A Crowd-Pleasing Sequel

Rating: 6/10 (20 June 2018)

The Parr family battle the Underminer which leads to significant damage to the city. A government official confines them to motel for two weeks. During this time, Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl meet Winston Deavor, a businessman who wants the criminalization of superheroes to be eradicated. He and his sister Evelyn devise a plan to promote Elastigirl as a lovable superhero. As Elastigirl fights crime, Mr. Incredible takes care of the family at home and learns about the struggle of domestic life.
A fourteen-year old sequel long overdue accomplishes some fantastic action scenes that should please audience members. In fact, Incredibles 2 is pure family entertainment and that elicited strong laughter from the audience in the movie theater. The film's animation is superior (the textures in the film are mind-blowing and makes the animation from the original Incredibles seem dated). The narrative is well-structured although I wish Elastigirl's story had a better throughline and Mr. Incredible's story had better motivation and plot for his children. Basically, while the first Incredibles felt ground-breaking, Incredibles 2 feels diluted.
Mainly, the film appears diluted because the children (Violet and Dash) have no motivation (Dash is a rumbustious child from beginning to end) or depend on weak subplots (Violet has a crush at school and Dash has problems learning math). The main culprit seems to be that the novelty is gone. If Dash and Violet were older then the film could create new and meaningful motivations for these characters. Jack-Jack is overused for jokes, but nobody complained in the audience (that's a me problem, rather than a major complaint about the film). The themes range from marriage equality, female empowerment, over-reliance on technology, and many more that I'm forgetting. While the themes are strong, there's nothing fresh or original about them. Finally, the villain is obvious which makes the film predictable and overlong. Incredibles 2 contains rousing sequences of action and explores the domestic life with laughter and warmth, just don't expect a film as ground-breaking as the first Incredibles.