Wild Card Wednesday: The Incredibles 2

Director: Brad Bird

Year: 2018

Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure

Summary: Bob Parr (Mr. Incredible) is left to care for the kids while Helen (Elastigirl) is out saving the world.

2/5 Pineapples

Review:

Alright, I'm just gonna come out and say it - I was disappointed.

We've spent 14 years anticipating how the Parr family takes down The Underminer, and within the first 10 minutes of The Incredibles 2, The Underminer not only managed to get away, but he was completely forgotten about and neglected for the remaining hour and 55 minutes.

Aside from that pretty severe plot hole, I felt that the only memorable part of the entire film was the scene of Jackjack versus the raccoon.

The animation... I understand we've come a long way since The Incredibles in 2004, but did we have to enhance the characters' features SO MUCH? Most of them didn't even look like themselves.

I also found it disappointing that Spencer Fox was not the voice of Dash for the sequel. With such a memorable, original voice, I found Huck Milner's rendition of Dash jarring and distracting.

BUT HEY, IT'S NOT ALL BAD.

I enjoyed that we followed Elastigirl for the majority of this story. It was a nice change of pace from the first film where we closely followed Mr. Incredible in a post-hero-apocalypse, coping with living in a world of normies and upholding the average father figure/family lifestyle all the while hiding that he's super. That'd blow, for sure, and it clearly took a negative effect on him. But, I was fascinated to see how a female supers growing success could potentially affect her super spouses male ego. Of course, they eventually learn that they're all stronger working together and that they're a team - as any healthy family and marriage would, but it's always interesting to see a deeper dynamic like that between characters that is relatable in the real world and in our modern culture. That real-life dynamic is something that I felt The Incredibles did really well with, so it was nice to see that it carried through to the sequel.

That being said, lets compare IMDb summaries:

The Incredibles (2004) : A family of undercover superheroes, while trying to live the quiet suburban life, are forced into action to save the world.

The Incredibles 2 (2018): Bob Parr (Mr. Incredible) is left to care for the kids while Helen (Elastigirl) is out saving the world.

Firstly, the 2004 summary could easily still apply to the 2018 film. Instead of rewording it to essentially say the same thing, they chose to write something all-together different. Nothing wrong with that, per se, but the 2018 summary just doesn't sit well with me. It's written in a way that carries a negative undertone, as if Helen Parr wasn't 'left to care for the kids while Bob (Mr. Incredible) was out saving the world' in the original... Just sayin'.

And, I can hear you all now, "But, Kaleigh, it's a kids movie."

I understand that. There are Disney (and the like) films geared towards children that I can stand behind. But, hear me out. I am in the actual perfect age bracket for this sequel. I was 10 when The Incredibles was released. I've waited LITERALLY most of my life for this sequel. This film was written and created for children - but also for me, my peers, and our frame of thinking. And, I hate to say it, but the negatives I listed above outweigh the positives for me.

I hate to be 'Negative Nancy' when the general audience appeared to be overjoyed for the release and the result of The Incredibles 2, but I can't be the only one who felt this way?

Rather than ticking everyone off, I hope that I was able to bring to light some points of contention that other viewers had as well but maybe didn't get the chance to be heard beyond all the loud fans of the film or just didn't have the platform to speak their mind. You're always open to share your thoughts with me.

As always, thanks for reading.