Review:
*Originally written July 17th, 2018*
It feels so weird to have just seen a sequel to The Incredibles, a film that I hold close and dear from my childhood and also my favourite Pixar film. I wasn't sure what to expect from a sequel 14 years on. Hell, I didn't even know what I wanted myself from an Incredibles sequel, but now that it's here, I am more than happy to say Incredibles 2 was everything I could have hoped for and filled me with so much joy.
Superhero films are getting a lot of flack recently. It's easy to see why. We get so many of such contrasting quality. Marvel are doing fine, they rarely do anything interesting, but they're mostly just coasting through a fanbase of people who know what to expect from their films at this point, good or bad. Having seen more or less every comic-book film from the past few years, Incredibles 2 is such a blast of fun, refreshing and gorgeous animation.
Taking place instantly from the events of the first, we find the Parrs forced into hiding once again as being a Superhero is outlawed in this vision of 1960's America. Helen (Elastagirl) finds herself hired by a rich fan of superheroes, wanting to see them legalised and put back into the mainstream while Bob (Mr. Incredible) has to stay at home to look after the children.
To put it simply, Incredibles 2 is a crowd-pleaser and another excellent piece of art from Pixar. After watching the first Incredibles a couple of weeks ago, it is insane just to see how much the animation has improved over 14 years. Technology and talent has been to to incredible use here to creative gorgeous and impressive animation that constantly had me impressed. Every time a Pixar film has come out I say this, but they've outdone themselves once again with the animation.
With most superhero films these days, the use of the characters powers are usually wasted and not a lot interesting is done with them. Here however, there is so much happening with mixing up the powers. Seeing the Parr family mix their different variety of powers is so creative and a joy to watch. Brad Pitt really is a talented director when it comes to animation and it's great to see that time and effort that went into this has paid off.
It's not just the action that's great too. All the family focused stuff is interesting and has a lot of heart. I rarely find big releases like this funny, but everything with Bob at home trying to do a Mr. Mom thing was extremely funny and fun to watch. Easily some of the funniest content Pixar have released and it's all due to character work. A lot of the comedy comes from Bob's facial expressions and Jack-Jack's powers being put on display (And they do a lot with that).
While the plot is excellent and sets up the series for more adventures, all while feeling stand-alone, where Incredibles 2 lacks a little is within its villain. It's fairly obvious who the villain is going to be quite early on, and while there is some cool stuff with 'Screenslaver's' powers, which are trippy and lead to a genuinely intriguing piece of animation, I was left extremely cold by the motivations. I just wasn't convinced it was enough for this character to out on a villainous scheme. It was a far cry from the excellent Syndrome from the first film, who gets better with each watch.
I'm not entirely sure if I preferred this to the first one or not, but this comes extremely close and that's more than I could ask for with a sequel that took 14 years to come out. It's a gorgeous, funny, heartfelt and creative win from Pixar. Cinema is alive.
9/10 Dans
Incredibles 2 is out now in cinemas in the UK
Watch the trailer below:
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