The long wait for the sequel to the popular Disney Pixar Incredibles is finally here as Incredibles 2 hits the big screens on July 13th 2018 here in the UK. Our fourteen year old has literally been waiting his whole life for this – in his words – the sequel to one of the best films in his lifetime. He was thrilled that we were invited to a family screening in support of the 24 hour challenge.
Incredibles 2 Plot – with Spoilers
The story begins by a guy called Tony discovering that the girl he has asked on a date (Violet – voice of Sarah Vowell) is actually a superhero when she takes off her mask but doesn’t realise he is around. This is quite a big deal as superheroes have been illegal for some time, but luckily for Violet the Incredibles (The Parr family) know the right contacts and she is erased from his memory. At the same time Winston Deavor (voice of Bob Odenkirk) wants to help make superheroes legal again and starts the process by inviting Mr & Mrs Incredible and Frozone (the voice of Samuel L Jackson) over to his company.
There it is explained that the best way to convince people that what superheroes do is good is by showing them the decisions they make. To do this a camera is put into their suits. After some careful looking at figures it appears that Helen (Mrs Incredible – voice of Holly Hunter) is the best superhero for the job. This leaves Bob (Mr Incredible – voice of Craig T. Nelson) looking after the children (Violet, Dash – voice of Huck Milner, and Baby Jack-Jack), whilst Mrs Incredible becomes Elastigirl to save lives by putting a stop to the Screenslaver. It isn’t long however before Mrs Incredible realises that she isn’t stopping the Screen Saver, but merely playing “his” game. Whilst back at home Mr Incredible tries not to worry his wife about the issues he is tackling such as Violet’s heartbreak (as she was totally wiped from memory so her date didn’t happen – nor does he know who she is!!) and a very full on baby Jack-Jack (who later turns out to have super powers which make him even more difficult to deal with).
Incredibles 2 Suitability for Children
Of course it is a family film but there is of course cartoon fighting and large scale destruction – with laser beams coming out of baby Jack-Jack’s eyes and the use of weapons, someone is shot (in a flashback) and there are references to dead parents. There is also hypnosis; the use of the profanities and other mild swear words; kissing/hugging/flirting; some drinking by adults and a cigarette. I also think that Incredibles 2 raises lots of questions about men and women’s expected roles – and I was disappointed early on to figure out what would happen at the end based on these.
Conclusions of Incredibles 2
Incredibles 2 is a good family film and I recommend anyone with children to go and watch it. Especially if you had a child that wasn’t/or isn’t the easiest to look after (always getting into trouble/escaping/not sleeping, etc and generally looking after more than one child at once). The fourteen year old did think it was a good film – but not worth waiting his whole life for. It is well animated and you can see the Disney magic – especially in a fight scene with the Screenslaver and Mrs Incredible where it actually turns out it was just a pizza boy! There’s a couple of nice scenes with the whole family coming together to defeat crime and it would be nice to have seen more of those. All in all it was an okay sequel and worth going to watch.
We had complimentary tickets to watch Incredibles 2 but all opinions are honest and my own.