The Incredibles 2 had Children and Adults Mesmerized by the Long Awaited Sequel

It’s been 14 years since the first Incredibles movie came out. I was 8-years-old at the time, and I immediately fell in love with it. It quickly became my favorite movie. But ever since the day I went to go see it for a friend’s birthday, I wondered if there would ever be a sequel.

Here we are now in 2018 and finally after a grueling 14-year wait, The Incredibles 2 has arrived. This movie was first confirmed in late 2014 and has had fans waiting on the edge of their seats for a while. The first Incredibles in my eyes was seen as a quintessential kids animated growing up. It was funny, had action, and child friendly. Brad Bird, the genius behind the original film and other films like The Iron Giant and Ratatouille, had big expectations to live up to after this long wait. And let me tell you, he sure did.

Pixar has always been known to put out incredibly thought-out films, leaving families to come see movie after movie. Brad Bird once again delivered to families across the world a movie that will be talked about for years to come and shown to kids for generations as a go-to children’s film.

The original left us off when The Incredible family was back to living a normal life after taking down super villain, Syndrome. They were at Dash’s track meet and all of sudden another super villain, The Underminer rises from the ground stating he plans to take down the city. The family puts on their masks and from there it cuts to black. The sequel picked up right where it left off, immediately giving us fun filled action like we saw in the last movie. They attempt to take down The Underminer, but after much fight and damage caused to the city, he gets away. The city council of Metroville is very displeased with all the destruction forcing the supers to lose the help they had from the government and go into hiding once again but with no financial help. From here, a rich business man, and lover of superhero’s, approaches Elastigirl to be the face of the rebirth of supers across the world. Meanwhile, Mr. Incredible is left to take over the family duties in which he struggles mightily and finds out the powers of youngest son Jack-Jack. But Elastigirl is put into some tough situations where someone is trying turn the supers into evil villains.

The plot of this movie was fantastic, almost nearly as a good as the first in my opinion. The original was focused heavily on Mr. Incredible and his journey back to superhero stardom with the help of his family in the end. But this film focused on Elastigirl’s journey back into the fame and saving the world once again ultimately with the help of her family. It was great to see a woman figure take the lead role in this film due to the past history of superhero films always having male leads. Also, with the current social climate we face today how women have been being pushed aside, it shows that women should not be looked upon below men. The one negative part of my review I believe would have to be the villain. It’s hard to say much without spoiling it, but I thought they could have gone in more of a classic super hero direction.

The character development I thought was also superb. You got to see a side of Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl you didn’t see much before. Mr. Incredible was shown to be a struggling stay at home dad while Elastigirl became the bread winner of the family and taking all of the superhero glory. Both come to learn that they need each other and working as a family is what they do best, just like in the last film. The eldest daughter Violet becomes more important is this film as well. You begin to see the much so relatable teen angst that we have a faced as some point growing up and attending junior high. She slowly becomes the anchor of the family, whether that is helping out her father with the stay at home duties, or keep Dash grounded and not too eager. Dash on the other hand I felt didn’t change too much as a character. His typical high energy demeanor was made apparent as in the last film and always looking to use his powers. Jack-Jack on the other hand almost steals the whole movie. You begin to see his development of powers, in which he is essentially a Swiss army knife of powers. He can shoot lasers, duplicate himself, and turn into a demon-like child.  At a later point in the film, the classic character that is Edna, creator of the super suits for the family, takes Jack-Jack under her wing and develops a suit for him where the family can control them. Lastly, in terms of old characters, we have Frozone. His cool and laidback attitude is apparent once again, and always looking to help the Parr family when in need.

Pixar did an out-of-this-world job of producing this film. I can see why it took 14 years for this sequel to be released. The animation was crisp, clean, yet it possessed the classic Pixar style. They had better technology since 2004, allowing for them to really buckle down and get every detail to perfection. The system they used back then was now out of date, which lead to them having to redesign all the characters from scratch. Also, to get every detail perfect, they used technology to create physically-based human eye models for the characters, almost making the animated eyes look more real than our own!

The script really brought back great memories from the first film. The classic lines of Mr. Incredible and stubbornness, Elastigirl and her go-getting attitude, Violet and her teen angst, and Dash with his mind always running and saying something ridiculous.

The soundtrack to this film was almost identical to the original. They brought back Michael Giacchino, who did the original score to the first film. You could hear the classic fast-pace action horns and drums, but also the sly and mysterious scenes when you see the super’s searching around for clues.

I believe that this 14-year wait was definitely worth it. I got to re-live my childhood memories of watching this movie almost monthly for years straight. But I also got to make new memories and appreciate the film on much deeper level now that I’m 22 years old. The audience was shown old and new faces in which we came to love and adore as well. The audience was even left with hope of maybe even third (go watch the ending for yourself!)? And most importantly, the new age animation paid off and made the film look better than ever.

The Incredibles 2 lived up to my decade long expectations, and I hope it did for most too. From the well thought out story to character development, Brad Bird did it to almost perfection. Make sure to get out there within the next few weeks to see it in theaters before it’s too late!

I would not like this posted.