'Incredibles 2' Film Review: Pixar's Superhero Family Is Back, Baby

Whether you find the dominance of superhero pictures a glut or a bonanza, a cause for artistic concern or a boon to the movie business, the prospect of a sequel to “The Incredibles” always seemed to glide above that fray: Brad Bird’s whizbang 2004 Pixar feature about a nuclear/power family was atomic entertainment that in the years before our Marvel age felt like its own thrilling, funny, stylish universe.

Wanting more of the Parrs at a time when the animation studio was careful about follow-ups, and when Bird was eager to flex his fantasy-tinged stories of exceptionalism with culinary cartoon vermin (“Ratatouille”) and Imagineered live action (“Tomorrowland”), seemed like greediness from us mere moviegoing mortals. (Yes, I’m wink-teasing the whole Bird-is-a-Rand-loving-Objectivist debate, which I don’t quite buy into.)

But lately, with “Finding Dory,” “Monsters University,” “Cars 3” and the upcoming “Toy Story 4,” Pixar’s been quite OK mining its past to mint its present. And now Bird is in greatest-hits mode with “Incredibles 2,” which picks up the action directly after the closing heroics of the original, as if to say “What 14 years? Thank you, computers!”

Watch Video: 'Incredibles 2' Trailer: Mr. Incredible Is a Stay-At-Home Dad While Elastigirl Saves the World

The good news is that this continuation is a similarly rousing and savvy adventure that energetically serves up more of what we love — from the sleek retro-futurist designs to the ticklishly severe Eurasian super-clothier Edna Mode — and yet wisely, wittily, reverses the first film’s accommodating traditionalism to make for an even richer, funnier portrait of its tight and in-tights family.

Which means this time around, Elastigirl (voiced by Holly Hunter), aka Helen Parr, aka Mom, is the front-and-center superhero, rather than Mr. Incredible/Bob (Craig T. Nelson), whose mission-minded pride triggered the first film’s peril. And while the newly unified family works together at the start of “Incredibles 2” to vanquish the Underminer, who wields a building-sized drill bit, the Parrs are still unappreciated and illegal, reduced afterward to figuring out another normal, law-abiding, identity-shielded existence. It’s even harder now, though, since learning from government ally Rick Dicker (Jonathan Banks) that the Super Relocation program — designed to clean up messes and find supers jobs — is ending.

Also Read: 'Incredibles 2': Holly Hunter on Elastigirl Becoming 'Full-Fledged' Hero in Post-'Wonder Woman' Sequel

A shot at redemption arrives, however, when the wealthy sibling pair behind a telecommunications empire — enthusiastic marketing giant Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk) and tech-genius sister Evelyn Deavor (Catherine Keener) — introduce themselves as fans with plans to reverse the anti-super laws. Convinced careful image handling and positive viral video will change hearts and minds, the pair zero in on Elastigirl as their role model hero. (In a ripely funny touch, the Deavors’ data shows that Helen’s crimefighting methods are considerably less costly than her more go-big/destroy-big husband’s.)

When Elastigirl steps up to save a runaway metro train, revealing a new hypnosis-deploying supervillain named Screenslaver, Helen feels a newfound sense of purpose. The campaign works, too, earning the support of a supers-friendly ambassador (Isabella Rossellini).

That leaves Bob — sidelined, jealous, but ready to pitch in — as the overly confident stay-at-home daddy, keeping house in a swanky, starburst-ornamented mid-century modern provided by the Deavors. Of course, Bob eventually realizes that dealing with the roiling emotional life of sullen, invisibility-powered teenager Violet (Sarah Vowell), the math homework of lightning-fast son Dash (Huckleberry Milner), and chasing after baby Jack-Jack, makes family home maintenance a task as tiring as any one-on-one with a nemesis.

Also Read: 'The Incredibles 2' Sets New Animation Record for Fandango Pre-Sale Tickets

For us, though, it’s a domestic-comedy motherlode, especially when, in a side-splitting riff on toddler terror, the emerging, seemingly uncontrolled, multiple powers of Jack-Jack — first shown at the end of “The Incredibles” — turn him into the de facto ruler of the household. Between his explosively inconvenient gifts (best shown in a raucous tussle with a raccoon) and the animation team’s near-vaudevillian rendering of his googly-eyed reactions and blissful gibberish, Jack Jack is easily the cute-ferocious humor superpower of “Incredibles 2.”

The film’s action engine, meanwhile, gives the Screenslaver room to grow as a mysterious force, but it also introduces us to newly emboldened, fledgling supers, some outlier-cool (like Elastigirl megafan Voyd, who can create dimension holes to make objects vanish and reappear) and some perfectly off-kilter, like Reflux, a lava-vomiting codger who announces, “Medical condition or superpower? You decide!”

As ever, the package is widescreen gorgeous, from the color-popping but realistically lit visuals, to Bird’s classically rigorous framing and shot movement, and, resembling nostalgia for nostalgia, there’s the return of Michael Giacchino’s delectably brassy, spy-movie pastiche score. (Stay through the end credits for the individual, amusingly lyricized themes for our heroes, including a soul-snazzy entry for ice-generating, Samuel L. Jackson-voiced Frozone, who’s back as well.)

And by the time the secrets are revealed, alliances are broken and repaired, while family bonds prove strongest of all. That idea also encapsulates the droll, poignant pleasures of the Chinese cuisine-inspired Pixar short preceding it, “Bao.” Bird has enriched the genre beyond the usual hurrah/comic brio with piquant commentary on fan-cultism, our screen-dependent lives, and gender-role biases.

In other words, here comes “Incredibles 2” to save the day, the weekend, your summer, and maybe even your Marvel/DC/superhero fatigue.

All 26 Pixar Movies Ranked, Worst to Best (Photos)

TheWrap’s film critic Alonso Duralde rates all of Pixar's features.
Also Read: Top 40 Pixar Characters, From ‘Toy Story’ to ‘Finding Dory’
26. "Cars 2" (2011) "They should let people see the movie for free," one pundit opined, "since Disney will make all their money back on the bedsheets." Some of Pixar's best movies are sequels, but this follow-up to an already inferior studio entry seemed like nothing but a craven bid for more merchandising money. The results were good for shareholders but middling for moviegoers.
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25. "Cars" (2006) Never underestimate little boys and their love for automobiles. This brightly colored but dramatically flat tale is most enjoyed by a) male moviegoers who b) saw it before they turned 10 and c) have no idea that it tells virtually the same story as the Michael J. Fox comedy "Doc Hollywood."
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24. "Cars 3" (2017) It's a movie about middle age and the fear of obsolescence -- you know, for kids! While Lightning (Owen Wilson) tries to soup himself up to take on young, faster rival Jackson Storm (Armie Hammer), the veteran racer mentors Cruz (Cristela Alonzo), a trainer who gave up her racing dreams. It's visually sumptuous and has a few good ideas, but the "Cars" series remains Pixar's blandest.
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23. "A Bug's Life" (1998) Back in 1998, the second Pixar feature was racing to the big screen against the thematically similar "Antz." Neither has achieved iconic status, notwithstanding the "Bug's"-themed kiddie area of Disneyland. The film does provide memorable voice roles for "The Ref" co-stars Denis Leary (as a manly-man ladybug) and Kevin Spacey (scaring the little ones as an ant-exploiting grasshopper).
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22. "Monsters, Inc." (2001) The things that go bump in the night are just doing their jobs, collecting the screams of boys and girls to power their monstrous alternate dimension. Leave it to Pixar to turn childhood terror into something fuzzy and huggable while also sneaking in a metaphor about over-reliance on fossil fuels.
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21. "Onward" (2020) Pixar sticks the landing with another memorable you-WILL-cry ending, but most of the movie that leads up to that denouement doesn't really merit that level of investment. Two elvish brothers have 24 hours to find a stone to bring their dead dad momentarily back to life, and while the gags and the action are fun, the character-building and world-building are both a little sketchy.
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20. "Lightyear" (2022) Ostensibly the 1995 movie that stoked young Andy's desire to get a Buzz Lightyear toy (thus kicking off the events of the original "Toy Story"), this is a perfectly-fine outer-space adventure that doesn't live up to the high standards of Pixar in general or the "Toy Story" series in particular. Chris Evans makes a suitably stolid hero, but the movie belongs to Sox (Peter Sohn), our hero's robot emotional-support cat.
19. "Monsters University" (2013) This colorful prequel, featuring Mike (voiced by Billy Crystal) and Sully (John Goodman) as college freshmen, plays like a G-rated "Revenge of the Nerds," and that's mostly a good thing. Is this the first kids' movie to suggest that higher education isn't necessarily for everyone?
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18. "Up" (2009) Like "WALL-E," this movie opens with a chunk of filmmaking perfection as we get to know the life, and losses, of our elderly hero. But while there's nowhere for his balloon-festooned house to go but up, there's nowhere for the movie to go but down after such an auspicious beginning.
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17. "Ratatouille" (2007) Follow your bliss, says this entry, even if you're a sewer rat who wants to be a gourmet chef. It's lovely, and its ending will be forever cited by critics of every medium, but some screenwriting contrivances make it good-but-not-great Pixar.
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16. "The Good Dinosaur" (2015) Frightened, awkward dino Arlo (Raymond Ochoa) travels home through a savage landscape with the helpful accompaniment of a feral boy named Spot (Jack Bright), who generally behaves like a dog, in a movie where the stakes are slighter but the character bonds are nonetheless rich.
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15. "WALL-E" (2008) The first half or so of this ecological fable -- a silent comedy about the titular robot tidying up an abandoned earth and longing for love -- is Pixar's greatest achievement. Unfortunately, it gets dragged down by a lot of loud chasing in the second half.
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14. "Brave" (2012) Despite a rough production, this saga offers us Merida, one of U.S. animation's most self-assured characters, who refuses to be married off by her father as though she were your run-of-the-mill princess. Merida's skill with a bow and arrow made archery look even more appealing than Jennifer Lawrence does in the "Hunger Games" movies.
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13. "Finding Dory" (2016) What this follow-up lacks in The Feels, it more than makes up for with The Laughs and The Thrills. Ellen DeGeneres returns as the famously forgetful fish who sets off to find the family she forgot she had. Witty, bright, and exciting, even if that tissue in your pocket winds up going unused.
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12. "Inside Out" (2015) An 11-year-old girl's brain becomes the backdrop for another hair-raising adventure, as her emotions fight to find balance during a rough patch in her life. No shortage of jokes and excitement, and early screenings have seen crusty film critics openly weeping in their seats.
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11. "Soul" (2020)

Pixar's first film with a Black lead features some of the company's finest animation (particularly its evocation of autumn in New York) and memorable music from Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, even if the script doesn't quite nail the requisite three-hanky ending.
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10. "Coco" (2017) The Mexican Day of the Dead celebration brings a young boy face-to-face with his ancestors, teaching him the importance of family and allowing him to settle a generations-old misunderstanding. Colorful, poignant, and loaded with great songs and cultural specificity.
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9. "Incredibles 2" (2018) Picking up right where the excellent original leaves off, this boisterous sequel sees the super-powered Parrs still dealing with the outlaw status of costumed heroes while Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) becomes a stay-at-home dad as Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) shoulders most of the derring-do. And villain Screenslaver is a perfect commentary both for the film's 1960s aesthetic and for the internet age.
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8. "Toy Story 4" (2019) The world didn't necessarily need a follow-up to the sublime "Toy Story 3," but this sequel is as funny, moving and eye-popping as its predecessors. And with the introduction of the hand-crafted Forky, a "Toy Story" star is born.
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7. "Turning Red" (2022) The explosion of adolescence is portrayed as both adorable and beastly, as 13-year-old Meimei (voiced by Rosalie Chiang) discovers that when she gets agitated, she becomes a giant red panda. It's an empathetic exploration of mothers and daughters and the way in which growing pains can challenge relationships without necessarily destroying them. The faux boy-band songs co-written by Billie Eilish are terrific, too.
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6. "Luca" (2021) For kids, this tale of two sea monsters assuming human form is a sweet tale of friendship and being true to yourself. For adults, there are plenty of other metaphors and readings beneath the surface that make this lovely summertime tale even more meaningful and heartbreaking.
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5. "Toy Story" (1995) The one that started it all and kick-started a whole new way of making cartoons. Its characters became instant icons while its gleaming surfaces changed animation more than any other single movie since "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."
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4. "Finding Nemo" (2003) Albert Brooks and Ellen DeGeneres have the precision timing of a vaudeville comedy duo as two tiny fish who brave the big, wide ocean to rescue a missing youngster. This parable about the push and pull of parent-child dependency offers some of Pixar's finest blending of adventure and comedy.
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3. "Toy Story 2" (1999) Wherein we learn that toys need to be taken out of their mint packaging and loved if they're to be truly happy. And that a Sarah McLachlan song about a doll who misses being cared for by her owner can reduce grown men to sobbing.
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2. "The Incredibles" (2004) Probably the greatest superhero movie ever made that's not based on pre-existing characters from another medium, and better than almost every other superhero movie, period. Brad Bird's attention to character detail and freedom with gravity would serve him well later as the director of the live-action film "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol."
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1. "Toy Story 3" (2010) Andy goes off to college and must leave childhood, and its playthings, behind. An exciting and funny meditation on death and growing up and I'm going to need a handkerchief now.
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