Could Live Without

Rating: 7/10 (6 July 2018)

Before the decision being made on whether to watch this movie, there's that faint yet very real fear a film lover experiences: a sequel to a fantastic film, unless set out as a trilogy from the get-go, almost unfailingly turns out to be worse than the original. Draw a snake and add feet to it is what the Chinese call it. Unfortunately, Incredibles 2 proved the feeling I had to be true once again.
Sometime last year, I saw the first trailer of this sequel. In one word, it felt safe, which is never a good sign. But one can't read too much into movie trailers these days considering it's pretty much a separate industry. It did however balanced my expectations, which otherwise would be so high that it would've inevitably ruined the experience.
Now moving to the actual film. Right off the bat, I was surprised they didn't do a time jump. It started exactly, I mean exactly, where it left off. 14 years ago. As if nothing has happened in this huge chunk of time. Imagine the last thing you did with someone was discussing how the weather was that day. And then, 14 years later, you see that person again and the first thing he says is, "Hey, so the sun was so bright that day huh?" How weird would that be? Eight years. Ten or fourteen years. Dash could be finishing high school yet still cocky. Maybe Violet is going to college and struggling to find her career path. Mom and dad dealing with their own age issues. Wouldn't anyone rather watch that story?
The second thing that can't be overlooked was the little changes made to the characters, specifically their facial features. I don't remember this being done in other Pixar franchises but I could be wrong. To me, their new faces looked somewhat strange and almost sinister. Mom's eyebrows were now hooked, and dad's jawline went from big to unproportionally humongous. Dash's hair and Frozone's ice did look cooler, though not really something to brag about.
Moving to the plots. Mom ventured into a new career path while dad dealt with domestic life. Kind of cliche but not necessarily bad. The execution was yet again sloppy. Generally speaking, the lack of creativity on the details made the middle part of the movie felt like time fillers rather than revelations of unexpected stories of characters' lives. In the first film, dad's "training" to get in shape and mom checking herself out in the mirror added a layer of self-deprecating humor that's crucial for adult viewers to emphasize with. I don't recall this kind of experience from watching the sequel. On top of that, mom still pulled the same parachute skill at least twice. Edna's presentation chairs moved the exact same way. All in all, there's more reminders than discoveries. The antagonist, which is the counter half of any hero, was also weakly designed. The tiny twist was that instead of it being the hero-worshipping brother, it was the sister. The dead giveaway was how close she was to Mom. Anyone with that much screen time is bound to be more than just a stock character. And with the real villain still missing, the circle really closed in only on her.
Not counting it being a Pixar movie and the sequel to one of the best animation from last decade, Incredibles 2 could've been an above average, stand-alone movie. However, since they decided to continue telling the story and naming it the sequel, the measuring stick just became significantly longer.
Seven out of ten.