Dumbed Down to the Max

Rating: 1/10 (23 July 2018)

(I'll try to keep spoilers to a minimum)
I really don't know what to say about this film.
As someone who absolutely loved the first one and went into this one desiring to love it as well, I was extremely disappointed and just incredibly confused. I have a number of issues with it, but let's get into the first one.
Tone: Not every film in a series/sequence needs to maintain consistent tone, I get that. But the first film has always stood out from other animated movies, because of its serious tone and mature themes (children and adults can enjoy it). This movie feels like a different franchise entirely. It lacks all the high stakes, emotion, and seriousness of the first film. Consider just a couple moments from the first film: the plane crash scene, the scene where Mr. Incredible threatens to kill Mirage, the scene where Buddy gives his "it's bigger, it's badder" monologue, the scene where Mr. Incredible realizes his fellow supers are dead and is then absorbed by black slime, or when Elastigirl considers that Mr. Incredible might be having an affair when she finds a white hair. Any one of these scenes is more complex, emotional, and interesting than the entire Incredibles 2 film. The second movie lacks any sense of stakes or seriousness. It felt like the most dumbed down version imaginable. The first film was so smart in its approach and dialogue, and the characters felt realistic and intelligent (the fight between Elastigirl and Bob when he comes home late). This film has lost all of that completely. For example, the scene where Elastigirl is talking to the sister and says "are you asking the believer or the cynic?" was possibly the most cringe-worthy, out of place dialogue I've ever heard. Like they were trying to intellectualize a moment so hard it just felt forced. Even the color scheme of this movie felt jarringly different and so saturated, like the colors were turned up to the max. The first film had a color story that made sense: it's grey and depressing when Bob is working, explosion of color once you get to Nomanasan. There's a development of color that is both metaphoric and makes sense. This film's color story felt childish, which would be fine if it was just a children's movie. But it's apart of a franchise that's first film was an iconic masterpiece with mature yet fun themes, and in that respect it is seriously disappointing and difficult to watch.
Plot: Most predictable plot ever made. As soon as you see it, you know the siblings (sister) will turn out to be bad, and that she's controlling screen slaver. And of course Elastigirl finally gets her turn to save the world and Mr. Incredible + family will have to go save her (a reversal of the first movie that at first seems creative then becomes almost too predictable). And I have major issues with the villain. They are literally fighting people who can be calmed down if they just remove goggles.
Characters: What happened with the characters? They were all dumbed down versions of themselves. Even that scene with Dash where he can't pronounce decimals, which was supposed to be family friendly and cute, was just irritating and felt dumb for his character. Elastigirl was over the top to the point where she didn't feel like herself. Bob was the... same? I guess, but had zero development. Violet, who I get is going through her angsty teen thing, is okay. Even the minor characters, Edna aside who was fine, like the guy who helps them relocate each year was off. In the first film I appreciated his seriousness and matter of fact style, which appeared cold but you could tell he actually cared. Even he felt crazy different.
It actually hurts me to continue critiquing this film, so I'll stop there despite the many other issues I had with it.