Incredibles 2

It’s all about perception…

Written and Directed by: Brad Bird
Cast: Holly Hunter, Craig T. Nelson, Catherine Keener, Bob Odenkirk

Swift shot: We’ve waited fourteen years for a The Incredibles sequel, and in our real world a lot has changed, but Municiberg is still the same. The Parrs are still fighting with the Anti-Supers law that has hobbled them and their cohorts for years. In fact times are downright dire. After the whole family is arrested following their not so stellar encounter with The Underminer. Forced to live in a hotel, they are presented with a new opportunity to prove their kind deserves the right to protect themselves and their fellow citizens. But, nothing is easy, and this time Bob has to stay at home and raise the kids while Helen goes it alone . . . and the hilarity ensues.

The film picks up right where The Incredibles left off, and Rick Dicker (Jonathan Banks) is having to clean up the Parrs’ mess. Unfortunately, Violet (Sarah Vowell) unknowingly becomes a kind of victim of that cleanup. Now, as Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) is making his escape, because remember all supers are criminals now, he stumbles onto the path of one Winston Deavor (Odenkirk). Along with his somewhat shy sister, Evelyn (Keener) they approach Frozone in the hopes that he can recruit the Parrs in his grand scheme to legalize supers.

Quickly Bob (Nelson) learns that his new role in this endeavor is Mr. Mom, complete with all the jokes that were practically ripped from that classic film starring Michael Keaton. I am not complaining, just pointing out that the battle of the sexes has been raging for decades, and any attempt by Hollywood to now claim otherwise is ludicrous. In one barely audible clip, Elastigirl (Hunter) mentions something about how she isn’t going to leave crime fighting to men. My eyes rolled so hard they popped out of my head and landed into the illuminated popcorn bucket that the idiot woman in front of me needed to use her cellphone light to see to eat. Seriously, lady, if you can’t eat popcorn without seeing it, maybe you shouldn’t even be out in public. Lame, just like this running theme about girl power throughout the film.

Anyway, Bob gripes about how Helen was just complaining about how they would be criminals if they engaged in any hero shenanigans, and now Dudley Do-Right comes along with a shiny new offer, and she’s all too willing to don the mask again. Still, Bob realizes his wife is his best hope for a legalized super amendment, so he agrees to stay in the rear with the gear . . . and his spawn. He might be Mr. Incredible, but he is no match for his toddler, Jack-Jack. I lost track of all the different powers this little tyke possess.

Almost immediately, and a little too conveniently, Elastigirl is able to prove her worth, as she stops a runaway super monorail from killings hundreds. And since crime fighting is all about perspective, and programming the masses, her actions are viewed by an adoring public as a win. But she has only scratched the surface of what is hiding behind the scenes, there is a new threat called The Screenslaver. This villain is able to use mind control through any screen lit up in a viewer’s face. Fighting that kind of villain takes brains, but luckily Elastigirl has a very smart girl on her side in her new pal, Evelyn. The tech savvy sister even rigs up a device to help ensnare Screenslaver.

And everyone goes on a wonderful cruise to the middle of the ocean where they sign a bill legalizing superheroes. Oh, wait, that’s what is supposed to happen. But, someone else has a different destination in mind.

When Civil War was written about the divide between The Avengers, it was immediately apparent that the hero registration act was a metaphor for gun control. Incredibles 2 also treads onto that territory. There are messages about self-reliance and trust in our crime fighting forces versus what we are willing to do to defend ourselves. There is a very real message that if you outlaw supers, only criminals will be supers. Hell, Elastigirl and her son, Dash (Huck Milner) even say this verbatim. They both realize Elastigirl has to break the law to save lives.

Heavy on heart and laughs, Incredibles 2 does make for a fun time at the theater, but I could have fast forwarded through most of the first act and I would have cut the whole Violet drama altogether. Still, Pixar once again sets the bar for animated action films to galactic levels nearly impossible to attain.

If you are looking for a family friendly film that delivers on the laughs and the action, Incredibles 2 is that film . . . I just wish they trimmed some of the characters and got to the point a lot quicker.