Respectable return with somewhat predictable story

Rating: 8/10 (9 July 2018)

When Pixar released The Incredibles (2004), the thought of super hero movies being as big as they are today was certainly not as popular. However, several aspects to the original film made it so that it stood out from the norm. Yet sometimes even greatness proves to be a challenge when it comes to a proper follow up. For director Brad Bird, that was exactly his dilemma. The first film was so well received that it was not easy for him and the rest of the film crew to determine what would make an adequate sequel. Thankfully, the time came where Bird and everyone else felt that what the story at hand was ready to be put into action. To some extent, everyone was right, but even so there's still one noticeable element to the story that feels less creative than it should have been. However, if anything else had changed this sequel would not have been as good as it is.
The plot picks up right after the events of the first movie where the Parr family (the incredibles) decide to take on the Underminer. Unfortunately they fail at foiling his plan and because super heroes were still illegal, they get forced into hiding again. That is until Lucius AKA Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) comes to them with a new proposition. The proposal is to reinvent the image of super heroes led by billionaire tycoon Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk) and his sister Evelyn Deavor (Catherine Keener). Together they push Helen Parr AKA Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) to the forefront while Bob Parr AKA Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) becomes a stay at home dad watching over Dash (Huck Milner), Violet (Sarah Vowell) and Jack-Jack. As this goes on, a sinister individual known as the Screenslaver begins to make their move on the public, looking to permanently damage the image of supers.
For a movie directed and written solely by Brad Bird and who also voiced Edna Mode, it's impressive with how well the execution made out. Doing all of these is not easy but for the most part everything turned out rather well. Within the running time, the main characters experience much development. Helen Parr becoming the breadwinner of sorts for the family is typically unheard of in modern society, while Bob Parr acting as a stay at home dad is also not a very typical occupation for most fathers. Violet also goes through a series of emotions dealing with her confidence and being able to talk to her crush from school. There's even a history as to why the Deavor siblings are so passionate about helping out the Parr family and all other super heroes. Lastly Jack-Jack gets a chance to show off more of what was missed during the first film while he was being baby sat.
Unfortunately the script does miss some things. One of them being that Dash and Frozone do not really get much of any time to do something out of the ordinary. Dash still runs fast but doesn't learn something new about his abilities or his relative behavior. Frozone, who suggests the Deavors to the incredibles is not as involved as one might think either, which is kind of misleading. The biggest problem though is the premise for the script. The similarities to how everything is set up feels very much like the first movie, with somebody making a very special and secret deal, when behind the scenes, there's more going on. Or at least, so it seems. On top of that, these offers would seem rather obvious being that these stories take place pretty much back to back from each other. Wouldn't one be skeptical after coming across such an incident so recently?
Aside from this though, the final bits to this feature film are well done. As to what Mahyar Abousaeedi and Erik Smitt contributed to this movie with cinematography, it's possible to say they did a good job. But there would need to be more information on the matter because this was an animated movie. For that, the animation was great. The details to various objects are much more profound now and the movements among characters and other things are much more fluid. As for music, the score composed again by Michael Giacchino was just as competent as the first score he created for the original movie. With jazz instruments livening up the mood and energy, the tunes played throughout most of the scenes will engage the viewer quite easily. And of course without the signature cue for the Parr family, the music would not be as incredible or memorable.
While the script suffers from a couple developmental flaws and fails to set up the plot any differently from that of the original, it still manages to entertain and perform well as a sequel. The main characters are fun to watch, the action is cool, the music remains bombastic and the animation is even more profound.