You know, sometimes I think we as a culture are a little hard on Pixar sequels.
Is it true that, outside of the Toy Story sequels, they're lower-tier Pixar?
Yes, but that still leaves plenty of room to be really good.
Lots of other reasons contribute, such as their clustered releases, and the perception that
since Pixar shied away from sequels in their early years that Disney's forcing them now.
In reality, they shied away due to messy stipulations in the Disney contracts prior to the 2006 merger,
but lets not get into that. Either way, I don't doubt that raised expectations of the Pixar brand
makes missing that even marginally seem like a failure.
At the same time, they are lower-tier Pixar when looking at each film alone. Which leads us to Incredibles 2.
On the one hand, it has things going against it like those other films,
from a 10+ year gap, to the original director returning to it after a live-action flop.
On the other hand, it's a superhero sequel,
and those have a better track record due to their universes being prime for more adventures.
And the superhero film environment we live in makes the film especially timely,
as well as a reprieve from the safe product of the Marvel films and the ghastly misfires of the DC ones.
By now, I can practically hear you saying "enough of the prelude, Mike, what's your take on the film?"
Except, you know, not in my accent. Alright then.
Incredibles 2 is definitely the best Pixar sequel
...without the word "toy" in the title. There you go. Next film I'll be reviewing is…
[yells of dissent] What, you want more?
Fair enough, I guess that'd dissatisfy me too.
I'm sure many would agree with me that outside of the Nolan Batman films,
which are so far removed that comparing them to other superhero films is inapt,
that no superhero film since The Incredibles has bettered it.
I think we now have a new contender for how close to it another film has gotten.
I would even go as far as to say that Incredibles 2 improves upon the original in quite a number of ways.
Not the same thing as bettering it across the board, but just as important. What we have here, folks,
is a sequel that elegantly builds upon the first film's world, takes its implications seriously,
and builds upon the characters' previous arcs into new territory while respecting what came before.
This is not a film Brad Bird made on autopilot. It's another example of him being that rare breed,
an auteur filmmaker in the collaborative, micromanaged world of American studio animation.
Indeed, the film does a whole number of amazing things, as both an animated film and a superhero film.
We'll get back to that. As a narrative, this is the one area that it can't compete with the original,
though most of the ways it falls short don't really count as flaws, but more differences.
At a glance, you could be forgiven for thinking it's a reskin.
Only at a glance, though, and in the particulars it rarely feels like retreading.
There, Bob Parr, A.K.A. Mr. Incredible, was off being a superhero on an island while the
rest of his family with powers were back home, until the rest of the family was brought into the picture.
Here, it's Helen Parr, A.K.A. Elastigirl, who's off doing superhero stuff,
in collaboration with a big fan of supers looking to rebuild their former glory with the public.
This leaves Bob to watch and mind the kids, a role he's never really performed before to this extent,
having to deal not only with Violet's brooding and Dash's hyperactive speed and "new math",
but also infant Jack-Jack's influx of uncontrollable superpowers.
For starters, both Bob and Helen's arcs organically pick up where they concluded from before,
such that it makes it seem like the original was always laying the groundwork for this one.
A trick Pixar pulled off before with the Toy Storys, and one worth admiring.
Having realised that his family is his greatest adventure, and that he almost missed it,
Bob is now struggling to balance that with his desperation for herowork. Struggles, but succeeds.
Indeed, Incredibles 2 almost reads like a tutorial on parenting,
one played for laughs, but never at the expense of being meaningful and worth dwelling on.
Meanwhile, Helen, having learnt in the first film that putting family first doesn't mean
forgoing her superhero past, now has to apply that past for her family's future.
The first film's metaphor, using a superhero adventure
to explore how being in a family means making some sacrifices for some gains,
is not only developed further but progressed enough as to feel like the next stage in the characters' lives.
Where the film falls short as a narrative compared to the first film is in meshing this
with its main superhero plot. They do fit together here; it's just that some compromises are made along the way.
As the film proceeds, Helen's arc recedes further into the background,
never quite vanishing but feeling a tad unnourished.
It's also almost trite to point out the villain doesn't compare to Syndrome. That's not exactly the problem.
It's hard to say why the villain falls a little short.
The motives are there, there's more pointed social commentary
about whether relying on others to save ourselves is wise when those others can't always be counted on.
It just ends up being undernourished and trite, even when it's used to fuel some spectacular action.
But oh, what action!
This film's setpieces are hugely creative, the result of a filmmaker with plenty of ideas and no limits on them.
For starters, the original's film stylisation, chosen then to avoid technological limitations,
is as effective as ever, perhaps even more so with all the technical know-how Pixar now has.
This series' production design is geared on evoking
60's pop culture and the bold colours of Silver Age comics, and this films really shows that off.
There's many moments that use lighting and staging in such a way that it captures the feeling
of comic book action, better then any superhero film since the first two Spider Mans, maybe the best ever.
It goes further then capturing the feeling of a great comic book;
Bird and the Pixar artists understand the capabilities of CG, and use it to make setpieces
that are so much cooler then a live-action film, with flesh-and-blood actors, could ever be.
Between a camera with the mobility of a superhero itself and choreography partially obscured for visual impact,
it's something else. Given modern technology, you could do this in live-action, but it wouldn't work.
Only with the unreality of animation can this work.
Basically, Incredibles 2 is a superhero film that takes full advantage of being animated,
and the film uses this "cheat", as it were, everywhere, not just the action.
It's what makes the film such a wild ride,
the ideal popcorn film, one that doesn't sacrifice its brain for action, but uses the two in equal measure.
It's just as purely joyful a film as the first one, perhaps even more so.
That leads me into the film's other limitation,
and the reason why it might not be as endlessly rewatchable as the first.
For all that its character arcs work wonders, it's not very emotionally probing.
The directions the plot takes are bigger, but also slightly messy at times.
In some ways, this keeps it fresh as it fleshes out its world,
including a bunch of minor but cool new heroes we meet,
and definitely makes it more of a film playing in the wheelhouse of comic books.
It just had the side effect of diminishing its psychological impact, being not as tightly focused.
It's still far more emotionally stimulating then most films you'll see in a modern cinema,
it is Pixar, after all. Between another round of rich vocal performances,
as well as another triumphant score from Michael Giacchino, it has the works there.
And as we often want from a sequel, it gives expanded roles to standouts that didn't do a whole lot
in the previous film in Frozone and Jack-Jack,
the latter supplying much of the film's best humour, including a slapstick sequence I am loathe to spoil.
Much like Coco, it's hard to decide whether this is a Pixar classic,
but it's a great and fantastic film no matter what way you look at it.
Below the original, yes, but by a small margin, and it would not be hard for someone to make
the debate they prefer this one, even if I suspect most will side with the original.
So being the blockbuster of the year to beat, what do we find in throwing to the list?
Looks like Incredibles 2 inches ahead of Isle of Dogs to take the top spot.
By and large, it's as fun a popcorn epic
as one could ask for, and most of the flaws it picks up along the way barely hamper it.
We'll have to see whether it can hang on to the pole position, but even if a film pulls ahead,
it won't lessen this film's achievements at all.
Moving on, you can expect Hotel Transylvania 3 quick enough.
And while it's neat to see cartooning legend Genndy Tartakovsky continue to find ways
to bring the traditions of absurdist 2D cartoons into the normally-rigid world of big-budget CG animation,
it doesn't look to reverse the previous films' trends
of trite plots with screechy dialogue and barely any verbal humour that works. But, as always, we'll see.
I hope you enjoyed the video, folks.
Be sure to let me know your thoughts on both the review and Incredibles 2, if you've seen it.
Plus, liking, subscribing, all that good stuff, would really help spread the channel's reach,
as would some social media follows. Every little bit helps, you know.
Until next time, folks.
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