Captain Conroy's Pixar 40th Anniversary Marathon (Week 5)

Written by Captain Conroy

Week 1, Week 2, Week 3 and Week 4 here.

And now here we are, not only another Pixar movie, but a superhero movie nonetheless. People love superheroes so they would have had to go through a lot to ensure this one makes its mark and stands out above the rest as even back in 2004 when this movie came out, the superhero genre would have been one of those genres where just about anything you can think of would have been done at least somewhere before. So, do we have superheroes here or super zeros? Definitely superheroes I am happy to say.

The story introduces us to Mr. Incredible – a superhero at the top of his game and is beloved by all until one law-suit throws a spanner into all his works and for the rest of the superheroes too as a government act of law is enforced to make them live like ordinary people do. It isn’t until a new assignment pops up which quickly turns deadly as the mastermind is someone who once idolised Mr. Incredible and now it’s up to him and his family to defeat this weapon and save the day when no-one else can help.

I have to say while there’s a lot to like about this story – I just don’t like how it’s all set up by a superhero registration act. Those things are stupid and they never make any kind of sense and they only ever cause more problems than they’re worth. Nevertheless, as stupid as superhero registration acts are, this movie still makes the best of what it has and it does make for an absolutely great character arc for Bob Parr (AKA Mr. Incredible) as he was once hailed and then has to revert to civilian life (not his own choice) and thus his desire to return to the glory days, but along the way he learns about something much more important, the value of family.

Along the way the story creates some exciting twists and turns for our heroes to overcome and it shows along the way Pixar’s never-ending creative boundaries as it takes full advantage of the world it’s in, all the different shapes, sizes, looks etc for their superheroes and it makes a great usage of some of the hinderances our heroes go through to try and live normally and thus you do feel good for them at the end when they get to completely cut loose and they are cheered for it. Above all superhero registration acts never stop being stupid, but it thankfully also doesn’t make the story stupid. It’s a solid story and a story like this can make you say who says only DC and Marvel can make superheroes right?

The animation is another area where the movie takes full advantage of its setting. The animation is naturally up to the usual high standards of Pixar – even back then. But even so the animation as I say takes full advantage of its settings and I mean that. You have all the unique colour palettes of every place we end up at be it the suburbs the Parr family have made their residence by the 15 years later mark, to the Island where Syndrome has set up his base, to the town, everywhere.

The movie itself is clearly set in a retro time but yet the tech is clearly utilised by the supers, Edna Mode and Syndrome is way ahead of its time. I always like these kind of settings, I think they’re charming. The animation helps to show all of this through it’s settings and what we can see on screen and ho boy those action scenes!

The animation can truly make you feel a sense of adrenaline as the action scenes take place. Especially the way they animate speed. I know I’ve commented on this a few times during this retrospect but these guys just know how to animate speed O.K?! Plus they clearly loved showing off how good they got when you consider that this movie features at least 35 explosions. No really, look it up. But not much more to say here other than if you’ll pardon a pun, the animation is incredible.

The characters. Well, I really don’t have to say that Mr. Incredible is definitely a great superhero. I talked about his character arc earlier via the story but we can mention more here. He’s a guy who has a lot of muscle but he’s clearly no idiot. There are plenty of times in the movie he shows brains and brawn. Shows the bruisers aren’t always idiots eh? He truly proves himself as while he usually works alone, he does work well as part of a team as well – especially his own family. Speaking of which, you’ll have no trouble identifying who’s who and being able to relate to at least one of them.

Mr. Incredible of course loves being a hero. Elastagirl is the one trying to keep the family together and ensuring their secret is hidden. And you have the opposites with the kids Dash and Violet. Dash is the charmingly reckless one who wants them to be able to be in the open whereas Violet wants the normal life and wants to fit in. And Jack-Jack, well, he’s adorable.

Frozone is such a cool guy (and that’s not a joke) and he’s another who likes the glory days but is considerably more hesitant than Bob. And well, he’s a guy voiced by Samuel L. Jackson. What’s not cool about that? Syndrome is the movie’s villain and he sure is a dangerous one given he’s ended up causing the death of many superheroes, thus making him one of the Disney villains who’s an actual serial killer with an ACTUAL body count! However it definitely is pathetic how his sole motive revolves around the fact that Mr. Incredible turned him down. He killed all of those heroes and sold weapons and for what? Just to try and prove that he’s better than Mr. Incredible? No wonder they say revenge is a dish best served cold.

The Incredibles is truly if you’ll pardon the pun once again, an incredible movie. Not only as another of the many greats in Pixar’s library but as a superhero movie too. Super story, fantastic animation and a fine legion of characters here. (Yes I’m trying to see howe many superhero references I can squeeze into that one statement) It truly makes it mark as something that truly lives up to it’s name and with it’s title, you know you’ll be in for a great time. I can even recommend this movie to anyone who isn’t usually a fan of superheroes as even they could get something out of it. Heck, this could even turn someone into a superhero fan easily. And of course like most of Pixar’s other greats – it got a sequel and we shall certainly have to find out who this one fairs up.

And so, we’re back. The Incredibles are back and ready to kick some more villainous butt and ready to save the day. I’ll now stop with the puns as I ask however, is this an incredible sequel to an already incredible movie or does this one sum up how often in real life comic book superheroes often loose their way and suck? Let’s look:

Sadly to open up, the story is a bit of a downgrade from the first film. The story revolves around the fact that superheroes are still illegal somehow and I really do stress somehow. Why the whole Omnidroid incident didn’t change anyone’s minds just stretches credibility. Winston Deavor – a rich businessman puts forward a bold new idea to get superheroes legal again and this time we have a role reversal as Elastagirl is the one that is called forward while Mr. Incredible stays behind with the kids.

Already this sadly causes some of the problems for me that I feel the story has. To my mind if you want a sequel, you’ve got to make it its own kind of thing, not essentially a glorified remake of the first. Is it a direct copy of the first movie however? Well, no – gladly it isn’t. It still thankfully has enough of its differences so you don’t feel you’re entirely rewatching the first movie. If there’s one thing the sequel certainly does right, it really takes things up a notch with the action scenes and making this entire adventure feel bigger than the first. Which really does make things more the pity that the story takes a downgrade as the action scenes and adventure side of things are so good.

Plus it really isn’t helped with the side story of Violet going through a hard time as Tony’s memory of her is wiped and there is one scene where she finds out why he doesn’t remember her and Mr. Incredible didn’t entirely help the case by at first acting cheery and casual about it before Violet has her meltdown about it. Like dude, what did he think was going to happen?! So yes, the story is one of those where it has its strong points but unfortunately those alone aren’t enough to save the story from feeling lacklustre.

I’m going to sound like a broken record by this point but I shall try to describe it the best I can without sounding too much like one here. The animation takes an obvious upgrade considering the first movie was a 2004 release and this one came out in 2018. Everyone still look like their old selves but it’s evident where the upgrades are at. In addition to updating everyone’s look, the movie manages to make everything look great from buildings, to vehicles, to different textures like character’s hair, clothing etc.

The animation upgrade definitely helps with the action scenes too. As you already know and I have said various times the way these guys animate speed helps and it certainly makes everything look very exciting to witness. The sense of adrenaline is there and it helps the action scenes thrive. There are even times things look super intense – especially the fight between Elastagirl and the supposed Screenslaver in the enclosed screen cage – upon a rewatch I was like “Wow, I don’t remember this scene being THAT intense!” The animation is one thing that’s a step up from the first – but it’s not to say the first was bad, not at all, I mean I really praised it as you already know, but still – this animation is one of this movie’s very strong points.

The characters – well, sadly things feel a bit like a downgrade here too. Especially for Mr. Incredible. I hate how he’s desperate to not be shown up and how he shows he can’t bear Elastagirl being in the spotlight rather than him. I mean come on, surely he learned from the first movie right? I mean he’s certainly one for glory but he’s not that much of a glory-hound! I do like how he feels still he needs to do it to prove he can do it but it really didn’t have to come at the expense of character flanderization and some signs of character regression. Elastagirl? Funny how she acknowledges her hypocritical sign at one point during the movie because boy some of it shows there. Nevertheless, she is still as good as ever here as she’s brought forward to be the face of superheroes as they’re brought back into public life. Violet’s side-story didn’t really amount to much and Dash was more or less a spare part.

But we have our new faces too like the Deavors. Winston is a breath of fresh air, he’s not corrupt and he’s one of the only ones who talks any sense and actually has a few brain cells and thus you do feel very good for him as well as the supers once the legislation act is lifted. And then there’s Evelyn who turns out to be the Screenslaver – the film’s main villain. As much as Syndrome made for a great villain, boy this girl really steps things up. She has a lot of powerful influence what with the power of hypnosis through screens and she really was a Chessmaster here, hiding behind the scenes and moving all the pieces into place. Plus she has a motive driven by a let down which may sound rather samey as Syndrome, but it’s not. He was acting due to not getting his way whereas she was acting due to a death in the family caused by that stupid legislation act what she took as a mistaken belief. I love both villains here but Evelyn’s motive is stronger than Syndrome’s and once again really steps the supervillain game up here for me.

All in all, The Incredibles 2 is certainly not by any means a bad sequel, it’s just that unfortunately it’s faults stop it from being as great as the original and thus the best way I can describe it is like this. One of the movies feels like a homemade cake whereas the other feels like a shop-bought one. I don’t know about anyone else’s experiences but I’ll always choose homemade over shop-bought any day but shop-bought is bad no means bad, homemade is just better and that’s what it feels like with these two movies. If you’re a diehard Incredibles fan though, it may be worth checking this out at least once. Again it’s definitely not a bad sequel, just a few tweaks here and there would have helped it is all.

And now it’s that time once again to invite you to share your thoughts. Which of the Incredibles movies do you like the best? Do you like the first one? The second one? Or do you like them both on equal measure even? Share your thoughts in the comments below. And thus that draws these reviews to a close and join me next time as I go over the three Cars movies. Bye-bye for now and until then, start those engines!

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