Pixar films are like children to me. It’s always hard for me to pick my favourite one (except for the Cars trilogy). Wall-E, Up, Ratatouille and Toy Story 3 are high up there but being somewhat of a superhero nerd I always find myself being drawn to The Incredibles. I have always found it to be the perfect Fantastic Four that was never made. Fourteen years (and another truly awful Fantastic Four film) since it was released we find ourselves with another Pixar made superhero film and I couldn’t be any happy.
The film takes place exactly where the first one finished. The Incredible family are outside a sports stadium watching the rise of the Underminer, then without missing a beat spring into action. The opening scene reminds you that the family are a well oiled machine when working together and whilst they may not have the outcome you expect from the first encounter it is very well done to set up the rest of the film.
Supers and their place in world has not changed since the first film, Supers are still outlawed but now the government has shut down the relocation programme as well, which find our heroes staying in a motel, eating takeout and wondering what to do next. Mr. Incredible & Elastigirl are offered the chance to change the perceptions of Supers and hopefully change the law so it is no longer illegal for them to be out in public.
Mr. Incredible is at home taking care of the kids whilst Elastigirl is out fighting crime. It is here where there is an entertaining balance of the film takes place, every time the main plot thickens with Elastigirl we go back to Mr. Incredible hilariously fumbling his way through parenthood mostly with Jack Jack.
In terms of new characters the Supers are hit and miss. Voyd is someone who can create portals to teleport any sort of matter through and is a strong stand out, whilst Brick is a strongman and Krushhauer can erm crush? The “weaker” Supers appear to be incredibly (no pun intended) B tier and are treated with as much screen time as necessarily to further the story but I doubt we will see the a spin-off movie starring Reflux anytime soon. Do not fear Edna and Frozone make strong appearances in the film too.
The overarching villain Screenslaver seems a bit predictable at first and may even seem a bit easy to write “Hey, we all look at screens too much” but looking deeper it also a commentary on the state of superhero films and how we are all looking for people to sweep in and save the day in reality that we comfort in films perhaps a bit too much. Whilst some of this may go over some people heads, it is important to remember that this is a superhero hero film and a kids film so try not to be too surprised when there is a happy ending.
The Incredibles 2 does more of what you love with The Incredibles and does it really well. Whilst some sequels seem half baked or a quick cash grab, time has helped the thoughts of the original Incredibles set and help mature the creation of this film that other superheroes will probably never get.