Incredibles 2

An erratic (and ultimately disappointing) sequel, Incredibles 2 picks up immediately after the events of its predecessor and follows the Parr family (Craig T. Nelson’s Bob, Holly Hunter’s Helen, Sarah Vowell’s Violet, Huck Milner’s Dash, and Eli Fucile’s Jack-Jack) as they’re forced to once again utilize their superpowers to battle a villainous figure bent on world domination. Filmmaker Brad Bird delivers a striking opening sequence that seems to promise a fun, briskly-paced adventure story, and yet the movie, much sooner than one might’ve preferred, settles into a hopelessly uneven and only sporadically compelling midsection – with the less-than-engrossing atmosphere compounded by Bird’s reliance on somewhat routine and even hackneyed elements. (There is, for example, an almost eye-rollingly tedious subplot revolving around Bob’s ongoing jealousy of Helen’s newfound success within the superhero realm.) It becomes more and more clear, in fact, that none of the movie’s story threads wholeheartedly work (eg it’s hard to work up much interest in Violet’s ongoing boy troubles, to be sure), and there is, as such, little doubt that the picture’s momentum grows increasingly tenuous as the narrative unfolds – with the primary saving grace here a typically vibrant animation style and a smattering of admittedly electrifying action sequences (including a fantastic interlude involving a helicopter chase around the city). By the time the decent yet palpably padded-out climax rolls around, Incredibles 2 has certainly confirmed its place as a pervasively underwhelming followup that often feels much, much longer than its 118 minutes.

** out of ****