The last Disney movie I will pay to see?

Rating: 3/10 (19 June 2018)

SPOILER: I have occasionally been asked, "What is your favourite movie?" It is a question I find hard to answer but "The Incredibles" usually comes to mind.
The first movie was brilliant on so many levels and all the characters had depth, even the minor ones like Mirage and Bob's boss. The tension between Bob and Helen felt real but was constrained in a way that was totally appropriate for a family movie. The humour was clever and tensions worked out in a thoroughly plausible way. The movie thoughtfully and often subtly explored family dynamics in a manner unprecedented in superhero movies or mainstream animated movies,
In the first movie Bob and Helen were both strong, willful characters who learned from each other. They put effort into their marriage and were ultimately rewarded for it but it was portrayed realistically as a work in progress
In this movie, not.
It was not brilliant on any level other that the technical. The animation was fantastic. Although I actually enjoyed the parts of the movie there was much I did not like.
The characters lacked the depth of the first movie. Helen as others have pointed out was particularly shallow, ironic considering how aggressively feminist the plot was.
The minor characters were like cardboard cutouts. The new superhero crew seemed to try to tick demographic boxes, although I am sure someone will rant there was none identifying as a woman of colour with a speaking part. (apart from Frozone's wife Honey)
The tension between Bob and Helen was largely replaced by Bob's tension with the feminist world view. Bob's emasculation for most of the movie was nauseating to watch. While feminists may rejoice at the role reversal, I have met very few women who find underachieving, stay at home dads attractive.
The villain was quite predictable and her story-line felt contrived.
An over arching feminist agenda seemed to dominate the movie in a thoroughly skewed manner.
Pro women:
1. the main superhero action was given to Helen. She is portrayed as nearly perfect and able to singlehandedly do almost anything.
2. the main superhero of the new group is Void
3. the main politician is the Ambassador
4. Violet gets a story arc but Dash gets very little. (Jack Jack does but babies are rather gender-less). Violet's superpowers save people several times
5. the technical wizards of the movie are both women and although Edna Mode is arguably transgender, she still identifies as a woman.
6. the evil genius is a woman but not that evil; almost as if to say women villains are so much nicer than male ones. She only tried to kill one person, where as Syndrome actually killed several. For a bonus feminist point she is quite possibly lesbian and therefore really does not need men at all.
7. Violet after much effort, angst and embarrassment finally gets her date with a nice guy, only to leave him standing at the ticket counter. The message is loud and clear, girls can do as they want, when they want and men should accept this without question.
Anti men
1. Bob is portrayed as inept, reckless when doing the superhero thing and chauvinistic. Even when doing his superhero stuff, he never succeeds until one or more people are helping.
2. Dash has a relatively minor role and is often reckless and impulsive just like his dad. His most memorable achievement is stealing a car!
3. Rick Dicker a important male authority figure from the first movie, is portrayed as ineffectual and is put out to pasture.
4. Winston Deavor is arguably dangerously naive, implausibly altruistic and rather shallow.
Finally the most ridiculous part of the whole movie. Jack Jack. It is a given that a certain suspension of disbelief is required to enjoy any superhero movie but usually there are rules to constrain the plot and make the story worth while and set up an internal coherence. Every Superman has his kryptonite and in another age every Achilles had his heel. In what universe is a baby with highly destructive, poorly controlled and nearly limitless superpowers a good idea? That Jack Jacks antics have such benign effects is implausible to say the least. However did the raccoon survive? By sheer political correctness I suspect. We can't have babies killing wild animals in a Disney movie. The internal realism of the first movie is thoroughly absent here.
In summary it feels as if the original movie got a Neo-Marxist rewrite. There was enough spark left over from the original movie to make it watchable but not enough to redeem it.