INCREDIBLES 2 (2018) - A better Fantastic Four movie than the Fantastic Four movies

Incredibles 2 is a Pixar animated superhero film written and directed by Brad Bird, starring Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Huck Milner, Eli Fucile, Samuel L. Jackson, Bob Odenkirk, and Catherine Keener. The movie is the long-awaited sequel to 2004's The Incredibles with almost the entire core cast reprising their roles. Incredibles 2 picks up where the first movie left off, with the Parr family operating as the superheroes called the Incredibles for three months after Syndrome's defeat. However, supers are still illegal, and this film centers around Helen Parr/Elastigirl being recruited by a telecommunications company to regain the general public's support of supers with the hopes of one day making supers legal once more.

The Negatives

I was very nervous about this movie from the moment it was announced, and that's because Pixar doesn't really DO sequels--and for good reason, too. All of Pixar's movies have the same basic formula: a very human, character-driven story with a unique twist that neatly wraps up in a very self-contained, complete story. Toy Story is a character study/near existential narrative about toys and their relationship with their owner, Finding Nemo is a father-son story that features talking fish, Monsters, Inc. is about embracing those foreign to you and to not "other" them that happens to feature monsters.

That's why Pixar has never made a good sequel, because a proper Pixar sequel must also be character-driven and what more can be done with those characters who have already completed their character arcs? (An obvious exception is the Toy Story trilogy, arguably one of the greatest trilogies ever made). That's why Monsters University was just okay. That's why Finding Dory was a big disappointment. And while the Cars trilogy was never that good, that's why Cars 2 was hot garbage.

And in many ways, Incredibles 2 falls into the same traps that plagued Finding Dory--a much greater focus on the plot rather than the characters, several main characters from the first movie kind of just being there in the sequel, and somewhat of a failure to really expand on the world set up by the first. One of the worst parts of Incredibles 2 is how Dash and Violet don't really experience any character growth in this movie, and while Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl definitely get some growth, it's nowhere near as compelling or as satisfying a character arc as the ones they received in the first Incredibles movie. 

The first movie was incredibly (no pun intended) original as a story of a man experiencing a mid-life crisis and struggling with the mundanity of his current life, leading him to cheat on his own wife and family--except instead of cheating with another woman, he's getting off by beating up criminals at night. And beyond that, it's also the story of a family of very remarkable people who have forced themselves to hide who they are from the world out of fear, and who slowly begin to form a closer connection with one another as they learn to embrace their true identities. But now where do you go from there? Sure, the movie is all about the public embracing supers and that is a logical progression for the plot, but where do the characters go from there? They've already learned their lesson. They've already grown.

And while we're on the negatives, the villain in this movie is really quite bland--the evil Screenslaver, who wants to mind-control and manipulate people so that they can stop relying on supers to do all their work for them. I mean, sure? It's fine? But ultimately it does fall short of the first movie's Syndrome because 1) Screenslaver's motives do not tie into the overall theme of the movie as well as Syndrome's did, 2) Screenslaver's identity is pretty freaking obvious, I'm sure a child could figure it out, and 3) that's such a lame name. Like come on, the freaking Underminer has a cooler name than you.

The Positives

Okay now let's get to the fun stuff, because despite all my problems with it this movie is still really fun. The action in this movie is a clear highlight and is absolutely stellar. Elastigirl is our main hero this time, and in terms of visuals she's a much better pick than Mr. Incredible. While he's just super strong--something we see in superhero movies basically all the time--Elastigirl can stretch her body and limbs by will, which allows for some really unique and creative moves during the action scenes. The movie also introduces some new supers with their own unique and interesting powers. I found most of them to be unmemorable but one super named Void can create portals which are used in some really cool ways in her fight scenes.

Another highlight is the animation which I think we've all expected to be top-notch. While not as visually beautiful as say, Coco, or as creatively original as Kubo and the Two Strings, Incredibles 2's animation excels in being as close to photorealism as possible without entering the uncanny valley. A lot of attention was placed in little details like making sure all the individuals hairs of the characters move realistically, animating little hairs that poked through Mr. Incredible's house clothes, adding little wrinkles and creases in their faces, animating the news anchor's eyes to simulate him glancing at the teleprompter every few seconds.

As a comic book nerd, I especially loved all the little Easter eggs they snuck in the movie--how Elastigirl mentioned she used to have a mohawk (very reminiscent of the X-Men's Storm), how she calls her new outfit too dark and angsty (like the DC and X-Men superheroes' outfits in their movies), how Jack Jack's powerset is very similar to Franklin Richards to further make the comparison between the Incredibles and the Fantastic Four, how the train sequence in this movie is a nice homage to Spider-Man 2's famous train sequence, how the Underminer is a clever riff of the Mole Man (yet ANOTHER comparison to the Fantastic Four).

Beyond all that though, there are a lot of really fun moments in the movie. Hell, anytime Jack Jack is on screen is a delight, and Dash, Violet, and Bob's family dynamic is fun and endearing. The amount of and creative use of superpowers in this movie feels like classic superhero comics, something that you can't really find much of in the DC, X-Men, or even Marvel movies where realism weighs the superpowers down. Oh, and if you didn't love Edna Mode with Jack Jack, you probably don't have a soul.

Final Verdict

Is Incredibles 2 a good movie? Yes, without a doubt. Is Incredibles 2 as good as the first? Nope, definitely not. Does it manage to beat Toy Story 2 as the best sequel to an animated movie? No, but it's not a bad job at all. Sure, I have some problems with the movie, more so than most other people it seems, but director and writer Brad Bird had long stated he wasn't going to make Incredibles 2 unless he has a proper story to tell and I think he ultimately succeeded, even if it's a bit lackluster at times. The villain is boring and predictable and the characters aren't nearly as well written as in the first movie (although they aren't as worthless as Marlin and Nemo were in Finding Dory), but it has a lot of great action, some really fun moments, and an endearing family story that audiences of all ages will love. 

Score: B