A funny and charming superhero sequel that doesn't quite reach the level of the original

Rating: 8/10 (18 June 2018)

Back in 2004, Disney Pixar released "The Incredibles", an animated movie about a family of superheroes. It was something we've never seen before, and it felt fresh, and as a result, the movie became a huge hit both critically and financially. Fast forward 14 years, and we have the sequel, titled "Incredibles 2", with Brad Bird returning to direct and write. The end result here is a fun-filled sequel that doesn't quite reach the level of its predecessor, but is good enough to rank as one of Pixar's better movies of recent years.
The story follows the Parr family shortly after defeating the villain "Syndrome" in the first movie. After their unsuccessful attempt to stop a bank robbery and causing extreme damage throughout the city, the government decides to outlaw superheroes, which forces the Parr family to go into hiding until they, along with Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson), are confronted by Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk), the head of DEVTECH, and his sister, Evelyn (Catherine Keener), who plan to use Helen Parr (Holly Hunter), under her old identity as Elastigirl, to fight crime and re-gain public support of superheroes. All this results in Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) becoming a stay at home dad, taking care of Violet (Sarah Vowell), Dash (Huck Milner), and baby Jack-Jack (Eli Fucile). It's a more complex plot than the first movie, but the problem is that it ends up being a bit too familiar. I commend Bird for trying to make the story more complex, but the narrative of whether superheroes should be legal or not is something that has been done many times before in the superhero genre and at this point it's starting to feel a bit redundant. Because of the various things going on in the story, the movie tends to drag, especially during the second act when we spend a lot of time watching Mr. Incredible struggle with the responsibilities of being a dad. It's certainly nice to get a change of pace from the action scenes, but there was too much of it and not enough of those spectacular animated action scenes that made the first Incredibles so enjoyable.
The Incredibles 2 ultimately shines when it comes to its characters, humor and animation. Most of the cast from the first Incredibles were able to reprise their roles, except for the voice of Dash, whose voiced changed in between these 14 years. Huck Milner replaces him just fine and performs well. Each character gets their time to shine throughout the movie, whether it's through cool action scenes or witty dialogue, reminding us why we got so attached to these characters 14 years ago. Pixar's signature beautiful animation enhances this. The animation looks almost identical to the first Incredibles, and it looks great. Typically companies try to change the animation to create a more modern, stylized look, but Pixar smartly stuck to what worked 14 years ago.
Bird's reason for taking so long to make this sequel was because he wanted to craft his own original superhero story while avoiding the typical superhero tropes that are present in TV shows and movies nowadays. While I commend him for his effort, his vision never fully comes together like I hoped it would. Nevertheless, Incredibles 2 is a funny, charming adventure that gets enough right to make this yet another Pixar success.