Not up to original, if pleasant enough

Rating: Null/10 (5 July 2018)

It may be hard to recall now, but, it can be argued that the 2004 THE INCREDIBLES may still be the best of this millennium's Superhero movies. Fast. Bright. Witty. And, never forgetting the human touch. The passable sequel isn't just disappointing in comparison to it's stellar original, but, it ends up being just 'another' comic book movie in what seems like monthly installments of them.
The plot is simple enough. Superheroes have been banned, but the Incredibles family just can't help themselves in being do-gooders. A rich man Winston (Bob Odenkirk) and his sister Evelyn (Catherine Keener) agree to bankroll the family in order to rehab their rep with the public. The catch is they don't want the whole family, but only want to spotlight 'responsible' Mom/Elastic-Girl (Holly Hunter). This leaves Dad/Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) to play Mr. Mom at home with the kids, Violet (Sarah Vowell), Dash (Huck Milner) and Jack-Jack (Eli Fucile). While Elastic-Girl is out grabbing headlines, Mr. Incredible is stuck with domestic duty. While functional, the script just seems so...so ordinary (trying real hard to not make an 'incredible' reference).
INCREDIBLES 2 is genial enough. The voice work is fine (Samuel L. Jackson's Frozone and Bird's Edna Mode make return appearances). The production values are top notch, and Michael Giacchino's score groves in a 60s Monty Norman 007 Bond/Space Age Lounge kind of way.
Bird, Pixar et al. said for years that they didn't want to do a sequel until they found a screenplay worthy of it. The outlawed Superhero story is an old trope perhaps done best most recently in CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR and is the fundamental basis of the whole X-Men universe. And, did we wait 14 years to see Mr. Incredible change diapers and spend 5 minutes struggling over a math text book? It just seems small. More akin to a TV series like The Jetsons or The Simpsons than a big budget blockbuster. Because of the high production values and A List voice talent, it might be a stretch to call INCREDIBLES 2 to be more suited for the Direct-To-Video second tier Pixar/Disney offshoots - but, sadly, not too much of one. INCREDIBLES 2 is an okay two hours, but, Bird and company have to aim much higher if this is going to continue as a feature film franchise.