It took me a little over two months, but I finally had a chance to see “Incredibles 2” in the theater.
A longer wait than I had planned...
Earlier this summer, I purchased “The Incredibles” on Blu-ray because it had been several years since I’d seen it, and I wanted to revisit the film prior to viewing the sequel.
I’m glad I did since “Incredibles 2” picks up right after the events in “The Incredibles.”
One of the things I appreciated when I saw the first movie was the “look and feel” of Brad Bird’s sophisticated superhero movie.
The style is “Mid-century modern” — the clothes, houses, furniture, cars, televisions, radios, and appliances look like they stepped out of the 1950s and 1960s.
We live in a neighborhood that was developed in the 1950s. For many years I subscribed to a magazine called “Atomic Ranch” which focuses on Mid-century design (and wrote a blog post about a house in our neighborhood that was featured in an issue):
I think the aesthetic is perfect for these movies — it is obvious writer/director Bird has a fondness for that era. It gives the films a feel that is both “retro and modern” at the same time, painting a world that feels like it has a real history.
“Incredibles 2” picks up with the Parr family — Bob, Helen, Violet, Dash and baby Jack-Jack — battling the villain known as the Underminer. Our heroes win the day, but there is collateral damage to City Hall.
As a result, the government decides to put the screws to the superhero population (once again). The Parrs find themselves down on their luck, leaving Bob and Helen to figure out which one of them is going to get a “normal job” again.
But family friend Lucius (the superhero Frozone) comes to Bob and Helen with an intriguing proposition. An entrepreneur named Winston Deavor is a superhero fanboy and has hatched a public relations plan to build public trust in the "Supers."
It is determined that Helen — who is the stretchy superhero Elastigirl — needs to become the poster child for the campaign. Deavor and his sister Evelyn (who looks like an animated version of actress Lisa Rinna) send Elastigirl on missions in New Urbem — a vast, NYC-like metropolis in “The Incredibles” universe.
It is on those missions that Helen encounters a hypnotic villain known as Screenslaver.
Before long, our heroes are embroiled in a mystery that will once again require the daring and cunning of the world’s Supers to save the day.
While the story itself might not tread the most original territory, I found the narrative in the film to be appealing. A big part of that has to do with the fact that the Parr family is likable and relatable.
There is one sequence where Bob — haggard from having to pick up the slack with the kids while Helen is away — laments, “I haven’t been sleeping. I broke my daughter. They keep changing math. We need AA batteries, but I got AAAs, and now we still need AA batteries. Put one red thing in the load of whites, now everything is...pink. And I think we need eggs.”
It is a small moment in the movie, but one that made me chuckle. It is the sort of smart dialogue that Brad Bird infuses into his animated tomes.
The action sequences are all really well crafted, and more interesting than the first movie. That’s not a suprise since they are able to do more things in the world of computer animation than they were 14 years ago.
The score for the movie was composed by Michael Giacchino. His orchestral stylings definitely enhanced the vibe. One of the interesting bits learned in the movie is that the superheroes in the "Incredibles-verse" have their own theme songs. Here is Elastigirl’s suitably retro-sounding theme:
Speaking of "retro-sounding" things... back in 2004 when the original "The Incredibles" was released, the music used in the teaser trailer was the theme song from the 1969 James Bond film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service." It stood out to me the first time I saw the trailer (because it is one of my favorite Bond themes):
For me, though, it is the look and feel of “Incredibles 2” that helps set it apart from other animated fare. I could endlessly analyze the mint green appliances (the dishwasher is the fictitious “DishAid Deluxe” brand), Saarinen-inspired “tulip tables,” and various chairs that looked like they stepped out of Eames's repertoire.
I also love all of the retro televisions featured in the film.
Disney Style actually has a page to help you achieve the “look of the ‘Incredibles 2’ home for yourself”: https://style.disney.com/living/2018/06/13/incredibles-2-home/
Even though it took me a couple months to see “Incredibles 2,” I’m glad I had the opportunity to see it in the theater.
I wasn’t sure how a sequel to a 14-year-old movie would turn out. Brad Bird & Co. managed to deliver the goods again — a visually-stunning movie that, in my opinion, is more incredible than the original.
That feat is pretty rare these days...
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