Hopefully, you’ve all had the chance to see Pixar Animation Studios‘ latest animated wonderment Incredibles 2. And, hopefully, you’ve had a chance to see that it’s absolutely killing it at the U.S. box office, too. I had the chance to see both the original film, The Incredibles (2004) and its newly released sequel at a special IMAX and Pixar sponsored screening last week and it was movie-going bliss for this animation fan.
Writer and director Brad Bird and his talented team at Pixar created a total home run when The Incredibles hit theaters in the summer of 2004. Witty, thought-provoking, action-packed, and beautifully animated, the film about a family with superpowers delivered in a big way.
Now, 14 years later, the Parr family is back right literally where the first film left off with the family taking on the super villain the Underminer, who is attacking their city of Municiberg. After the fight with the Underminer doesn’t go exactly as planned and the superheroes (aka “supers”) have to go back into their undercover mode again, Bob Parr (aka Mr. Incredible, voiced again by Craig T. Nelson), his wife Helen Parr (aka Elastigirl/Mrs. Incredible, voiced again by Holly Hunter), and their superhero buddy Lucius Best (aka Frozone, and also voiced again by Samuel “F-ing” L. Jackson) meet up with billionaire businessman Winston Deavor (voiced by Bob Odenkirk) and his inventor sister Evelyn Deavor (voiced by Catherine Keener) who have an interesting proposal to bring the supers back into the limelight.
Family dynamics are front and center as Elastigirl/Mrs. Incredible goes back to work, leaving Mr. Incredible home to take care of the kids. Terrific humor and incredible action scenes abound as Elastigirl uncovers a dastardly plot while Mr. Incredible has to deal with his kids’ relationships, homework, and superpowers. Nothing is stupid here and no gender is better than the other–it’s really just a great story about a family figuring things out and working together.
While the sequel can’t capture the perfection of the first film (what can?), writer/director Brad Bird and team still deliver a wonderfully solid film with a compelling storyline, brilliant animation, and emotions and situations that ring, well, incredibly true. Watch The Incredibles again on Blu-ray or streaming and then go see Incredibles 2 in theaters and have a great time at the movies.
Incredibles 2 is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for “action sequences and some brief mild language.”
My score: 5 out of 5 stars
P.S. There’s a scene with absolutely knock-out animation that uses lighting effects that mimic a strobe light. This warning was prominently placed at multiple places throughout the multiplex where I saw Incredibles 2 again over the weekend. The animation in that sequence is stunning and it’s unfortunate if it’s causing problems for anyone.
