Incredibles 2: Not Safe For All Viewers

First off, the movie’s opening warning is not a joke. The effects gave me a minor headache and eye-strain, but, if you are someone with epilepsy or are otherwise affected heavily by strobing lights, then I hate to tell you: but don’t watch.

I too think it was a stupid decision on the filmmaker’s part.

But, now that that’s out of the way, we can get to talking about the sequel to a movie that came out when I was a child. And ask the important question: was it worth the wait? Does Incredibles 2 live up to the hype?

Um…I mean…no. Sorry.

It doesn’t.

Incredibles 2’s Hype Was Too Powerful

Fourteen years is too much anticipation. It would never match what we built up in our heads. But, what the Incredibles 2 is, is a solid action movie with a level of animation polish that boggles the mind.

At times.

Now, I want to make it clear, before I start nitpicking, that I enjoyed the heck out of this movie: but it has some noticeable flaws.

For instance, a scene involving Elastigirl riding a motorcycle was so well done, so, dare I waste the pun so early in this review, “incredible” that it beats several Marvel movies set pieces, but, that’s only a few scenes.

Incredibles 2 has the odd problem of looking too (literally) polished in places. Several moments are jaw-droppingly amazing to the point I questioned what more animation could be capable of, while other scenes made all the characters look too shiny, too rubbery.

I am aware of the irony of Elastigirl being the character that suffers the least from that problem.

But, it’s also par for the course. She’s the best part of the movie anyway.

Incredibles 2 Is, Above All, Elastigirl’s Movie

Sure, Mr. Incredible gets a lot of funny, realistic moments. Jack-Jack’s scenes are all cute. And I quite like Violet’s little romance subplot. But Dash is wasted. As is Frozone.

Elastigirl steals the whole movie.

She solves most of the problems.

She gets the best fight scenes.

Her dynamic with Screenslaver and Evelyn and even Voyd is fascinating. You get the sense of what she was like before she met Bob, and how she might be if she were in her own movie.

Should That Be The Sequal To Incredibles 2?

But she’s, again, not the entire film—even if maybe she should have been. And I have problems with the rest of it. It’s been a long time since I watched the first one, but, it seems the sequel is a lot more… “toothless.” I am not saying darkness in movies needs to be there to be good, just look at the D.C. cinematic universe, but I think there’s only one death in the whole movie. There are scant few scenes where the characters seem in lethal threat.

One of the most striking things to me about the original movie is the level of danger it all had. Elastigirl talks to Violet and Dash about how people will try to kill them, for real. That stuck with me.

In the sequel, despite that conversation, Violet and Dash treat fighting crime as something they play as a game. Even the adults go about it like it’s an addiction, not something they do simply for the sake of morals. There’s lip service: but it’s more a matter of self-expression and acceptance—which are good things—but mixed with adrenaline-junkie habits.

Incredibles 2 Is Comparatively Lighthearted

Despite all that, though, Incredibles 2 is a movie that I would recommend for kids (if they are not at risk from the strobing lights). It’s a thoughtful, exciting film that is much better than the usual dreck. For the returning fans, however—the people who grew up—it’s only giving you one Incredible at their full glory.

Okay, fine. Two of them. It was cool to finally know Jack-Jack’s powers. 

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