Is Pixar's 'Incredibles 2' Any Good? Here's What The Reviews Have To Say
It's been well over a decade since director Brad Bird's super-powered family won over our hearts. Will you cherish an "Incredibles 2" reunion with the Parr family come June 13th, or should you come up with an excuse for not going? Here's what the reviews say:
It Picks Right Up Where The First One Ended… Really
And so we see an attack by the Underminer, burrowing through the city, robbing its banks from below, and we watch the Parr family try to stop it. They do, but there's so much damage done to the metropolis that no one is really eager to thank them[…] it's that destruction that has led to superhero activity being criminalized.
Elastigirl — having been in Mr. Incredible's shadow — needs liberating. Her opportunity comes in the form of the rich-boy capitalist-showman Winston Deavor and his ironic sister, Evelyn. Their big idea is to build cameras into superheroes' suits so that viewers can experience their feats firsthand and first person, and pressure chicken legislators to legalize superheroism.
[Vulture]
While Elastigirl is working to turn the public tide in superheroes' favor, a masked villain called the Screenslaver is giving her something to fight against.
[Slate]
Bird Doesn't Miss A Beat Directing The Action
Brad Bird hasn't directed an animated feature since Ratatouille in 2007 — he's been busy peddling his considerable ambitions via the best "Mission: Impossible" movie and the flawed but ambitious "Tomorrowland" — but he glides effortlessly back into animation without missing a single step.
"Incredibles 2" just moves beautifully, sliding from one scene to another with such grace and momentum. And the action sequences are among the best you'll see all year. There's a sequence with Elastigirl and a runaway train that's gorgeously conceived and executed, and the climax is better than most Marvel action sequences.
Once the menacing and mysterious Screenslaver is introduced, inciting a Spielberg-level monorail chase that reaffirms Bird's lucid gift for kinetic and character-driven action filmmaking, the movie blasts off and never looks back.
Yes, Marvel Could Learn A Thing Or Two Here
It's like the best of the Avenger-on-Avenger bits from "Captain America: Civil War" or "Avengers: Infinity War" – only better, because it's easier to follow the the crisp, colorful action.
[Mashable]
It's proof that someone (not anyone, mainly Bird) can make a Marvel-type movie that's fleet and shapely, with action sequences rich in style rather than tumult.
[Vulture]
The Stay-At-Home-Dad Stuff Works Better Than The Tired Trope Would Have You Guess
Sure, this kind of gender role-reversal would read as hopelessly sitcom-esque or dated in the wrong hands – realistically, many dads in "Incredibles 2's" audience have long since made the transition to taking on traditionally female roles in the family. But "Incredibles 2" sweetly delivers the necessary message that parenting is a job for dads too. (To be fair, even the most patient Misters Mom would struggle to keep up with the chaos that Jack-Jack leaves in his adorable, babbling wake.)
At first, this seems like the setup for the usual hokey gags about how hopeless dads are at "babysitting" their own kids, and how everyone's better off when Mom gets home to take over domestic duties with a knowing smiles. Fortunately, it evolves into something sweeter and more nuanced, as both parents struggle to let go of their old roles and take pride in their new ones.
[Mashable]
Holly Hunter Gives The Movie's Best Performance
The movie is really stolen by Hunter, who can convey more with a single line reading than other actresses can with an entire monologue.
Hunter continues to be the heart and soul of this franchise, with her inimitable Georgia drawl helping to make Helen one of the most soulful and expressive animated characters ever drawn (it doesn't hurt that Elastigirl's self-possessed excitement allows Hunter to channel her immortal performance from "Broadcast News," a callback that Bird makes sure that we catch).
Pixar Knows How To Portray Parenting
Even if you don't have kids, in the same way that Tully shows how draining and worthwhile it can be, "Incredibles 2" has Mr. Incredible being worn away not by supervillains or a death ray, but by lack of sleep. It shows the difficulty in trying to keep your kids happy or help them with their math homework or having a rambunctious (to say the least) baby and once you think it's all sorted, you have to do it all again tomorrow.
[Collider]
Pixar's not-so-secret secret has always been that they understand parenting better than anyone else who makes movies for children. And "Incredibles 2" is at its best — which is to say, its funniest and most exciting — when it tackles the internal dynamics of the family itself.
There Are Brand-New Gags To Break Up The Action
Jack-Jack gets the best stuff, particularly an extended and utterly bonkers backyard fight with a feisty raccoon, in which Bird imbues the movie's rollicking, round-edged verve with almost shocking jolts of violence. It's silly and a little dangerous and really funny, walking just to the edge of where the rules of the movie should lie and giving us a little raspberry.
Best of all are the second-rate Supers the Deavors round up as part of their promotional campaign, a "Mystery Men"-inspired coterie of rejects and oddballs. Their ranks include Reflux (an old man who vomits fire), Screech (a humanoid owl) and Voyd, a young woman (modeled after a certain modern starlet) whose powers essentially show us what a Pixar version of "Portal" might look like.
TL;DR
While it never quite reaches the delirious highs of "The Incredibles," "Incredibles 2" is a worthwhile sequel that never loses sight of why we fell in love with these superheroes in the first place.
[Collider]