture the studio’s early salad days, when they gave us WALL-E and Ratatouille and Finding Nemo and, well, The Incredibles, a film literally about the nostalgic pain that comes with reliving former glories instead of appreciating your present.

As glad as I was to spend time with the Parrs in 2018, on the second go around, they are ultimately demoted to simply ‘credible’.

3.5/5

In Australian cinemas 14 June. Rated PG for mild themes, animated violence and coarse language.

Photo: Disney