Incredibles 2

Incredibles 2

I finally got a chance to watch this over the weekend, and it was totally worth the 14 year wait.  

Things I liked:

• Edna Mode steals the show just as much as she did last time.  She shows up again in two scenes and crushes them as only she can.  Of course she was going to bond with Jack Jack. The predictability doesn’t make it any less delightful.
• Jack Jack shifts from supporting player who does adorable things in the background to full fledged cast member doing adorable things squarely in front of the camera.  His power to have any power makes him a potential baby ex machina in any future follow ups (please!), but I don’t care.  
• Everything Elastigirl.  This is Helen’s movie. Her infiltration of Syndrome’s base in the first movie gave us a peek under the sheet of what she’s capable of.  This one yanks it away and reveals all of her superhero glory. The motorcycle/train sequence ranks among one of the most inventive action scenes ever.  (Her explosion of joy when describing it to Bob afterwards is such a wonderful contrast to her professional mein during the chase itself. A nice parallel to Dash’s play-by-play recap at the end of movie one.)
• Bob’s honest desire to be a great stay-at-home dad and the spectacular collision when he runs into the wall of reality.  Sure, there’s a measure of selfishness in wanting Helen to succeed, but he quickly moves past that to his genuine determination to excel for his family’s sake.  It requires a whole different kind of strength, and a type of heroism that is far less appreciated.     
• Water-out-of-nose spit take.  It’s a classic for a reason.

Things I didn’t like:

• Jack Jack’s gremlin transformations.  He’s not cute in beast mode, and not that funny either.  I’d have gone with human torch when he’s angry.  
• The villain turned out to have as uninteresting a motivation as Syndrome.  “We can’t rely on supers because they let me down in the past.” Meh.  
• All the new supers were really underwhelming in both design and personality.  Their fight scenes were the most disappointing, which isn’t to say that there weren’t some wonderful moments.  “You want me to uncrush? Could I tell you un-punch something? What does that even mean?”

Oh so very good.  I can’t wait to watch it again.

Regret watching? No

Would watch again? Yes

Would buy on DVD? Yes

Rating: Pure joy