Everyone’s favorite family of superheroes is back in “Incredibles 2” – but this time Helen (voice of Holly Hunter) is in the spotlight, leaving Bob (voice of Craig T. Nelson) at home with Violet (voice of Sarah Vowell) and Dash (voice of Huck Milner) to navigate the day-to-day heroics of “normal” life. It’s a tough transistion for everyone, made tougher by the fact that the family is still unaware of baby Jack-Jack’s emerging superpowers. When a new villain hatches a brilliant and dangerous plot, the family and Frozone (voice of Samuel L. Jackson) must find a way to work together again—which is easier said than done, even when they’re all Incredible.
I walked into the cinema to the 'secret unlimited screening' expecting to see the upcoming Purge film or another unreleased film, but nothing too special or iconic. Any thought of the Incredibles 2 left my mind. So when I saw the bbfc rating screen that read 'The Incredibles 2', me and the whole crowd let out an enormous roar, to be one of the first to see the film was amazing and I couldn't get home fast enough after the film to write my review. The film is released on the 13th July in the UK, so THERE WILL BE SPOILERS, but I will warn you where they are. Read at your own risk!!
This film has been very much anticipated ever since the film film was released all those years ago in 2004, for many people, this original was their childhood and one of the most iconic films of their generation! 14 years we have had to wait for the sequel, and I am very proud to say that it was well worth the wait! From start to end this film was a real masterpiece, and I was not surprised at all as to why we have had to wait so long because it made the wait so worthwhile. Before the film was a short silent film, which I thought was really entertaining and enjoyable, presenting the main film really well as it transitioned the audience very well into the 'main event'! I feel that the film started off god, a nice variety of establishing camera shots were used to give the audience a good impression and introduction to what the characters were doing and what they were fighting. I really feel that this sense of a relationship between the characters was inflicted onto the audience amazingly well too, similarly to the first film in the sense of evoking emotional reactions from the audience. Throughout the film, the audience were laughing and showing emotional connections to what was happening on the screen which I thought really made the film solid, especially as it wasn't anywhere near a comedy. However, it still managed to impress and evoke both positive and sad emotions from the audience cleverly. I strongly feel that this film being able to evoke a mix of different emotions from the audience was amazingly performed, like I said there were plenty of laughs but the film was also able to cause tension amongst the audience amazingly. Through the use and combination of both slow pan camera shots and perfect audio choices, this film was able to really inflict the characters emotions whether it was sadness, tension, anger or humour onto the audience perfectly. The mood of these slow pan shots was thrown at the audience very well, to give a sense of the characters being watched and helplessly going about their daily business which is typical of the genre, but for this film it was a nice touch and seemed to have been done differently. Linking onto the emotional relationship between the audience and film, I thoroughly liked how the film used a similar comedic style from the first film - such as using Frozone's wife's commanding voice that was so iconic in the first film to really enforcing JackJack's relationship with the other characters, onto the audience which was very cleverly executed and done very well. Which again, caused plenty of laughs from the audience. I feel that the variety of emotional impacts on the audience can sometimes make a film confusing as to what it is trying to achieve, however I strongly feel that in this film the audience were given a good impression of how the relationships between the different characters changed and adapted, whilst giving all of the characters a sense of importance and most importantly a sense of purpose. Every character from the first film had a high presence within the second and I thoroughly liked how similar themes were conveyed in the second film too.
(Spoilers ahead) By giving the audience a variety of new characters too, it forced the audience to work out who they thought "Screen-Slaver" was, and when it turned out to be the woman helping the team this was a much needed plot twist that not only surprised the audience but also kept the plot of the film fresh and interesting. Instead of having typical villains like at the beginning of the film that didn't bring much to the table at all. Linking to the villain, I feel that screen-slaver was a great character choice. Not only did the character cause lots of tension such as hiding behind the door, to following our characters in the corner of the screen, but also off camera there was plenty of subtle links that caused the audience to really question who the mysterious character was and to really think about what was happening. Throughout the film it became more and more tense which was expertly conveyed to the audience. I especially enjoyed the scene where 'Elastigirl' was in a car travelling through a parade, then suddenly the mood changes due to the excellent transition of non-diegetic sounds to a slower paced beat and suddenly an innocent child holding a sign turns around to show a rather menacing message about the villain in the film - again foreboding the storyline in a clever way whilst keeping the film's plot interesting and fresh. Through the use of twists and surprises to keep the audience on their toes.
Not only do I feel that the plot was very solid but I feel that it was well laid out too. And the addition of using multiple storylines of linking a father trying to look after his children and then switching to a mother superhero trying to save the day not only challenged typical gender stereotypes but offered something new and unseen to the genre which, you guessed it, I found refreshing! And the mix of two smaller storylines in one, can be difficult to pace correctly, although in this instance the ratio was done well. The quick switches between characters not only kept the audience up to date with what was going on with the scenes but it also allowed the audience to have an important insight into how the characters were coping and it was interesting to see the differences in how the characters were coping.
There were many parts to this film that were obvious to the audience that the film had been well planned, one of these was the fight scene. Typically it is between two male characters who leave a large scale of destruction. Typically. But this film offers something else,a fight between a baby and a racoon. Not only did this scene actually convey a bit of tension, but it also got the mix of comedy value and understanding the development of the characters too, as we discovered with the characters that JackJack was capable of much more than we knew. Another feature which had clearly had lots of effort was the graphics of the film, as a cartoon there is a basic graphical standard that is expected, however this film completely excelled these expectations. All of the colours, characters and locations looked eerily realistic and they were an absolutely amazing sight to see how well they had been put together. This really helped contribute to the overall film, as it added to the scenery and just generally made the film much more appealing to the eye. And as I have already covered, I really liked the various plot twists, mainly because they kept the audience unsure of what would happen next in the film and really kept them guessing by mixing up the plot various times in the film. Not only do these plot twists create tension but they build upon it which really helped to communicate the characters feelings and emotions to the audience which I must say is quite rare for a cartoon type of film to do this well. Scenes such as the battle in the small flat room with hypostic patterns and bright lights, leading the audience to believe the villain has been captured only for there to be a massive plot twist. These were the kind of scenes that audiences have missed from some recent films and helped to provide a great storyline.
No film is perfect though, and this film did have its flaws, however small they were and however much it pains me to write them. The only issues regarding the film I experienced, were relating to the establishment of the story at the very beginning; in the sense of throwing the audience into the deep end of a battle which some audiences may find thrilling but for me personally I wasn't sure of why it was happening and even though I was aware of why the 'drill wielding madman' scene happened, afterwards I really found the whole scene confusing when I was watching it. This was a shame because I was also a little bit confused as to the punchline of 'illegal superheroes' and why this was used within the film, as the film gained momentum I forgot about this element of the characters though and concentrated mainly on their battle with the intruiging villain 'Screen-Slaver' - cool name by the way! And the confusion of some small parts to the storyline meant that the film relied on the audiences personal knowledge a little bit too much for my liking. So for new audiences who weren't familiar with the legacy of the film(!) they may not have the best idea as to the relationship the characters have with each other or the purpose of the characters - even though this is conveyed well in the film... Although I strongly feel that the small holes in the plot cannot be enough to drag this film down much, as I noticed everyone who left the cinema having watched the film, seemed to have a large beam on their face and talking about how much they enjoyed it or how much they want to see the film again.
Overall I would rate this film a 9/10, I cannot rate the film any higher simply because personally for me, a film can only be so good as a cartoon, and for it to be any higher it simply has to promote revolutionary ideas or to really get the audience thinking long after the film has been released. And as I mentioned, I loved pretty much everything about the film, the characters were amazing, the music and audio was amazing but most importantly the relationship between the film and the characters was portrayed in a great manner and left many of the audience laughing or nervous for the duration of the film. But no film is perfect (as I've said in many of my reviews) and the small plot holes and issues with the film drag it down, but really nothing more than a 'oh well' rather than a disappointment of waiting 14 years for the sequel. The end of the film also gave a great impression of another film - hopefully we won't have to wait another 14 years again!
Thank you for reading my review and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did watching the film and being one of the first in the country to experience the film, and share my thoughts with you!
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