“I was astounded that the team behind Incredibles 2’s animation was able to improve upon perfection. If only the story could have followed suit.”

Yesterday I went to see Incredibles 2 and unfortunately it wasn’t everything I expected. Now right off the bat I understand that there are flaws in my argument. First of all, The Incredibles came out fourteen years ago. I was fourteen years younger when I first watched it. I don’t care who you are, opinions change over time. Also, the first movie has had fourteen years to grow into my brain. Given the same amount of time, theres no telling what even the worst movies could accomplish. But from my point of view, right here right now, Incredibles 2 is inferior to its predecessor.

The main difference with Incredibles 2 is the writing. First of all, Incredibles 2 leans into the comedy angle with a lot of the structure. Entire portions of the movie are reserved for one punchline at the end of a scene. And I’m not saying these punchlines aren’t great, but its obviously very forced. What happened to the heart of the original? Sure it was funny, but it also had a lot of emotional moments that we don’t really get in Incredibles 2.

Another thing I noticed about the writing was that there was way too much going on. Incredibles 2 has a story that isn’t super complex (honestly it’s just body cams for superheroes), and yet they keep piling stuff on until the story becomes so bloated that you don’t really care about any of it. I would have loved to see a movie that focused on the repercussions of introducing superheroes back into society and the ramifications of making them accountable for their actions, but we didn’t get that. We got the start of that, but then it gets thrown aside for a mediocre villain with a very “deep” mission.

I also wasn’t a fan of how Incredibles 2 made itself more of a cartoon. I’m not an idiot, I know that Incredibles 2 is a cartoon, but the Parr family is animated in such a way that they feel real. All of the characters are. Except for when they introduce the cavalcade of new superheroes that look like they were ripped right out of a child’s sketchbook. It doesn’t make sense in the universe. Sure people have exaggerated features, but a dude who looks like a frog? And a fucking owl man? Seriously? This is like ‘Mater becoming a spy in Cars 2’ bad.

I also wasn’t a fan of Jonathan Banks replacing Bud Luckey as the voice of Rick Dicker. I understand that Bud unfortunately passed away, but Jonathan Banks has such a distinguishable voice that it’s so obvious that the character was recast. Maybe get someone who sounds at least a little bit like the original character, and not the man with one of the most unique voices in Hollywood. That would be like if the motherfucker from How to Train your Dragon was recast with Morgan Freeman. People would know.

But Incredibles 2 still does one thing well, and that’s animation. Once again the team behind Incredibles 2 manages to consistently blow me away. A lot of my praises here would just be reiterating what I said in my review of The Incredibles, so if you’re interested just go read that. One thing Incredibles 2 did differently (better, even) was include these gorgeous, sweeping action shots. When the first one happened, I believe Elastagirl was jumping her motorcycle on to a train and that camera moves around her effortlessly as though it was floating, I was amazed. Not only was it a beautiful shot that anyone would be proud of, but it also did a great job showing off just how much work went into Incredibles 2. It allowed for so much more detail, so much more motion, so much more life. I was astounded that the team behind Incredibles 2’s animation was able to improve upon perfection. If only the story could have followed suit.

Overall Incredibles 2 is kind of disappointing. It wasn’t a bad movie, but it was nowhere near as good as the first one. I guess it had kind of a unfair fight, what with the first one having fourteen years to grow on audiences, but still the difference was noticeable.

I give Incredibles 2 a B