Incredibles II

INCREDIBLES II

Director : Brad Bird
Year : 2018

Genre : Animation

Rating : ****1/2

After 14 very long years of waiting, everyone's favourite crime-fighting family are back in 'Incredibles II', Brad Bird's eagerly anticipated sequel to his 2004 Academy Award winning smash hit. Once again featuring the voice talents of Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter, 'Incredibles II' boasts the same beautiful animation and impressive character and set designs synonymous with Pixar while also increasing the comedy and the emotionality that made the original film such a delight. The end result is a consistently stunning and frequently hilarious adventure that not only lives up to the legacy of it's beloved predecessor but in some cases, surpasses it. 

Following on directly from the events of the first film, 'Incredibles II' sees Bob Parr aka. Mr Incredible (Nelson) unexpectedly holding the baby while sultry wife Helen (Hunter) takes centre stage as the super-stretchy, motorcycle-riding Elastigirl who has been enlisted by a hero-obsessed entrepreneur to help legalise the outlawed "supers" of the world.  But while Helen has her hands full with a new cyber-villain named Screenslaver, Bob has his own set of problems back home. His speedy son Dash needs help with his homework ("I don't know that way, why would they change math?") his increasingly introverted daughter Violet is going through the heartache of a first date gone wrong ("Is she having an adolescence?") and, most significantly, his tiny son Jack-Jack is starting to exhibit his destructive powers - powers that range from laser-vision, spontaneous combustion, multiplication, inter-dimensional travel and even transforming into a hideous red monster that can only be tamed with cookies!

As was the case with the first film, 'Incredibles II' is written and directed brilliantly by Brad Bird who once again manages to blend action spectacle with relatable familial domesticity. Expertly transitioning from heart-racing bike chases and fight sequences to wonderfully mundane scenes of father and child interaction, Bird and his team of animators have maintained the core elements that made the 2004 film such a critical and commercial success and in doing so, have made the best Pixar sequel since 1999's peerless 'Toy Story 2'.

Talent-wise, 'Incredibles II' is as impressive as it's visuals. Holly Hunter and Craig T. Nelson are once again great as Helen and Bob Parr while returning star Samuel L. Jackson is terrific in his short but sweet role as the cryokinetic Frozone. Adding to the cast of characters are a bunch of new and interesting faces including Bob Odenkirk's P.R magnate Winston Deavour and his sister Evelyn (Catherine Keener), Isabella Rossellini as Municiberg's ambassador and a host of new and exciting heroes such as Sophia Bush's portal-creating Voyd and Phil LaMaar's telekinetic Krushauer.

However, while these characters are all good fun, the unequivocal star of the show is the deceptively cute Jack-Jack whose endless conveyor belt of powers provide 'Incredibles II' with it's funniest and most inventive gags, with a one-on-one battle between the baby and a vicious raccoon proving to be the funniest thing I have seen in the cinema all year. 

With its fair share of uproarious jokes, thrilling action, biting social commentary and emotionally rich character arcs, 'Incredibles II' is the brightest star in an otherwise miserable Summer blockbuster season. At the beginning of the year, I named the film as my most anticipated of 2018 and thankfully, I wasn't disappointed. I just hope we don't have to wait another decade and a half before the next one.