Good, not great, and definitely not incredible

Rating: 7/10 (17 June 2018)

"Incredibles 2" is definitely an enjoyable movie, filled with enough action, heart, and comedy to entertain anyone - if there's one thing I can say with confidence, it's that this movie will be a crowd pleaser. From beginning to end this movie is fun. The action scenes are incredible, no pun intended, and are directed beautifully. There's definitely a lot of humor and silliness to make you laugh, and laugh hard. And it's just plain entertaining to watch this family interact - in fact, the heart of these movies lies in the interaction between the family, but unfortunately, there really isn't all that much of it in this film.
The majority of the movie, when there aren't action scenes, is Mr. Incredible taking care of Jack-Jack, which does serve a purpose but in this reviewer's opinion made the film seem unbalanced. I get it, Jack-Jack is cute, he's adorable, and he makes the entire audience erupt in laughter, but where's the character progression and heart-to-heart moments with Dash and Violet? Yes, there are a few moments of sweetness and familial bonding between Mr. Incredible and his two other children (mostly with Violet, hardly any with Dash, and in fact Dash had absurdly little to do in this movie) but compared to the time the movie focuses on Mr. Incredible with Jack-Jack, his interaction with his other children feels minuscule. I mean, there was so, so much "Incredibles 2" could've done with Bob and Violet especially. Don't get me wrong, there are some very sweet moments between them, but the film could have and indeed should have explored many more aspects of the reality of what it is like for a father raising a teenage daughter that has to deal with liking boys, going through "adolescence," as Dash calls it, and perhaps the thing that all fathers dread: being a superhero.
Instead, the movie focuses on two things, the first being Bob dealing with Jack-Jack and his newfound powers, and while this isn't ideal, I'll be damned if it didn't lead to some truly hilarious moments. The second thing the movie revolves around is Elastigirl as she works her new job, which results in a ton of action sequences. Now, these action sequences are slick and visually stunning, but action sequences were not what made the first movie great - what made the first movie great was the entire family interacting each other and dealing with real life problems while just happening to be superheroes, and this film doesn't seem to realize this, instead resorting to bombastic action sequences. And I'll say it again: the action is great, it's exciting, it's adrenaline inducing, but god damn it, did we need so much of it? It just feels like the ridiculous amount of action in this movie kind of cheapens the experience, at least in my opinion. Because what could've been a very mature movie like the first one was, turned into a movie that seemed much more childlike than it had any right to be.
Maturity, too, is another thing that this movie sacrifices. The first one dealt with very adult topics and this movie, well, doesn't. Sure, there is a truly amazing and I mean AMAZING monologue that the villain has, and once I heard it I got excited because I started thinking, "wow, I can't believe they're taking this film in this mature direction, this is going to be great," because the monologue dealt with very real things and it seemed to even be pointing at the audience and blaming them, in a way. But after that monologue, those motivations go out the window and the "true" motivations are revealed, and it's just disappointing. They could've taken that initial idea so much further, but just like everything else, they resort to taking the easier, more digestible, choice. So the villain, initially someone with motives that we've literally never seen before in any superhero film, turns into someone whose motives are not only lazy, but predictable.
Now I know I might seem like I'm bashing the crap out of this film, but I'm not really. I enjoyed myself and I can't wait to buy it on Blu-Ray to watch it again, but after 14 years, I'd say we deserve better.