Incredibles 2 (2018) [Blu-ray]
Animation | Action | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Sci-Fi

Tagline: Almost ready.

Everyone's favorite family of superheroes is back in "Incredibles 2"--but this time Helen (voice of Holly Hunter) is in the spotlight, leaving Bob (voice of Craig T. Nelson) at home with Violet (voice of Sarah Vowell) and Dash (voice of Huck Milner) to navigate the day-to-day heroics of "normal" life. It's a tough transistion for everyone, made tougher by the fact that the family is still unaware of baby Jack-Jack's emerging superpowers. When a new villain hatches a brilliant and dangerous plot, the family and Frozone (voice of Samuel L. Jackson) must find a way to work together again--which is easier said than done, even when they're all Incredible.

Storyline: While the Parr family has accepted its collective calling as superheroes, the fact remains that their special heroism is still illegal. After they are arrested after unsuccessfully trying to stop the Underminer, their future seems bleak. However, the wealthy Deavor siblings of Devtech offer new hope with a bold project to rehabilitate the public image and legal status of Supers, with Elastigirl being assigned on point to be the shining example. Now having agreed for now to stay at home to care of the kids, Mr. Incredible finds domestic life a daunting challenge, especially with baby Jack-Jack's newly emerged powers making him almost impossible to manage. However, Elastigirl soon has her own concerns dealing with the menace of a new supervillain, Screenslaver, who is wreaking havoc with his mind control abilities. Now, Elastigirl must solve the mystery of this enemy, who has malevolent designs on the world with the Parr family and friends key targets of this evil. Written by Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com)

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Martin Liebman, November 6, 2018 Pixar isn't a studio to Dash into making sequels, but it also isn't afraid of returning to familiar and popular properties. Of its many films, only a few have enjoyed a second (or third) outing. Toy Story, the studio's first film, released in 1995. The studio's third film was Toy Story 2, released in 1999. Toy Story 3 released in 2010 and was, to that point, still the only franchise with a sequel. The studio released Cars 2 in 2011, Monsters University in 2013, Finding Dory in 2016, and Cars 3 in 2017 (Planes is technically not a sequel or Pixar film). Until Incredibles 2, that was it: six sequels out of 20 films over the course of about 23 years. That's nothing in modern Hollywood terms and timeframes. Pixar, bless it, is more about quality of content, good stories, and creating worthwhile endeavors, not just distributing the big-budget cinema equivalent of shovelware-meets-money-printing-press. Incredibles 2 follows the original The Incredibles, releasing 14 years later. It's a decent film about the family dynamic, super powers, and saving the world, but it's arguably one of the more inconsequential and least dramatically impactful films in the Pixar library.

Super heroes are out and apparently...crime is in? When the superhero Parr family -- father Bob/Mr. Incredible (voiced by Craig T. Nelson), mother Helen/Elastigirl (voiced by Holly Hunter), daughter Violet (voiced by Sarah Vowell), and son Dash (voiced by Huckleberry Milner) -- attempts to foil the villain known as "Underminer" but fails to prevent him from robbing a bank (but does save the city from more destruction), they are chastised by the government and put out of a job. Superheroes are illegal, and the Parrs are suddenly out of work, forced to live out of a sleazy motel and the family is two weeks away from living on the streets. But the world needs superheroes, or so believe Winston Deavor (voiced by Bob Odenkirk) and his sister Evelyn (voiced by Catherine Keener) who head up the prominent telecommunications company DevTech. The pair have a proposition for the Parr family: a luxurious place to live in exchange for Elastigirl's return to the field to battle evil and reignite the public trust in superheroes. While she's away, battling a new criminal known as "Screenslaver," Bob, who is disillusioned because he was not chosen over his wife, attempts to raise his children as best he can: helping Violet with boy trouble he began, working through new-wave math with Dash, and attempting to harness baby Jack-Jack's burgeoning, and very impressive, superhero powers.

Incredibles 2 doesn't exert much effort in building a robust story of action and intrigue. The core plot elements are little more than window dressing for the more interesting storyline details, which include Bob's ability, or lack thereof, to care for his family as well as dealing with the disheartening news that his wife, not he, was selected to be the one to return superheroes to prominence. The film adequately develops various side stories, including Bob helping Dash with math and dealing with Violet's breakdown over her apparent breakup, but it's in how he discovers, and works to harness, Jack-Jack's own powers, powers which appear to be far greater than his own, his wife's, or either Dash's or Violet's, that the film finds many of its best moments. How Jack-Jack's newfound abilities will work into the story to help save the family when it needs saving the most is one of the great points of interest, but the action scenes in general don't much move the needle. They're fine, precisely executed and adequately exciting, but there's nothing creative here, nothing that really stretches the material (so to speak). Fortunately the supposedly ancillary, but truly focal, family dynamics are reason enough to return to the world. The voice cast doesn't miss a beat, and the movie does well to advance the Parr's story with enough charm, wit, and heart to cover up the otherwise linear supporting action dynamics and transparent plot twists. Maybe at some point in the future Incredibles 3 will feature a grown-up Jack-Jack raising his own family of superheroes, allowing him to be a bridge between a new and old generation of Parrs.

Incredibles 2 may be a little lower on the rung than most Pixar films, but that still makes it a standout in the greater movie landscape. The film exudes family-centric heart and charm, which largely covers the deficiencies that stem from a transparent story and well crafted, yet still relatively formulaic, action sequences. The film is gorgeously animated and a major step forward from the previous in that area. The voice cast again nails the parts. Disney's Blu-ray release is packed with extras and features high quality video and a good lossless soundtrack. Highly recommended.

[CSW] -4.4- Rarely ever do I think a sequel lives up to the greatness of its predecessor. This one was an exception. This is a movie I have been waiting for, for fifteen years and now it has finally come. I think the creators did a great job with The Incredibles 2. The villains were OK but not as good as Syndrome was. But anyway the story, animation, voice cast and directing was awesome. There was a lot of action, suspense, and humor- just like in the first. The baby stole the show. Without Jack-Jack and his blooming super powers, it would have been a little flat. Kids will love it and parents will, too!
[V4.5-A4.0] MPEG-4 AVC - D-Box really enhanced this movie.


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