What Did You Think of Incredibles 2?

The Incredibles is, quite simply, one of my favorite movies of all time. This video from Cinema Wins does a great job of talking about why it works so well for me–in my opinion, it hits every beat perfectly, and every moment of the plot propels the story forward through character-building, discovery, humor, and action.

Given how much I love The Incredibles, I didn’t expect the sequel to be as good–that would be an unreasonable hope. I was just hoping for good, and luckily I got great.

That’s right: I thought The Incredibles 2 was great. Just like the original, there’s great action, humor, and character building. Perhaps its greatest feat is that it stands on its own–it doesn’t rely on people having seen The Incredibles, and it doesn’t leave any loose strands for another sequel. It is, by itself, a great movie.

***LIGHT SPOILERS IN THIS SECTION***

Here are a few specific things I really liked about the movie:

  • Mrs. Incredible was the featured hero, at least in the traditional sense. I liked how we got to see her shine while Mr. Incredible was learning how to be a stay-at-home dad.
  • I think it was a truly smart decision to have the movie pretty much continue where the original left off, especially in terms of the timeline. The Incredibles works so well largely because it’s about a family, and I think it may not feel like an Incredibles movie if we jumped forward 14 years.
  • I love Jack-Jack. Not only did he get the biggest laughs, but I also like how the director used Jack-Jack as an outlet for having a character learn about their new powers. That’s a key element of most successful superhero movies, but I don’t think we’ve ever seen a baby featured in that way before.
  • Without giving anything away, I like how the main antagonist isn’t some giant, strong, all-powerful being (nothing against Thanos, of course), and yet they are incredibly dangerous.

I have a few small bones to pick:

  • I wish there was more Dash in the movie. Dash is my favorite character, and he has my favorite scene and moment in the original move (gleefully running along the water). In this movie, he’s not given much to work with in terms of action.
  • I like that we were introduced to some new superheroes with fun powers. But there was something just a little too weird about the aesthetics about several of those characters. It’s hard to describe…it’s almost as if the visual director was making a joke about how they look and speak, but I didn’t get the joke (and honestly, I don’t want to laugh about how people look or speak).
  • All four major set pieces in the movie are about out-of-control vehicles. I guess it works as a good set piece, as a single vehicle can pose a risk to a lot of innocent bystanders, but it’s in stark contrast to the original, which featured robots that actively fought against the Incredibles.
  • At the end of the movie, very little is different than at the beginning of the movie. And maybe that’s for the best. But I like in the original how the kids didn’t start off as superheroes–they weren’t even allowed to use their powers–and at the end of the movie they embraced their powers as a family and used them to make a difference. The sequel didn’t have that same sense of progression.

***END OF SPOILERS***

I would love to hear your thoughts on Incredibles 2. Please tag your comments with “spoilers” if you want to discuss anything not shown in the movie poster.

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