Incredibles 2 (2018) Movie Review

INCREDIBLES 2 (2018) MOVIE REVIEW

After 14 years, Pixar finally gave the green light to release the sequel to one of its most beloved properties The Incredibles. Despite only having one film in its now series, on its initial release, it was beloved by both fans and critics alike. Even managing to pick up two Academy awards for Sound Editing and Best Animated Feature respectively. Now with Brad Bird, director and writer of the original and many critically acclaimed films including Ratatouille and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, its now time to found out if this ambitious sequel truly is worthy to be called super. 

Taking place where the first film left of, the Parr family is forced into a battle against the Underminer. Which they manage to cause save many lives, but in doing this allow the villain to escape. As a result, they are forced into hiding from the authorities. However Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk) is looking for supers to come out of the shadows and back into the lime light. His plan is to put Elastigirl into action again and prove to everyone that supers are in fact here to help and to gain the trust of everyone again. Leaving Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) at home to take care of the kids, the family must now balance out this new and reversed lifestyle. Although the trope of role reversal is nothing new, even to superhero films, Incredibles 2 does it in a way that still makes the cliche fresh and exciting to see. The animation displayed throughout the film also helps out quite a bit, exaggerating the character's emotions and reactions to these scenarios. This is particularly shown when looking at Violet and Dash as they manage to express the changes that are happening in a hilarious way by simply using their motions and facials. Even with this though, the film does suffer from sequelitis which is hard to overcome, even for a animated feature. It also does not help that the movie does have a predictable plot line and an even more predictable trope of who did it. Which ends up being exactly who you think it is.

Brad Bird truly is one of the great directors of our time. Not only can he produce incredible stories and characters but his direction of action sequences. Proven in previous films of his like Mission Impossible, his knowledge of creating exciting and story driven battles is outstanding and it excels in the Incredibles 2. Each action scene has so much colour and excitement to it that it just bursts of the screen. These scenes are backed up by an incredible score, one that makes the films feel like its own and encapsules what it means to be an animated superhero movie. 

Overall, while the Incredibles 2 does suffer from some repetitive story tropes and having to substitute fan favourites like Dash in favour of the focus being on one of the family members (which to be fair the first film suffered from as well), this sequel achieved what it set out to do. Entertain. With most of the jokes hitting their mark, having incredibly relatable characters and showing some impressive animation, Incredibles 2 without a doubt has the potential to be the best animated feature of the year like the original. Though this time around, it might not be a guarantee. 

OVERALL

7 / 10