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Review: Incredibles 2 (2018)
This movie was fun. I was mostly watching for the animation. As a movie, it was fine. I felt it was trying to delve into deeper themes for the adult viewers' benefits, but the writers never went too far to show serious insight. Nevertheless, it was a fun movie, great for fun movie nights.
Spoilers.
Story
It's been a while since I watched the Incredibles, but I think Incredibles 2 probably soon after where its prequel left off, considering the kids were mostly the same age.
I'd say there were two main story lines going on. The first was relating to the criminalization of superheros and how Elastigirl and Devtech were trying to restore the legitimacy of superheros in the eyes of the general public. The second story line was about Bob trying to handle being a stay-at-home dad.
I didn't think this movie really succeeded in resolving either of these stories though. The Incredibles defeated Evelyn, but the moral question of whether superheros are good was still up in the air. Evelyn still held onto her beliefs that humans were overreliant on superheros. Elastigirl claimed that those weren't true core beliefs, but if Elastigirl's core beliefs are that superheros can save humans, how does that discredit Evelyn? There were other related arguments that weren't brought up, such as the fact that superheros are dangerous if they are not under control. Every hero in the movie was portrayed as morally good, but we never saw someone with powers and bad intentions. Those are still a threat to the public.
Now, onto the topic of Bob and trying to take care of his kids. He was trying his best, and the kids came to see that and appreciate him for it. However, there was that tension between Bob and Helen because he felt that she didn't trust him to be a good stay-at-home dad. That was never addressed despite the fact that this movie subtly tried to up the girl power message of the film.
I also did see the plot twist coming. I was expecting Screenslaver to be Winston and/or Edna, and was not surprised to be correct lol.
In my opinion, the story was mediocre because it tried to delve into the deeper topics but never came to any conclusion. The movie tried to get into these interesting topics right from the get-go, but they never came to fruition. It would've been fine if they wrote those issues to be much smaller than they were, and just focused on a fun action-adventure movie mainly for kids.
Production
As I said, I was watching this mostly for the animation, and it was pretty good. Admittedly, I felt that Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack had more interesting powers (at least visually), so I wish they had more screen time. Bob and Helen had more plotty parts of the movie, though I do think Elastigirl would've been more interesting to animate than Mr. Incredible. Anyway, the powers that were on screen were fun to watch. I think the attack on the Incredible household (when Frozone came and protected the kids from the hypnotized heros from Devtech) was the most exciting fight because we got to see Violet, Dash, and Lucius fight at high speed. It was very well-animated.
The voices were fine. Bob Odenkirk's voice particularly stood out to me because I recognized it but I couldn't remember whose voice that was haha.
Characters
Helen
At the beginning of the movie, Helen was adamant about the fact that the law was in place for a reason. I guess it was just something she was trying to convince herself of more than anyone else, as she wanted the kids to stay out of trouble/jail. However, I'm inclined to think that she never believed it, considering she was crime fighting right before and right after that period of time the Parr family were living in the motel.
In any case, she was excited to be crime fighting, especially since she'd been a stay-at-home mom for such a long time. Most of her screen time was spent solving the mystery of the Screenslaver though, so I didn't think she had that much character development compared to the other characters.
Helen and Evelyn struck up a friendship with the whole "girl power" thing going on. It felt...strange. I can't explain it. It was natural that they became friends, but it seemed like they merely gravitated towards each other because they were both women more than any other reason.
By the end, it was clear that Helen was happy to be crime fighting, and that she now trusted her kids to be able to handle themselves.
Bob
Bob's story was most related to taking care of the kids. I guess it was fine as a story. I don't really have much issue with the logic of it. It just felt like the movie was trying to set up Helen and Bob for a big confrontation about Helen not trusting Bob to be a father, but I guess they wanted to keep the relationship stable, and instead only had that one almost-argument where they made up immediately (Helen apologized for her lack of trust and Bob insisted everything at home was fine when it wasn't fine at the time).
But now that I think about it, Bob didn't have much character development either? He'd never discredited Helen for her work as a stay-at-home mom. I guess the movie was just about him taking the steps to become more on top of how to take care of his kids.
Violet
Violet had a crush on a boy and was going to have a date with him, but Dicker had erased his memories, which was a source of tension between Violet and her father. But she came to see how stressed he was, and she forgave him, opting to start over with boy. She was mostly a supporting character.
Dash
Dash was even more of a supporting character. He mostly just needed help with math homework and then went with Violet and Jack-Jack to save their parents. He didn't really have much agency of his own when it came to decision making, other than calling on the Incredibile.
Jack-Jack
Jack-Jack was most definitely a plot device, serving as the family member who needed the most attention. He was always getting into trouble. Even for a kid with a lot of superpower potential, it felt like he was always getting himself into trouble. Bob solved his problem (sort of) by getting help from Edna, but otherwise, Jack-Jack served no purpose to the story either.
Lucius
Lucius was a superhero and friend to the Parr family. He'd connected Bob and Helen to Devtech, and also came to take care of the kids when Bob needed to save Helen, but otherwise had no major role to the story. His powers were practical though.
Winston Deavor
Winston was basically a rich guy who loved superheros. Evelyn characterized him as naive because of his belief that superheros would always save the day. In any case, Winston also didn't have much character other than being enthusiastic. He didn't seem to show much reaction when his own sister was revealed for being the foil to his plans. I had suspected him of being the mastermind too, but I was wrong.
Evelyn Deavor
Now that I'm going through the character list, I'm noticing that none of these characters really have interesting development. I know I'm putting too much hope in a kids' movie, but it felt like they were really trying to go for something deep with how the movie started.
Anyway, Evelyn seemed to the most interesting character in this movie. I mentioned that Helen said that Evelyn had no core beliefs, but that's just not true? I mean, her core beliefs came out of one traumatic event (her parents dying), but it didn't make sense to discredit one of the main drivers of Evelyn's actions throughout the movie.
By the end of the movie, Evelyn still didn't believe in the power of superheros, which is fair. She'd only met good superheros, but what about corrupted superheros? I'm not trying to be contrarian, I'm just trying to look at this story from a complete perspective.
Themes
Law vs. Morality
This was one of the first discussions that was brought up, specifically at the dinner table at the motel. I thought this was going to be expanded upon, but it was very quickly discarded, as the main proponent of the argument for law over morality, Helen, had very promptly involved herself in the "illegal" act of vigilantism.
Perception
Winston's theory was that people in power didn't see superheros positively because they couldn't see all the good that superheros were doing. He has a point, but he also wasn't totally correct.
Things only worked in his favour because Helen was portrayed as someone with very upright morals, and she didn't manage to hurt anybody. This would not have been the case with less experienced heros who were not as good at mitigating damage. But I guess that goes on to prove Winston's point, that people in power would be in support of superheros if they saw that good superheros were always careful and just.
Careers
The interesting bit of tension between Bob and Helen with regards to "trading places" could have been expanded upon a bit. The couple agreed that Bob would take care of the kids while Helen took the crime fighting job. When she made the first phone call back, she was so excited to tell Bob about her crime fighting, and Bob seemed visibly jealous and angry about it. That would've been something interesting to expand, as I'm sure there are many couples that don't work out because one party doesn't want to be outshone by their spouse. That really could've been a good in-depth discussion between Helen and Bob, but it was just never discussed again, and Bob just became a supporting husband.
The other point of tension could've been Helen's initial distrust of Bob's capabilities as a stay-at-home dad. I suppose it was resolved very quickly, though, as Helen realized she'd hurt her husband's feelings and immediately apologized.
Feminism
The Hollywood brand of feminism in movies still makes me kind of uneasy. Women were given more speaking roles and roles where they were shown to be the more capable party, which are all fine. But to me, it still feels a bit manipulative and too purposeful, if that makes sense.
I guess this discomfort mostly came with Helen and Evelyn's relationship and Elastigirl and Voyd's relationship. As I mentioned, it felt like Helen and Evelyn had only become friends on the basis of "men, amirite?" I know I'm nitpicking here, though, because it isn't super weird for them two to have a good relationship, with Evelyn being the calmer counterpart to her brother. As for Voyd and Elastigirl, I felt more uncomfortable? I felt like Voyd was a stand in for girls that might be watching this movie and idolizing the female superheros, like Pixar is trying to bait them into being die-hards for them.
I know I am nitpicking super hard, but it is just so hard for me to see this female representation as something more genuine rather than tokenism. It'll probably take me a while to get over it.
Overall
This was an okay movie. I would've treated this totally as a simple kids' movie, but it tried to go deep with its story and so I was let down when its discussions on deeper topics didn't go anywhere.
Nevertheless, it was still a good, fun movie for those who aren't looking for something too deep to ponder about.
Spoilers.
Story
It's been a while since I watched the Incredibles, but I think Incredibles 2 probably soon after where its prequel left off, considering the kids were mostly the same age.
I'd say there were two main story lines going on. The first was relating to the criminalization of superheros and how Elastigirl and Devtech were trying to restore the legitimacy of superheros in the eyes of the general public. The second story line was about Bob trying to handle being a stay-at-home dad.
I didn't think this movie really succeeded in resolving either of these stories though. The Incredibles defeated Evelyn, but the moral question of whether superheros are good was still up in the air. Evelyn still held onto her beliefs that humans were overreliant on superheros. Elastigirl claimed that those weren't true core beliefs, but if Elastigirl's core beliefs are that superheros can save humans, how does that discredit Evelyn? There were other related arguments that weren't brought up, such as the fact that superheros are dangerous if they are not under control. Every hero in the movie was portrayed as morally good, but we never saw someone with powers and bad intentions. Those are still a threat to the public.
Now, onto the topic of Bob and trying to take care of his kids. He was trying his best, and the kids came to see that and appreciate him for it. However, there was that tension between Bob and Helen because he felt that she didn't trust him to be a good stay-at-home dad. That was never addressed despite the fact that this movie subtly tried to up the girl power message of the film.
I also did see the plot twist coming. I was expecting Screenslaver to be Winston and/or Edna, and was not surprised to be correct lol.
In my opinion, the story was mediocre because it tried to delve into the deeper topics but never came to any conclusion. The movie tried to get into these interesting topics right from the get-go, but they never came to fruition. It would've been fine if they wrote those issues to be much smaller than they were, and just focused on a fun action-adventure movie mainly for kids.
Production
As I said, I was watching this mostly for the animation, and it was pretty good. Admittedly, I felt that Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack had more interesting powers (at least visually), so I wish they had more screen time. Bob and Helen had more plotty parts of the movie, though I do think Elastigirl would've been more interesting to animate than Mr. Incredible. Anyway, the powers that were on screen were fun to watch. I think the attack on the Incredible household (when Frozone came and protected the kids from the hypnotized heros from Devtech) was the most exciting fight because we got to see Violet, Dash, and Lucius fight at high speed. It was very well-animated.
The voices were fine. Bob Odenkirk's voice particularly stood out to me because I recognized it but I couldn't remember whose voice that was haha.
Characters
Helen
At the beginning of the movie, Helen was adamant about the fact that the law was in place for a reason. I guess it was just something she was trying to convince herself of more than anyone else, as she wanted the kids to stay out of trouble/jail. However, I'm inclined to think that she never believed it, considering she was crime fighting right before and right after that period of time the Parr family were living in the motel.
In any case, she was excited to be crime fighting, especially since she'd been a stay-at-home mom for such a long time. Most of her screen time was spent solving the mystery of the Screenslaver though, so I didn't think she had that much character development compared to the other characters.
Helen and Evelyn struck up a friendship with the whole "girl power" thing going on. It felt...strange. I can't explain it. It was natural that they became friends, but it seemed like they merely gravitated towards each other because they were both women more than any other reason.
By the end, it was clear that Helen was happy to be crime fighting, and that she now trusted her kids to be able to handle themselves.
Bob
Bob's story was most related to taking care of the kids. I guess it was fine as a story. I don't really have much issue with the logic of it. It just felt like the movie was trying to set up Helen and Bob for a big confrontation about Helen not trusting Bob to be a father, but I guess they wanted to keep the relationship stable, and instead only had that one almost-argument where they made up immediately (Helen apologized for her lack of trust and Bob insisted everything at home was fine when it wasn't fine at the time).
But now that I think about it, Bob didn't have much character development either? He'd never discredited Helen for her work as a stay-at-home mom. I guess the movie was just about him taking the steps to become more on top of how to take care of his kids.
Violet
Violet had a crush on a boy and was going to have a date with him, but Dicker had erased his memories, which was a source of tension between Violet and her father. But she came to see how stressed he was, and she forgave him, opting to start over with boy. She was mostly a supporting character.
Dash
Dash was even more of a supporting character. He mostly just needed help with math homework and then went with Violet and Jack-Jack to save their parents. He didn't really have much agency of his own when it came to decision making, other than calling on the Incredibile.
Jack-Jack
Jack-Jack was most definitely a plot device, serving as the family member who needed the most attention. He was always getting into trouble. Even for a kid with a lot of superpower potential, it felt like he was always getting himself into trouble. Bob solved his problem (sort of) by getting help from Edna, but otherwise, Jack-Jack served no purpose to the story either.
Lucius
Lucius was a superhero and friend to the Parr family. He'd connected Bob and Helen to Devtech, and also came to take care of the kids when Bob needed to save Helen, but otherwise had no major role to the story. His powers were practical though.
Winston Deavor
Winston was basically a rich guy who loved superheros. Evelyn characterized him as naive because of his belief that superheros would always save the day. In any case, Winston also didn't have much character other than being enthusiastic. He didn't seem to show much reaction when his own sister was revealed for being the foil to his plans. I had suspected him of being the mastermind too, but I was wrong.
Evelyn Deavor
Now that I'm going through the character list, I'm noticing that none of these characters really have interesting development. I know I'm putting too much hope in a kids' movie, but it felt like they were really trying to go for something deep with how the movie started.
Anyway, Evelyn seemed to the most interesting character in this movie. I mentioned that Helen said that Evelyn had no core beliefs, but that's just not true? I mean, her core beliefs came out of one traumatic event (her parents dying), but it didn't make sense to discredit one of the main drivers of Evelyn's actions throughout the movie.
By the end of the movie, Evelyn still didn't believe in the power of superheros, which is fair. She'd only met good superheros, but what about corrupted superheros? I'm not trying to be contrarian, I'm just trying to look at this story from a complete perspective.
Themes
Law vs. Morality
This was one of the first discussions that was brought up, specifically at the dinner table at the motel. I thought this was going to be expanded upon, but it was very quickly discarded, as the main proponent of the argument for law over morality, Helen, had very promptly involved herself in the "illegal" act of vigilantism.
Perception
Winston's theory was that people in power didn't see superheros positively because they couldn't see all the good that superheros were doing. He has a point, but he also wasn't totally correct.
Things only worked in his favour because Helen was portrayed as someone with very upright morals, and she didn't manage to hurt anybody. This would not have been the case with less experienced heros who were not as good at mitigating damage. But I guess that goes on to prove Winston's point, that people in power would be in support of superheros if they saw that good superheros were always careful and just.
Careers
The interesting bit of tension between Bob and Helen with regards to "trading places" could have been expanded upon a bit. The couple agreed that Bob would take care of the kids while Helen took the crime fighting job. When she made the first phone call back, she was so excited to tell Bob about her crime fighting, and Bob seemed visibly jealous and angry about it. That would've been something interesting to expand, as I'm sure there are many couples that don't work out because one party doesn't want to be outshone by their spouse. That really could've been a good in-depth discussion between Helen and Bob, but it was just never discussed again, and Bob just became a supporting husband.
The other point of tension could've been Helen's initial distrust of Bob's capabilities as a stay-at-home dad. I suppose it was resolved very quickly, though, as Helen realized she'd hurt her husband's feelings and immediately apologized.
Feminism
The Hollywood brand of feminism in movies still makes me kind of uneasy. Women were given more speaking roles and roles where they were shown to be the more capable party, which are all fine. But to me, it still feels a bit manipulative and too purposeful, if that makes sense.
I guess this discomfort mostly came with Helen and Evelyn's relationship and Elastigirl and Voyd's relationship. As I mentioned, it felt like Helen and Evelyn had only become friends on the basis of "men, amirite?" I know I'm nitpicking here, though, because it isn't super weird for them two to have a good relationship, with Evelyn being the calmer counterpart to her brother. As for Voyd and Elastigirl, I felt more uncomfortable? I felt like Voyd was a stand in for girls that might be watching this movie and idolizing the female superheros, like Pixar is trying to bait them into being die-hards for them.
I know I am nitpicking super hard, but it is just so hard for me to see this female representation as something more genuine rather than tokenism. It'll probably take me a while to get over it.
Overall
This was an okay movie. I would've treated this totally as a simple kids' movie, but it tried to go deep with its story and so I was let down when its discussions on deeper topics didn't go anywhere.
Nevertheless, it was still a good, fun movie for those who aren't looking for something too deep to ponder about.