Everyone’s favorite family of superheroes is back in “Incredibles 2”–but this time Helen (voice of Holly Hunter) is in the spotlight, leaving Bob (voice of Craig T. Nelson) at home with Violet (voice of Sarah Vowell) and Dash (voice of Huck Milner) to navigate the day-to-day heroics of “normal” life. It’s a tough transition for everyone, made tougher by the fact that the family is still unaware of baby Jack-Jack’s emerging superpowers. When a new villain hatches a brilliant and dangerous plot, the family and Frozone (voice of Samuel L. Jackson) must find a way to work together again–which is easier said than done, even when they’re all Incredible. – (Source)

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 94% (Critics) / 92% (Audience)
MetaScore: 80 – Generally favorable reviews
Directed By: Brad Bird
Written By: Brad Bird
Starring: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Catherine Keener, Bob Odenkirk, and Samuel L. Jackson
Studio: Disney/Pixar

The Good:
I really missed these characters! I think I had a goofy smile plastered on my face for the majority of the INCREDIBLES 2 run time just seeing them on the screen again. And the fact that this movie picks up immediately from where the original ended was a perfect move. We get to see the big battle against the Underminer that the first film ended on and it’s negative results for the Parr Family which sets up the rest of the movie seamlessly.

The flipping of which parent goes out into the world and which one stays home with the kids set up a loot of funny moments but also took a pretty deep dive into the psychological toll that comes when the bread-winner in a family has to switch roles and become the homemaker. All the feelings of doubt and loss of self-worth mixed with bubbling resentment towards the spouse who is out in the world were handled well (especially for a movie like this) even if I could have stood to see an even deeper dive into Mr. Incredible’s troubles with becoming Mr. Mom.

Another strength of this movie are the big action set pieces. There are 3 of them and they are all pulse-pounding edge of your seat style moments that are animated in the most amazing fashion that at times you can almost forget that you are not watching flesh and blood actors on the screen. I especially loved the runaway train scenes because of how they showed that Elasti-Girl is just as capable as a solo hero as she is with her family whiles also showing really imaginative ways to use her stretching powers.

And my favorite scenes in this entire movie (and probably the scenes I have enjoyed the most out of any movie I have seen in 2018) were Jack-Jack doing battle against a surly racoon that made the mistake of rooting around through the Parr Family’s garbage. These scenes were so hilarious! Jack-Jack in particular was great and giving him more scenes was a smart move on bard Bird’s part.
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I also liked that we were given a look at other supers in this world and the group that were working with the Incredibles were cool and really kooky too. I hope to see more of them in any future films we get . Maybe even put together an Avengers style group to see how Bob and Helen operate in that type of setting, especially if Helen is the one that everyone looks to as the team leader.

The Bad:
The only weak spot in INCREDIBLES 2 is the villain. The set up is similar to the first movie except Elasti-Girl is the member of the family being duped by the bad guy and not Mr. Incredible but the sequel’s villain pales in comparison to Buddy Pine/Syndrome. You can clock exactly who the bad guy is within 3 minutes of them making their appearance and once they are revealed we get none of the pathos we got with Syndrome and even less of the downright scary mania that made Syndrome work. And that was my issue with the bad guy in INCREDIBLES 2; nothing from villain’s the plan to the execution really worked for me.

The Ugly:
The chance that we will have to wait another 14 years for Brad Bird to give us INCREDIBLE 3…someone lock Mr. Bird in a room with nothing but Red Bull and a laptop so he can bang out the script immediately and the animators can start making their magic. We cannot wait more than a few years for the next one.

Final Verdict: While not being as good as the perfect first film, INCREDIBLES 2 is on par with it and was completely worth the wait.

Grade: A-