The Infallible Fish Reviews: Incredibles 2
Pow pow pow!
I love the Incredibles and I mean that with every fibre of my being. It’s one of my favourite animated films of all time. It was, and still is, smart, funny, incredibly creative and found new and interesting angles to look at superheroes from. I mean it’s a Brad Bird film and I have yet to find an animated Brad Bird film that has let me down. But, we’re not here to talk about the original, though I could, for hours. No, we’re here to discuss the sequel. A sequel we’ve been waiting fourteen years to get our hands on. I admit I was a little nervous when the film was first announced, could they recapture the magic, especially after so long? Add on to that the fact that when the original came out they hadn’t exactly flooded the market with superhero films and, well, now they have (There are probably some lucky kids who never had to live through those dark times. Some of us are still scarred by Batman and Robin. Batman and Robin I tell you!) So, can Incredibles 2 live up to over a decade of hype? Yes!!! Sorry, little overexcited there, yes it can, and then some.
The film picks up pretty much where the last one left off, the Incredibles facing off against the Underminer and though they do happen to stop his villainous scheme, they also cause a lot of damage and, well, superheroes are still illegal. Before we go into that though, there are two things I want to bring up. First, this film is flippin’ gorgeous. One benefit of waiting so long for the sequel is that animation technology and skills behind it have come along so far. Every frame of this film is jaw-droppingly beautiful. The colours and all those retro designs wrapped up in perfect shots. I want to hang every frame of this film from my wall, which brings me to my second thing. The action. This film seriously ups the ante when it comes to the number and variety of its actions scenes, whether its racing a runaway train, a helicopter dog fight or even fights against other supers (all of whom I love), no one can accuse this film of being lazy. Also I like that everyone gets a fair share of the action and characters like Frozone and the kids get to join in a lot more than the last film. I do have to admit that although I love the action and the creativity of it, none of the action scenes have the same level of tension and drama as, say, the plane scene from the first film, they’re still tense and dramatic, but I don’t think there’s much that could top that plane scene. I do get to see a hero on hero brawl though, so I’m not complaining.
Back to the story. Our heroes are in trouble with the law and if you remember the end of the last film, they’re also homeless at the minute. Things are looking a bit bleak, up until a wealthy billionaire offers to help make heroes legal again. He’s a huge hero fan, knows all their theme songs (yes there are theme songs now, stay for the credits) and his idea to bring heroes back is to change the public’s perception, to show them the action and excitement of the heroes’ lives, rather than just the burning aftermath. It’s a good idea and the first hero he wants to make a TV star is Elastigirl. This does bruise Mr.Incredible’s ego a little bit (and we all know that’s the most fragile part of him), but he does begrudgingly agree that it’s the right call and while his wife is off saving the day, he’ll stay at home and look after the kids.
Now under anyone else this plot could have come across as a little cliché or stale (it feels like I saw a million sitcoms or low budget films about stay at home dads when I was a kid), but this is the Incredibles and if there’s one thing the Incredibles does better than anything else, it’s a sense of maturity and realism to its characters, which is odd in a film where a baby has every superpower going. Yes Mr. Incredible can lift a car over his head and punch his way through a steel door, but he’s a middle-aged man and goes through the same struggles as anyone else. He’s stumped by modern teaching methods, has no idea what to do about his daughter’s boy troubles and then there’s Jack-Jack, who like all babies is a non-stop natural disaster zone, and then you add in the superpowers. It’s almost as if raising three kids is stressful. The other characters all get their own moments in the spotlight too and get to fill up the screen with their personalities. Heart-warming is the best way I have to describe the characters in this film.
Anyway, while Elastigirl is on the job, she comes across a new villain, Screenslaver, who through flashing lights and a hypnotism guide can take control of anyone looking at screen. Like a lot of this film, it’s fairly easy to guess where they’re going with the villain’s plot. In fact from pretty early on in the film you can make a good guess at who the villain is, or at least get a very limited list of options. Not that it diminishes Screenslaver, I think they do have a good gimmick and a really good reasoning behind their plan. Like all good villains they have a rational behind what they do and you can almost agree with them, right up to the point where they start threatening people and trying to kill them. My only complain really is that Screenslaver lacks the impact and the presence of a villain like Syndrome, but I still enjoyed them.
The only really possible complain I can mark against this film is that it’s pretty predictable. From the moment a plot point reared its head I knew pretty much exactly where it was going. When the first Incredibles came out it was something fresh and new and this time around we’re expecting everything that’s coming. It turns the drama and excitement down a notch, but then again, the film is giving me everything that I wanted from an Incredibles sequel so can I really complain? No, not really. Despite the predictably I adored this film from start to finish, it gave me every single thing I wanted to see and so much more besides. This is a sequel more than worthy of standing besides its predecessor. Go watch the original if you haven’t already and then go watch this, you won’t be disappointed.
Chris Joynson, aka the Infallible Fish, is a writer, blogger and lover of animation living in Sheffield. The blog updates every Friday.
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