Incredibles II

(Mild Spoiler Warning)

Fourteen years.

I know when I saw The Incredible back in 2004 I did not expect events to unfold the way they have. Despite being 14 and likely older than their target demographic, I and my whole family loved this movie—after all that’s what Pixar does best.

In contrast to many Pixar movies of the time, rather than tying everything up neatly so that I felt the plot was resolved and the characters all got their resolutions, The Incredibles geared me up for more. What was next? Were they free to be Supers in the public again? Who was the Underminer? And what about Jack Jack’s insane powers?

Time came and went, we got such wonderful movies as Cars (the first one) , Ratatouille (also by Brad Bird), Wall-E, Up & Toy Story 3 (Darn you nostalgia tears!). There were also the, shall we say, films I was less enthusiastic about—The Cars sequels, Good Dinosaur, and Finding Dory to name a few. (I know people will probably wage war on me but I also did NOT enjoy Coco like the majority of the world and neither did my Chilean husband, but when you’re both writers, plot contrivances are hard to overlook.)

But moving on. When it was announced that Pixar was finally going to do Incredibles II, I was wary. The last full length animated feature I had truly enjoyed coming out of Pixar had been InsideOut and I had  started to wonder if these movies just couldn’t engage me anymore. Had my parents had really enjoyed these movies as much as I thought as a kid. Was it the addition of children that made them magical? With every new release I felt the disappointment grow. Had I out grown Pixar?

Well, thank the Lord the sun came out from behind it’s cloud and Pixar really can click those ruby slippers to take you home again. Sitting in the theater to watch this movie was like being put in a time machine to meet old friends you haven’t seen in years, but who you so desperately want to reconnect with. And it worked! From the opening logo, to the expansion of several character’s power sets (either by adding or just showing more), to the continued reveal and growth of this family’s dynamic; this movie was all about merging the old with the new. I was engaged, tickled, thrilled, and even bloody terrified at one point. Yes! I could still love PIxar!

Now, it is not a perfect movie, I do want to make that clear. The main plot was a bit predictable and kind of ran in the background of this film, but that’s okay because the real focus was the amazing characters we’ve all loved and missed. (And boy did they do a good job). There’s also a strange cast of extra characters they could have easily cut down, or at least made not so. . .weird? But I forgive them because one was interesting and the rest were so minor through the film I barely remember their names or powers (except for a couple—seriously how is “crushing” a hero power? The absolutely only uses I could think of for it were the mundane or villainous, and he specifically says he can’t “uncrush” anything. If anyone has a good idea let me know, because right now I’m definitely thinking they scraped the bottom of the barrel for supers in this movie).

Though, again, all of these little things in the background hardly stood up to such fabulous scenes and character moments such as:

• Edna and Jack Jack (YES. Please more darling!)
• Bob staying up late to help Dash with his math (Might be the most under rated moment of this movie)
• The raccoon (OH, so that’s why it’s on the poster!)
• Mrs. Incredible’s mind blowing use of her elastic powers (I’m still in awe)
• Bob trying to “fix” his daughter’s love life (Such good intentions)
• Violet shooting water out her nose (the most true to life animation I have EVER seen),
• The door nob and following scene (one of the creepiest moments and most tense scenes in Pixar history)
• And SOOO many more

It was truly a joy to take in this film, a credit to both Pixar and Brad Bird himself. My questions have finally been answered after fourteen years and, all I can think is,  it was worth the wait.