When Pixar released The Incredibles (2004), the thought of
super hero movies being as big as they are today was certainly not as popular.
However, several aspects to the original film made it so that it stood out from
the norm. Yet sometimes even greatness proves to be a challenge when it comes
to a proper follow up. For director Brad Bird, that was exactly his dilemma.
The first film was so well received that it was not easy for him and the rest
of the film crew to determine what would make an adequate sequel. Thankfully,
the time came where Bird and everyone else felt that what the story at hand was
ready to be put into action. To some extent, everyone was right, but even so
there's still one noticeable element to the story that feels less creative than
it should have been. However, if anything else had changed this sequel would
not have been as good as it is.
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| The Incredibles are back! |
The plot picks up right after the events of the first movie
where the Parr family (the incredibles) decide to take on the Underminer.
Unfortunately they fail at foiling his plan and because super heroes were still
illegal, they get forced into hiding again. That is until Lucius AKA Frozone
(Samuel L. Jackson) comes to them with a new proposition. The proposal is to
reinvent the image of super heroes led by billionaire tycoon Winston Deavor
(Bob Odenkirk) and his sister Evelyn Deavor (Catherine Keener). Together they
push Helen Parr AKA Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) to the forefront while Bob Parr
AKA Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) becomes a stay at home dad watching over
Dash (Huck Milner), Violet (Sarah Vowell) and Jack-Jack. As this goes on, a
sinister individual known as the Screenslaver begins to make their move on the
public, looking to permanently damage the image of supers.
For a movie directed and written solely by Brad Bird and who
also voiced Edna Mode, it's impressive with how well the execution made out.
Doing all of these is not easy but for the most part everything turned out
rather well. Within the running time, the main characters experience much
development. Helen Parr becoming the breadwinner of sorts for the family is
typically unheard of in modern society, while Bob Parr acting as a stay at home
dad is also not a very typical occupation for most fathers. Violet also goes
through a series of emotions dealing with her confidence and being able to talk
to her crush from school. There's even a history as to why the Deavor siblings
are so passionate about helping out the Parr family and all other super heroes.
Lastly Jack-Jack gets a chance to show off more of what was missed during the
first film while he was being baby sat.
Unfortunately the script does miss some things. One of them
being that Dash and Frozone do not really get much of any time to do something
out of the ordinary. Dash still runs fast but doesn't learn something new about
his abilities or his relative behavior. Frozone, who suggests the Deavors to
the incredibles is not as involved as one might think either, which is kind of
misleading. The biggest problem though is the premise for the script. The
similarities to how everything is set up feels very much like the first movie,
with somebody making a very special and secret deal, when behind the scenes,
there's more going on. Or at least, so it seems. On top of that, these offers
would seem rather obvious being that these stories take place pretty much back
to back from each other. Wouldn't one be skeptical after coming across such an
incident so recently?
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| Screenslaver |
Aside from this though, the final bits to this feature film
are well done. As to what Mahyar Abousaeedi and Erik Smitt contributed to this
movie with cinematography, it's possible to say they did a good job. But there
would need to be more information on the matter because this was an animated
movie. For that, the animation was great. The details to various objects are
much more profound now and the movements among characters and other things are
much more fluid. As for music, the score composed again by Michael Giacchino
was just as competent as the first score he created for the original movie.
With jazz instruments livening up the mood and energy, the tunes played
throughout most of the scenes will engage the viewer quite easily. And of
course without the signature cue for the Parr family, the music would not be as
incredible or memorable.
While the script suffers from a couple developmental
flaws and fails to set up the plot any differently from that of the original,
it still manages to entertain and perform well as a sequel. The main characters
are fun to watch, the action is cool, the music remains bombastic and the
animation is even more profound.
Points Earned --> 8:10
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