“THE INCREDIBLES 2” My rating: B
118 minutes | MPAA rating: PG
“The Incredibles” (2004) always was too good for kids.
Youngsters may have made up the bulk of ticket buyers, but so much of Brad Bird’s yarn about the Parrs, an urban family with superpowers, was directed at adults — especially boomers with a collective memory of James Bond films and early ’60s kitsch.
The long-in-coming “Incredibles 2” is more of the same. Far from being a radical departure from the original film, it picks up precisely where the first one left off (with the arrival of the John Ratzenberger-voiced Underminer and his gigantic burrowing machine); you could watch the two films back to back as one big story.
Once again, Bird’s screenplay pits the family against a villain — in this case a mysterious figure known as the Screenslaver who uses the world’s TV sets as invasive hypnotic devices. And the sequel continues the earlier film’s plot thread about a worldwide ban on superheroes, which forces our protagonists to operate mostly in secret.
All well and good. But the real theme of “Incredibles 2” is gender roles.
Because of its early ’60s setting, Bird can dabble in bad-old-days male chauvinism, particularly as it affects the marvelous Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), who finds herself more or less working solo to fight the Screenslaver.
Meanwhile husband Bob aka Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) must become a stay-at-home dad, dealing (ineffectually) with the romantic teen angst of daughter Violet (Sarah Vowell), the bratty antics of son Dash (Huck Milner) and especially the growing powers of the infant Jack-Jack.
Indeed, the film’s comedy highlights are generated by Jack-Jack’s growing list of insane abilities (everything from laser vision to transportation to the ability to clone himself). Any of this would be formidable in the hands of a mature adult; exhibited by an impetuous one-year-old they are simultaneously hilarious and frightening.
The funniest two movie minutes of the year come in a scene where little Jack-Jack takes on a raccoon who’s been raiding the family’s trash bin. This is visual comedy at its best.
But then “Incredibles 2” has been spectacularly animated throughout, especially in several hair-raising chase sequences. Some of the settings have been so realistically rendered you feel you could get out of your chair and walk through them.
Samuel L. Jackson returns as Parr family bud Frozone (he can freeze water with a touch), while Bob Odenkirk and Catherine Keener give voice to the Deavors, sibling billionaires who are using his p.r. skills and her tech knowhow to re-introduce superheroes to society.
Director Bird once again delivers a delightful sequence as Edna Mode, the eccentric designer to superheroes.
| Robert W. Butler
Butler's Cinema Scene 
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