It's extremely underwhelming and one of Pixar's worst efforts.

Rating: 5/10 (26 July 2018)

Brad Bird often stated that he would only make a sequel to 'The Incredibles' (2004) if he could come up with a story that was just as good as, or better than, that of the original. Sorry Brad, but I don't think that using the exact same story again really counts. Seriously, 'Incredibles 2' has pretty much beat-for-beat the same plot as the original, only with worse dialogue, much worse characters, and far worse motivations for the villain. In the first ten minutes or so, the film completely goes back on the character arcs of the original and basically resets the story, so that the exact same plot can play out again. Instead of expanding on the original, it actually takes away from it which is very disappointing. That's a good word to sum 'Incredibles 2' up: disappointing. There wasn't a chance that this one would actually be better than the original, but the fact that it doesn't even come close, and that it's definitely one of Pixar's worst efforts, is actually rather surprising. The two plot-lines that we cut between during the film don't really blend together all that well, and therefore the film feels disjointed. Personally, I think that the best moments of the film are those that explore Bob's relationship with Jack-Jack, however these moments are underdeveloped and the exploration of Jack-Jack's powers begins to lack logic as the many powers that he gains start to become illogical with his supposed 'polymorph' power. However Jack-Jack does provide some of the film's best moments, especially a scene involving a raccoon. The voice-cast are fine, but there's nothing noteworthy in that department. The best pieces of music are taken straight from the first, and the new stuff that Michael Giachinno brings is underwhelming and forgettable. The action scenes are, for the most part, well done and deliver some sort of entertainment, however there's always the underlying sense that we've seen it all before. This film claims to be something different, that it is better than the recent bulk of similar superhero flicks, when in reality it is just that: a generic superhero film with hardly any real character development. It's a shame too since the first definitely wasn't a generic superhero film and it broke the genre stereotypes (despite being released years before the modern 'superhero craze'). The film just sort of ended too, without any real resolution or closure, and instead of leaving me excited and ready for more, the bombastic score (taken from the original) and the once cool 2D credit animations (taken from the original) left me feeling hollow. 'Incredibles 2' is an incredible disappointment, and actually tarnishes the legacy of the first. Sure, it's not terrible and it's entertaining enough for the majority of its runtime, but as a follow-up to one of the best animated films of all time, it's simply not good enough. 5/10