Extremely mediocre anima(c)tion

Rating: 4/10 (16 October 2018)

Here we have "Incredibles 2" and the title makes it obvious of course that this is the long awaited (?) sequel to the Pixar Oscar-winning blockbuster "The Incredibles". It's been almost 15 years since that one and director Brad Bird is back behind the camera after a journey into the world of live action. So you get the superhero family back for this film we have here that runs pretty much exactly 2 hours including credits, which is really long for an animated Hollywood film these days you could say. Let me say first of all that I am writing this review as somebody who has yet to see the original first Incredibles movie. While I like animation, Pixar and live action superhero films, the 2004 film never really made me curious to the point where I would really wanna see it. And I guess I was right as this one here left me really underwhelmed and I don't think the problem was that I have not seen the first. There are basically 2 almost independent story lines here. The first is about the father who stays at home with the baby (and the other kids) and finds out that the baby has superpowers as well that may exceed everything they have known about so far. The second is about the mother being recruited by an influential businessman and his sister with the plan to make sure superheroes are no longer outlaws. Well, I mentioned the kids in brackets. The boy is fun to watch, but has literally no story line whatsoever. The girl has a bit more, some references about a boy she is crushing on and who may have an interest in her too, but sadly found out about her superhero identity and thus had to lose his memory about her altogether.
Let's talk a bit about the father-baby story line. I found it really uninteresting. The daddy is sometimes fun to watch, also his face, but yeah it just wasn't enough to make for almost half the film. It was never really funny, not even remotely and in terms of the fantasy aspect, i.e. the baby's powers, it wasn't good enough drama-wise either to cut the cake. Good enough for a 20-minute television special perhaps, but that's it. The mother being out there getting liked by the people was definitely the more dramatic story line. But it had crucial flaws too. I really struggle to find the mother interesting on a level where I see her as the defining character from a movie. I see that in the father though. Plus her part was so packed with action instead of convincing story lines that it was just one heavy explosion or stunt after the next. Then there is of course the twist when we find out who the villain is. As if that was any surprise. It was obvious from the beginning. The only surprise was to me that the brother wasn't involved. I thought he wanted to summon all these heroes and politicians on the ship, so he could kidnap them or do something worse. I remember plot twists about villains that I really didn't see coming like in Zootopia or Frozen, but here it is really really easy to predict and still they are acting as if it wasn't obvious. Another problem for this film is that it has just too many characters. The Black ice hero is completely pointless, same for the superhero brother and there are 2 or 3 other characters that are getting a solid amount of screen time, but add virtually nothing. It's like the animated Avengers gone wrong at times.
Finally, of course with Pixar, it needs to be said that the animation is as good as always. There is really absolutely nothing wrong with the visual side. But the film relies way too much on that component and the heart and charm of other Pixar films is missing entirely here. Rushed-in story lines like the antagonist trying to convince the mother she is the more powerful from the couple do not work at all. All in all, I am surprised this received such strong reviews and is considered a frontrunner for Animated Feature at the Oscars. It has nothing on Wes Anderson's recent dog-themed film. Or on a handful of Japanese films coming out this year. If "Incredibles 2" is really top of the pile this year, then this says nothing good about Hollywood animation this year and they may be losing their dominant position to Asia again. The introductory short film by Pixar (about dumplings) was weak already and the full feature film that followed wasn't any better. It could partially have to do with the German dub that I watched not being particularly great to be fair, but hey that's part of the entire thing as well, actually a crucial part. So overall, the only thing impressive (as usual) here was the visual side. The rest of the film was not a success by any means and I give it a thumbs-down. For all I care, they don't need to make a third film, but I'm pretty sure looking at the reception and upcoming awards accolades they will. Not sure if I'm gonna watch, but I'm pretty sure I'll never give this second film a rewatch. Thumbs-down. Please please please get back to your best again soon Pixar.