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Bob Parr (Mr. Incredible) is left to care for Jack-Jack while Helen (Elastigirl) is out saving the world.
Pixar has had a patchy run with sequels. While the second and third installments of their seminal “Toy Story” franchise equaled, if not bettered, their predecessors, the wooden (or should I say “metallic”) “Cars” trilogy left a lot to be desired. “Finding Dory,” too, swam in shallow waters. Animator extraordinaire Brad Bird, responsible for some of the best eye candy of the past several decades (he gave tear ducts a major workout with the now-classic “The Iron Giant” and made a gourmand rat lovable in “Ratatouille”), now treads dangerous waters himself by helming the sequel to his own beloved “The Incredibles.” Luckily, he pulls it off with aplomb. While not as fresh as the original, “Incredibles 2” expands upon the universe Bird so successfully established and deepens the superpowered Parr family dynamics, with a particular focus on gender roles.
Bird centers the plot around its matriarch, Helen “Elastigirl” Parr (Holly Hunter), being enlisted – over her husband – by machiavellian magnate siblings Winston and Evelyn Deavor (Bob Odenkirk and Catherine Keener) to restore the public’s faith in superheroes. This not only gives Bird opportunity to nonchalantly make his lead a non-subservient female, it also provides him with generous leeway to explore the reversal of familial gender stereotypes – in often hilarious, sometimes poignant fashion. Lest we forget, it’s Pixar, so while those Big Themes may go over the heads of the wee ones, they will certainly respond to the numerous action set-pieces, lively animation – and the film’s secret weapon, all the Looney Tunes-like hijinks involving baby Jack-Jack (Eli Fucile). When the plot narrows down on the hapless Bob (Craig T. Nelson) struggling to handle the increasingly out-of-control Jack-Jack, along with a puberty-stricken Violet (Sarah Vowell) and an ADD-addled Dash Parr (Huck Millner), “Incredibles 2” reaches peaks of Pixar virtuosity.
The film does stumble a little with its threadbare plot involving the trial of superheroes. The duality of superheroism – how it’s both necessary and potentially calamitous – has already been explored in numerous films (“The Dark Knight,” “The Avengers,” etc). The evil villain “twist” is foreseeable pretty much from the get-go. It’s unfortunate, as Helen is a memorable, strong, witty character deserving of a fleshed-out, original plot thread; Helen’s thread, ironically, comes most alive when it deals with her competing with Mr. Incredible and/or handling his parental inadequacies. Lucius “Frozone” Best (Samuel L. Jackson) appears in a somewhat-expanded role that feels like a missed opportunity, considering Jackson’s vocal chops.
All that aside, Pixar delivers. Bolstered by a majestic, retro-score by Michael Giacchino, it achieves the difficult trick Pixar has mastered so well – the universal appeal to adults and kids alike. It’s both a sly send-up of superhero films staples and a loving homage to them. It’s a study of a family facing and overcoming their insecurities and societal expectations, viewed through the prism of a colorful toon. Oh, and it has a raccoon battle for the ages. While it may not scale the surreal, deeply affecting heights of the studio’s “Inside Out,” Brad Bird makes a case that sequels still have plenty of artistic merit, if done properly. It certainly beats attending “Monsters University.”
In theaters Friday, June 15th
