‘Incredibles 2’ is the long-awaited sequel from Brad Bird. Some never thought it would come. But it has, and it was such a good time, loaded with entertainment that hits from a variety of angles. I went home after the screening and watched the first ‘Incredibles’ to do my homework and I can say, not only is this a solid sequel, it was slightly more enjoyable than the first. It’s a superhero story for both older and younger audiences. There are plenty of comedic angles and story-dynamics adult audiences can connect but there is plenty of simple jokes, and visual humor for kids to grab onto giving it a broad appeal.
I’ll be honest, before it started the thought of a two-hour run-time felt a little daunting. But it flew by with a story that keeps a nice pace with enough subplots and story-arcs to keep your attention. It also adds a collection of fun characters that range in their levels of eccentricities to result in a nice wide variety of personality and humor.
The voiceover work was well done, and the cast adds a lot of life to the characters. It sells the various dynamics between them effectively by giving them some emotional layers. And with some tightly written dialogue it was fun to connect with the Parr’s as a normal family with grounded relationships. But at the same time being superheroes, who want to embrace their powers which I felt was so enjoyable to watch play out.
The one word that comes to mind when thinking about this film is balance. It works seamlessly between humor, drama, and story-development. With new characters being implemented, and layers being added to the old ones to evolve them. It has a great musical score that gives it a strong nostalgic comic-book vibe that complements the story perfectly. It blends all of this together with some immersive action-sequences that pull you in because of their impact on the story. The plot was on the predictable side but with likable characters, and enough other moving pieces in the story-line, unpredictability isn’t needed to have a great time watching.
From a sequel aspect this one does what it needed. It immediately pulls you back into the world of the story re-connecting you with the characters. From there it begins its progression with new layers and issues for the heroes and it implements a steady flow of effective laughs to make for a great adventure. It wasn’t a sequel that after fourteen-years tried to remind you how good it was.
It was a film that showed confidence in knowing it was building on a solid film with new, capable layers that would expand on the original story with its own creative ambition. Something that is always a major positive with sequels. The detail in the animation and in special-effects was extremely well done with some fun imaginative sequences that had me completely locked in. It has elements a wide range of audiences can pull entertainment from, and I recommend checking it out on the big-screen to get the full cinematic experience.
