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The family are back together, in belated but brilliant sequel The Incredibles 2 |
Director: Brad Bird
Cast: Craig T Nelson (Bob Parr/Mr Incredible), Holly Hunter
(Helen Parr/Elastigirl), Sarah Vowell (Violet Parr), Huck Milner (Dash Parr),
Samuel L Jackson (Lucius Best/Frozone), Bob Odenkirk (Winston Deavor),
Catherine Keener (Evelyn Deavor), Brad Bird (Edna Moda), Sophia Bush (Voyd)
Fourteen years? In Hollywood that is nearly an eternity. Can
you even imagine a film released today getting its first sequel over a dozen
years later? But that is how long we’ve had to wait for a sequel to The Incredibles.
Picking up immediately after the first film finished, the
efforts of the Parrs, Bob/Mr Incredible (Craig T Nelson), Helen/Elastigirl
(Holly Hunter), their children Violet (Sarah Vowell) and Huck (Dash Parr) and
their friend Frozone (Samuel L Jackson) to stop the Underminer only lead to
destruction. Superheroes are once again anathema to the authorities, but tech millionaire
Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk) and his inventor sister Evelyn (Catherine Keener)
are determined to change their reputation. Their plan? Use Elastigirl as the
new “face” of responsible superhero-ing. Elastigirl takes on a new threat: the
villainous Screenslaver who uses screens to hypnotise people and control them.
Meanwhile, Bob has to cope with the pressures of being a stay-at-home dad, dealing
with with teenage crushes, homework challenges and controlling super-powered
baby Jack-Jack, who can barely control his never-ending series of powers.
And the world of Hollywood has changed so much since the
first Incredibles film came out. Back
then, comic book films were only just starting to come into fashion, and the
Marvel Cinematic Universe didn’t even exist. So can The Incredibles forge its way in a cinematic landscape now
overstuffed with superhero derring-do? Well
yes it does, because the film hasn’t lost the sense of what was so enjoyable about
the first film. We still get all the action-packed excitement of some damn fine
adventure sequences, choreographed with skill and wit. Playing alongside that
we get all the homespun domestic turmoil of modern family life, right down to a
dad struggling to help his son with his homework (“How can they change math?!”)
and trying not to mess up his kids’ lives.
The film resets the table to get us back to the situation of
the first film – superheroes are illegal and unwanted and anything the Parrs do
is going to have to be under the wire. And then it spins out a twist on the
first film – this time it’s the super-competent and intelligent Elastigirl who
will be the hero, while the more old-school Mr Incredible stays at home and
looks after the kids. This combination works perfectly – Elastigirl is a
brilliantly conceived character, cool, calm, collected, super smart, ultra-determined
and ridiculously good at what she does. Holly Hunter’s southern tones are smoothly
perfect for this part, investing it with just the right level of
humanitarianism.
Really I should be annoyed about the end of the last movie
being so completely reset in the opening minutes of this one, but truthfully
the idea of superheroes struggling to balance everyday problems with illegal
super-heroing is such a totally brilliant idea you are really happy to see it
play out again, this time adding the dilemmas of Mr Incredible suddenly being thrown
into a situation he can’t handle – having to be a regular dad – and collapsing
in an unshaven, exhausted mess.
Seeing someone struggle with such everyday problems is
hilarious enough, but the film has a USP in the challenges of looking after
cute little ball-of-trouble baby Jack-Jack: a sweet, blubbering little kid with
a regular smorgasbord of powers, none of which he is able to control. Bob’s
struggles to deal with this explosion of wildness (everything from laser rays
to moving in the fourth dimension) throw up endless hilarious moments and sight
gags that had me laughing out loud (probably too loud) in the cinema.
Sitting alongside this, Brad Bird hasn’t forgotten how to
shoot and cut an action sequence – whether it’s animated or not. A chase where Elastigirl
has to stop an out-of-control train is not only hugely exciting, but also tense
and witty. Elastigirl is also such a relatable character that she adds huge
amounts of human interest to every one of these action bits, and her
determination to save lives – even of her enemies in exploding buildings – is
really rather touching. The final action sequence doesn’t quite match the
highlights of the first film, but it does excellent work.
Of course the villain is in fact using these strengths
against her. If the film has one weak point, it’s that the identity of the
villain is really rather obvious from the start. I pretty much guessed
immediately who the villain was going to be. I can’t see anyone of any age
being fooled, and the motivations of this villain seem a lot more rushed and
less interesting than those of Syndrome in the first film.
But that feels like a minor blemish on what is an excellent
sequel, a real gem in the Pixar cannon. It's still got the brilliantly retro-cool design that mixes the modern world with the 1950s and 60s. Michael Giacchino's soundtrack is cracking. Brad Bird brings himself back as scene-stealing superhero costume designer Edna Mode. What's not to like? I wouldn’t mind waiting another 14
years if they produce a third film as good as this one.
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