The magic is in the execution and the details. And Incredibles 2 simply knocks it out of the park.
Incredibles 2 (PG, 118 mins) Directed by Brad Bird ★★★★1⁄2
It’s been 14 years out here in the real world since The Incredibles was released. It was writer and director Brad Bird’s homage to a golden age of superhero comics and an earlier, less-conflicted America which didn’t need to argue about the nuances of right and wrong, but which just knew a nuclear family in spandex suits could only be a Good Thing. That first film has aged extremely well. Nostalgia never gets old, and a well-written gag and the still astonishing visual inventiveness have seen The Incredibles rated today as one of the very best recent animated films, even judged against the rest of its all-conquering Pixar stablemates. Pixar does many things extraordinarily well. But maybe what I respect it most for is that it lets the writers and creators dictate the schedule. Which is why we waited only three years between Toy Story and Toy Story 2, but another 11 years until Toy Story 3 was released. It’s an approach – wait until you have a great script and only then make the film – which I reckon a lot of other studios (DC and Marvel, most of all) would benefit from. Hence, 14 years down the road and we finally get to see Incredibles 2. It’s totally been worth the wait. Incredibles 2 kicks off only a few months after the events of the first film. Our super family and their friends are still living under the yoke of a law that makes the use of their powers illegal. An opening set-piece featuring the family attempting to stop a wannabe villain and his giant tunnelling machine only reinforces the authority’s intolerance of all things super. Bob – Mr Incredible to you – is facing a return to the insurance work he loathed and the family are living cheek-by-jowl in a cheap motel. But an offer from a maverick billionaire soon gets the plot moving, as Elastigirl is offered up in a series of heroic rescues stagemanaged to get the rules lifted and the assorted ubermensch back in the public’s esteem. The plot, really, isn’t a million miles away from the original and sundry other superhero movies – mostly a lot less entertaining than this one – I’ve seen in the past dozen years. But the magic is in the execution and the details. And Incredibles 2, just like the first film, simply knocks it out of the park. The ace up Brad Bird’s sleeve is baby Jack-jack. We learned at the very end of The Incredibles that Jack-jack has some powers of his own. Watching as his mum, dad, sister and brother find out for themselves just how extensive and hilarious Jack-jack’s abilities are, is Bird’s go-to move for keeping us entertained. At its very best – which it never slips too far from – Incredibles 2 isa completely worthy successor to that mighty original. The film is hugely entertaining, lightningpaced, contains some truly funny dialogue and deft commentary on marriage and parenting, and is visually and sonically spectacular – on a par with anything Pixar has ever produced. The voice cast – Holly Hunter, Craig T Nelson and Samuel L Jackson return, while Catherine Keener and Isabella Rossellini are welcome new additions – are all superb. And the score by Michael Giacchino is a gorgeous pile-up of influences from classic 50s TV to big-band swing jazz and everything in between. If I flat-out, uncritically enjoy any film more than Incredibles 2 this year I’ll be surprised.
The film is hugely entertaining, lightningpaced, contains some truly funny dialogue and deft commentary on marriage and parenting, and is visually and sonically spectacular.