Les Indestructibles 2

There is much to like here and not much that is outright wrong or bad. It's funny, fast paced, clever and overall works quite well. However there is an ever present feeling that the first one was better.. Maybe it's cause the plot is maybe a bit too predictable and cartoonish(yeah it IS a cartoon, but still..) or that the wait between the first and this one was so long and I expected something more? It's still good, just not great!

This movie is fantastic, loved the story and the characters. Where this movie loses points is in three separate continuous sequences of intense flashing. My sister is epileptic, and with no warnings we weren't prepared for any of it. She ended up seizing after the first sequence, and we had to cover her eyes for the their two. If you or any family members are sensitive to this sort of thing, AVOID THIS MOVIE.

Have always been a big fan of Pixar, liking to loving pretty much all their short films (particularly 'Presto', 'One Man Band', 'Geri's Game', 'Piper' and 'Knick Knack'). Also like to love a vast majority of their feature films, my favourites being the 'Toy Story' films, 'Up', 'Coco' and 'Inside Out' and my least favourites being the 'Cars' sequels and 'The Good Dinosaur'.

While not one of my favourite Pixar films, 'The Incredibles' is still a very, very good film that has gone even higher in my estimations after a well overdue re-watch to get myself prepared for 'Incredibles 2', fantastically animated, exciting, funny, emotionally investable and ground-breaking with great characters. Expectations were high for its long awaited sequel fourteen years on, and while it is not as good a film, and what could and should have been super and incredible wasn't quite, on the most part 'Incredibles 2' was worth the wait.

'Incredibles 2' does lack 'The Incredibles' originality (not much new here) and its emotional impact and character development is also not as good, the latter particularly is noticeably thinner (Bob for example was more complex before). It was a little too long for a story as slight as it was, would have trimmed it by 15-20 minutes and tightened the first act's pacing with it taking a bit too much time to get going.

Like others, among my biggest problems were to do with the villain. The villain was forgettable (one of Pixar's weakest easily), the twist concerning their identity that was too obvious too soon. Found their plan convoluted, that when explained made me want a re-wind button which was not possible in the cinema, and the motivation was pretty weak and extreme, took a while for me to get my head round. While the characters are fun, it did feel like there were too many, not sure whether it needed that many superheroes that aren't given enough to do other than in the climax.

However, it may sound like 'Incredibles 2' was a bad film. It wasn't. Actually enjoyed it a good deal. The animation is fantastic, smooth, vibrant in colour and meticulous in background detail, some very striking details, a richly immersive setting and the characters are well designed. Michael Giacchino's score gets one in a rousing mood while also being dynamic with the action. The action is superbly animated and thrilling with real suspense and excitement.

Writing has many moments of humour that provides a lot of laughs (Jack Jack steals the show here, especially with his powers and his fight with the racoon, with some nice lines later from Edna), moments that probe thought and drama that's relatable and never too sentimental (if not as poignant as one would like). The story does grip, more so in the Elastigirl story that really held my attention before the villain reveal underwhelmed. The family drama stuff is also very prominent, and while it is repetitive at times and there could have been less of it the best moments are very funny and it is very easy to relate to the dilemmas the characters face. Pacing mostly excites when things get going.

Character development is nowhere near as strong here and it would have benefitted from less characters and more done with the existing characters and more thought with the villain and their plan/motivations, but the characters are mostly fun with the highlight being Jack Jack. The voice acting is terrific, especially from Holly Hunter, Craig T Nelson and Samuel L Jackson. Brad Bird is a lot of fun in Edna's small role and Catherine Keener, Bob Odenkirk and Jonathan Banks are good additions.

Overall, very enjoyable but wanted to like it much more. 7/10 Bethany Cox

I don't think this sequel is bad, it's a fine watch. An entertaining superhero movie for the family, but it lacks that depth that keeps people coming back to the first movie.

I recently watched the first and second Incredibles. The first has such intensity and great pacing. Many layered thematically and presentably. Moments are allowed to be subtle, stakes are high. I mean, the plane scene get me every time. But this film lacks that depth. It takes the characters for what they are on the surface and runs with that.

It's a shame, because I know it's this way because of corporate pushing. First they struggle with production, and then Disney cuts off a year of their production time, so they have to throw something together.

In short: characters are reset, villain is a shallow bait and switch, characters are boiled down to their surface level traits, new hero designs are so off and underutilized, villain's motivation and plan is thoughtless, a bit too much Jack-Jack, lacking stakes, missing the thoughtful moments, and overall a shallow follow-up.

It's not bad, just lacking, and forgettable. The visuals are nice, I almost feel like they went a little to exaggeration. Akin to pumping up the color on a photo to make it 'look better', but still, credit to the animators. If you remove its tie to the first movie, it would make a decent superhero movie, but that's it. It sadly cannot live up to the first movie, and corporate is to blame.

Good: The animation for this movie was excellent just like most other Pixar movies, it was funny (especially Jack Jack) and I really liked the action sequences throughout the movie. I liked that the movie showed that parenting (when done right) can be heroic.

Bad: I thought this film has quite a few problems, the biggest problem was that the ending was pretty predictable, I could see it coming. Also, there was a feminism theme with Helen which was okay but at times it seemed to shove it in my face and it got to be annoying. There seemed to be a little too much going on in the movie and a few too many characters.

I'm glad I saw the movie, I just don't think I would see it again anytime soon.