Movie Thoughts: "Incredibles 2"

The superhero family everyone really cares about returns in a sequel that barely lives up to its predecessor.

The movie picks up where the last movie left off, the Underminer attacking the city. Then the Parrs are tricked into damaging more property than what was already done, taking out the overpass for one. Beaten, both physically and mentally, the Parrs return to the motel they are apparently staying at. Violet tells her father about an incident, which kicks off a subplot borrowed from Fifty First Dates. During the skirmish, Violet, in anger from Dash, throws down her mask, exposing her identity to Tony, who happened to run by. Agent Dicker picks up Tony, and he got a little Jack-Jack Attack treatment and his mind was erased.

Just when they thought they were out, someone pulled them back in and called Saul, because here he comes with his sister on a mission to overturn the superhero ban. They created a suit for Helen to be the Mockingjay, which included a camera capturing her every move, and an ElastiBike that none of us, including Bob, knew she had. Okay, they dated for, let’s say, a year, married for 15, had three kids, and the only thing they know about each other is their superhero names and powers. We even find out that Bob had an Incredimobile, which wasn’t the car he was driving at the beginning of the first movie.

While Helen is fighting evil, she encounters victims of the Screen Slaver, an invisible villain that exists on our screens, hypnotizing us with the strobe light sequence from Flashdance. I’m sorry, but I pledge my allegiance to the Hypnotoad. All Glory!

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As Helen got closer to unmasking the Screen Slaver, she becomes trapped by none other than Saul’s sister, out for vengeance for the murder of her father, who was killed during a break-in as he tried to call Fironic and Dynaguy after the superhero ban.

Meanwhile, Bob is following a script, borrowed from Daddy Day Care, and taking care of the kids by helping Violet recover from Tony’s unfortunate side effect, Dash adjusts to new math, and navigate Jack-Jack’s new powers that none of them knew he had, somehow. Let’s pause there for a minute ‘cause I got something to say. I agree with Bob on the math. Why would they change math? Math is math. My sister was taught for a while on the Singapore style math in which they deconstruct the equations; no more carrying. It broke my brain. And did I mention “a while?” The school went back to teaching the old way within a year.

We watched Jack-Jack display a handful of powers at the end of the first movie. He burst into flame, metalized, and became a rage monster. Helen says, “What’s happening” but no one took notice that Jack-Jack was holding his own. Fifteen years, err I mean, three months later, they finally took notice. I’ve seen the Jack of All Trades memes, but 17 powers? HE’S A F*CKING BOMB! But what are they exactly?

1. Human Torch (fire)

2. Colossus (metal)

3. Beast/Hulk (monster)

4. Loki (multiplicity)

5. Cyclops (laser eyes)

6. Magik (teleportation)

7. Ant-Man (change in size)

8. Electra (conduct electricity)

9. Captain Marvel (levitation)

I guess. You can read more here.

Bob gets a call that Helen was in trouble and assigns Lucius/Frozone to babysit. Then Bob gets kidnapped as well as Frozone, and the kids barely escape. The kidnapped superheroes, a well as a few new names, are mind-controlled to capture members of the nations that gathered to overturn the ban. In an epic showdown, the kids band together again and stop the boat they were on, take down Saul’s sister, and reverse the ban. Rather than fix the problem, Violet decides to act on the Fifty First Dates and start over with Tony. And she almost blew it again when another bad guy attacked the city, but they shoved him into the movie theater they were heading to.

One thing we were led to believe, or at least me, was that that the government had already overturned the ban after the epic showdown with Syndrome. Why else would the Parrs have their suits already on when the Underminer attacked? If the ban was still in effect, why would they do something that stupid? Especially Helen and Bob who knew better? And where did the teamwork they had from the first movie go? For this part, I feel they copied and pasted the premise of Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2. As far as we knew, they weren’t hiding in some motel room. They were out and about; Violet made a date with Tony, and Dash was on the track team. Even the people of the town, who were once appreciative of the supers for protecting them from Syndrome, turned against them. What happened in those three months? Did Mr. Incredible knock over a monument or something?

Elastigirl meeting the new supers is almost like she is a beacon for the LGBT community. They had to hide who they are, and they feel confident around Elastigirl. I’m okay with Disney moving forward with this and it’s great that Disney is starting to show interest, but enslaving them to do the bad guy’s bidding derailed it. Between this and supposedly LeFou, it now seems that Disney is moving backward from the movement. Their track record isn’t looking so good right now. But we’re waiting to see what happens with Elsa next fall.

Edna, at this point, is an iconic character. In a way, Nick Fury. But I feel she has become a joke from all the memes and jokes about “dahlings.” And Jack-Jack used this to persuade her to make a suit fit for him. But why is his eye and voice confirmations necessary to unlock her lab? If movies taught me anything, she needs to be dead in the next movie, and they have to go into the lab to pick up something special she made, and only he can get in.

Once again, Frozone’s wife remains absent from the screen. I heard they’re getting a spinoff, but it ain’t coming for fifteen more years. What’s up with that? What’s up with that? Ooo-eee. Careful, Mr. Jackson, that costs money. But seriously, I’ve had it with this monkey fighting studio and its Monday to Friday jerking us around. Enough is enough.

The biggest tragedy of all is Violet and Tony’s relationship. I’ve been rooting for them from the very beginning, and it made progress. He was nervous to talk to a girl despite being the most popular boy in school. She had some newfound confidence and she owned it by accepting his offer to go on a date. Then Agent Dicker happened, which wasn’t his fault, but Tony is somehow freaking out about Violet’s secret. He said he was sort of okay with Violet being super, but then his mind got wiped of her existence. Then throughout the movie, their personalities flipped. Tony was kind and confident in talking to Violet, but Violet retreated to her shyness and turned her awkwardness to 12. Disney, are you listening? YOU NEED TO FIX THIS!

All in all, this was a movie not worth having. Like Syndrome said, 15 years too late. 14, whatever, this movie sucked.

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Released On: June 15, 2018
Rating: PG
Stars: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Bob Odenkirk, Catherine Keener
Director: Brad Bird
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94% Certified Fresh
IMDb Score: 8.0/10

Awards

Golden Globes