Incredibles 2 tries—and mostly succeeds—in making up for the unbelievable 14-year gap between films. With the world already built, the Parrs—Bob, aka Mr. Incredible (v. Craig T. Nelson); Helen, aka Elastigirl (v. Holly Hunter); Violet (v. Sarah Vowell); Dash (v. Huckleberry Milner); and Jack-Jack—can go crazy using their powers to defeat bad guys like the Underminer or new villain the Screenslaver. Still, one wonders why it took over two decades to come up with a plot that is more or less the same as the first film. The most significant difference is Elastigirl has become the fooled superhero, while Mr. Incredible struggles to raise the kids as a single dad. Thankfully, super-designer Edna Mode (v. Bird) is still on the Parrs’ speed dial.
This observation is not a complaint about the plot—why fix what is not broken?—as it is about the delay. Writer-director Brad Bird’s three subsequent movies are all fine (even the forgettable Tomorrowland), but none provides any explanation for why it took the span of three Cars movies before Pixar could get its biggest no-brainer sequel to the big screen. Talk about building anticipation!
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