#youre elastigirl in the worst possible way

[zaphic]

really love having to tell my boss two days in a row that I am in too much pain to work 😭

[elizas-writing]

Movie Reviews: The Incredibles 2

Alright, I’m just going to throw this out there now before I get ahead of myself. Yes, this movie is not epilepsy friendly. There’s a shit ton of flashing strobe lights periodically through the whole film, and I definitely don’t recommend seeing it in theaters if your photo sensitivity is that bad. Just wait until it’s streaming.

Now, on with the review!

Of all the Pixar films which were dying for a sequel, The Incredibles was right up at the top. Director Brad Bird brought visual splendor of retrofuturism and his intense brand of maturity you almost never get to see in family animated films, making it one of Pixar’s best. With it being a superhero film (especially in a time before cinematic universes were a thing), there was a ton of potential for character growth and new villains with a sequel.

But Bird got sucked into some other projects and wanted to wait out enough time to let the creativity to flow naturally. So when they finally announced that the sequel was going to be a thing after fourteen years, people got excited. While I was definitely one of those people, I was also a little worried since it is a sequel being released fourteen years later. Would it actually live up to the hype?

Well, let’s go into the story first.

Starting right where we last left off in the first film, the Parr family (AKA the Incredibles) confront the Underminer. Despite their best efforts to keep everyone safe and stop the villain, he escapes anyway, and the family is blamed for the collateral damage. This prompts the shut down of the Superhero Relocation Program, leaving the Parrs with no resources to pick themselves up after losing their home fighting Syndrome three months before. Luckily, someone saw them in action and wants to regain public support of Supers. Winston and Evelyn Deavor of DevTech want to use their technology to publicize the superhero work civilians don’t see, ensuring that they are still saving society and provide enough reason to legalize supers once again. Helen Parr (Elastigirl) is picked as their representative, leaving Bob (Mr. Incredible) to watch the kids while she’s out fighting crime. As Helen gets a taste of adrenaline again and Bob adapts to being a homemaker, a new threat emerges which could jeopardize Supers and keep them hidden forever.

This is one of the best looking Pixar films to date with such a meticulous attention to detail. The textures in the skin, clothing, glass, and water are just amazing to look at with similar photo-realism I last saw in Coco. It ups the action scenes and emotional performances with Bird’s fluidly expressive and fast-paced animation. It also takes full advantage of what the supers, old and new, can do with their powers, especially Elastigirl. Any time I saw her use a new technique with her flexibility, I just thought, “Brilliant!” You can tell there were great, creative minds behind the fight scenes to make these powers stand out. No wonder it took so long to get a sequel out.

Most of the original voice cast is back to reprise their roles, and as expected, they’re still wonderful in keeping up with Bird’s kind of energy. Dash was the only voice to be replaced since his actor grew too old, but you can’t even tell the difference, and he’s just perfect for Dash. And, of course, the newer voices are just as amazing for this fast-paced, energetic movie.

I’ll admit I was initially worried at the premise since it just seemed like a role reversal of the first film, right down to a tech company CEO wanting Supers to make a comeback. And how many sitcoms have we seen where the dad has to stay at home, take care of the kids and is just a royal fuck up? On one hand, the plot gets a little predictable, but it thankfully provides updates where it sorely needed them. As expected, Bob is out of touch with being a father, hates not working, and-- no pun intended-- is incredibly insecure on his wife being the breadwinner and first choice for regaining public support of Supers. But it’s very careful to not make him a stereotypical incompetent dad/husband character type.

He adapts, becomes resourceful, listens to his kids, and eventually gets over himself when he realizes he’s being irrational. And given that he’s raising Super kids at such a pivotal point in their lives-- particularly with Jack Jack growing more erratic with his new powers by the day--, his stress is understandable; hell, you’d probably freak out too if your youngest child just vanished into another dimension. He’s just a wonderful dad to look up to as someone who always tries to do better for his family.

It’s also great seeing Helen in the spotlight with a noticeably different fighting style from her husband. While Bob likes to smash his way through a situation with brute force, Helen is a lot more meticulous, cunning and careful, whether in a fight or saving bystanders. I love seeing her energy and enjoying the thrill of superhero work, but not letting it go to her head and remembering why she’s there. She has fun interactions with Evelyn and some of the other Supers, and as I said before, the animation on her is super creative and so damn impressive.

Violet and Dash are still a fun sibling dynamic where they equally get on each other’s nerves but are also excellent superhero partners, whether making sure their dad is in check or fighting off bad guys themselves. It’s just a fun rapport between the two. I also really appreciate how maturely Bird treats them under their circumstances. They’re as much involved with this changing world as their parents, and need to learn how to navigate balancing a normal life and a superhero life. And their parents know better than to tap dance around the truth, so they can be prepared for the worst case scenario. And Jack-Jack is a whole brand of wild with his new powers you just have to see for yourself. He’s a laugh riot, and it’s so cute to see him mimic the adults’ behaviors.

While there are some wonderful changes to a typical sitcom plot and the mystery Helen has to solve is fascinating, I felt like the film could’ve gone the extra mile in expanding the worldbuilding and character dilemmas, especially for how much they kept building up the whole “It’s been 14 years!” in the commercials. I love these new heroes they introduce (particularly Voyd, who is a disaster lesbian, who the fuck are y’all kidding with the “functional” shit), but I wanted to know more about the world dealing with the comeback of Supers with reemerging prejudices on collateral damage, overbearing amounts of responsibility, and the possibility of over-reliance on Supers to save the day.

The commentary is there, but the plot still has to juggle what’s going on with the rest of the family while Helen is at work. And even that doesn’t seem to be balanced out either. There’s a whole section on Violet trying to maintain a relationship with a boy which produces a lot of complications with her maintaining secrecy on her Super identity. That would be a perfect opportunity to explore these prejudices and what Supers sacrifice in hiding. But they’re brief scenes with way too fast resolutions.

And with the story being so predictable, we have another plot twist villain, and this trend in Disney films is obnoxious because it’s almost never a surprise anymore. I’d be more forgiving if we took more time to dive into their motivations or if there was fascinating subtext like in Moana. And this villain has some great points to bounce off the heroes, but like I said, the worldbuilding is cut too short because of the other developing side-plots. It really sucks, because Bird handled the paranoia of the other so well in The Iron Giant, and The Incredibles is the perfect setting to explore such themes and make parallels to Civil Rights. It’s not awful or severely underdeveloped, but I think they missed an opportunity to make the story pack a punch and relied a little too much on its own hype.

Even for what it lacks, The Incredibles 2 is still a fun family superhero flick which delivers what was perfect from the first film. The animation is freaking amazing, the characters and their interactions are fun with some great growth, and the action really packs a punch. I can’t completely get behind the hype like the marketing wants me to, but for The Incredbiles, it’s too damn entertaining to miss out on.

If you enjoyed this review and what I do here, consider buying me a ko-fi to show your support!

[moonraccoon-exe]

*pokes you on my head* hello moon, i hope youre doing well! i studied for a test recently & got it back but i didnt do so good... (;*△*;) I know i can pass the class with a C if i do better but im gonna have to work super hard if i want to pass with a B- & semester is starting to close (;´Д`). its nice that i have ambitions: some are for myself & some will help me later in life like in a job although i havent really done much in actually working toward them orz... but at least i have them! 1/2

QUIIIICKSIIIIIIIIIILVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH

*EXPLODES*

*CLINGS TO YOUR HEAD*

BUDDY HEWWO IT’S BEEN A WHILE SINCE YOU LAST WERE IN MY ASK,  I mean not THAT much, but still a bit, and I’m just- I’M JUST EXCITED ANY TIME YOU DROP BY, SERIOUSLY, I’M LIKE *bounces all across the room* EACH TIME I SEE YOUR SIGNATURE, I’M SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU AROUND HEWWO BUDDY THANK YOU

Ah! Poking heads! I LOVE poking other people, mostly on the head! (ノ*°▽°*) I’m always like “Imma do a boop on your head!” then go near and poke like “BOOP” and jump away and laugh ajsdkldjghda POKING IS GREAT, and that you  poked me means WE’RE GOOD FRIENDS, RIGHT? You just made the Friend Poke and that means IMMA HUG YOUR HEAD AND NEVER LET GO ANYMORE OKAY :3

GASPS

Oh nooo! I’m sorry that you didn’t do so well in your test… (｡•́︿•̀｡) It must have felt so bad, that you tried and it still didn’t turn out as you would have wanted or expected. 

*pets you*

It’s okay to fail, sometimes. That’s part of life, too! It’s okay, buddy, you tried and failing happens to anyone, so don’t ya worry too much (ノ_

Ambitions are nice, indeed! The word as itself has been a bit poisoned and the first impression can come off as negative, but ambitions are definitely good. It would be mediocre to sit there and expect nothing other than survive, ya know. People who actually aim for something and work for it, those are my favorite kind when it comes to this sort of stuff. :3

Aaah! It’s good to know that you can still pass the class with a higher grade, buddy! Though it must be stresssful, that semester is closing. It must sorta feel like time is on you, which is maybe the worst feeling of them all D:

I know you can do it, QS! You seem to always work very hard to approve and do well in your exams, so I believe in you :3 See, you’ve made it so far in your school history, you just gotta pull through this one like you’ve done before. You’ve got this, buddy! Just gotta work hard, eat well, and VERY important, rest! 

Though if you can’t do much, don’t you worry either. Work hard, yes, but don’t over work!!! That will only do but wear you out in all ways, and we don’t want that, buddy. I know grades are important for papers and scholarships and etc., but remember you’re not the grade you get. Grades are only…a generalized measure. But they don’t measure YOU exactly. So know that C+ or B- or anything, you know how good you are, and getting a bad grade doesn’t mean you’re bad at it, it just means you need a little more time to improve.

Still, I’m gonna be cheering on you, buddy! Sending you HIGHLY MAGICAL RACCOON VIBES so your grades can go as far up as possible without you overworking yourself!! MAGIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIC!! (ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ

It’s good to know that you have ambitions. Indeed, they’ll be great help in so many aspects of your life! Just remember that, as anything else, excess is what can ruin it, alright? So you keep those ambitions and aim up and keep going, but remember to aim for a high mountain, not the sun or you’ll burn yourself! So long it’s not in excess, GO, QUICKSILVER!!! IMMA BE LOUDLY, LOUDLY CHEERING ON YOU ALL THE TIME, POM POMS IN HANDS AND CONFETTI AND EVERYTHING!! o(≧▽≦)o

*gASPS*

THE INCREDIBLES 2!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH I LOVED THE MOVIE!!

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY

BUDDY

DID YOU SEE MY GUEST APPEARANCE? HUH? DID YOU LIKE IT? HUH!?!? (*ﾉ▽ﾉ)

I was the raccoonie!!! ヽ(・∀・)ﾉ

…well, okay, it wasn’t me, bUT, I like to pretend it was me. If they had hired me and not that other raccoonie, the movie would have been FLUFFIER and more adorbs, so they miss it aklsjdklsjfs. 

Still, it was a great movie, wasn’t it!?!?! I really loved it all! I only wished they could have made Elastigirl look more her age; she looks in early 30′s, and I would have loved to see this 40′s heroine looking her age. I think that one of the many people that are missing representation is middle aged heroes!! 

But other than that, it was a BLAST! Sadly, children movies don’t arrive to theatres here in english, only in the spanish dub. I would have LOVED to watch it in english because of this actor…you know, this character, the guy that hires the Incredibles and Fronoze? I forgot his name… (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄) But he’s voiced by the guy that plays Saul Goodman from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul! I never watched Breaking Bad, but I’ve watched many BCS episodes with m y bro (who did watch BB), and from the first moment I heard him I was like “Wow, he’s got a nice voice!! He’d make a great voice actor :D” and BAM!! Incredibles 2 smacks me in the face with him!! AAAAAAAAAH!

It’s really good to know that you got to hang with some friends and that you watched the movie!! I really liked it and I’m happy to know so did you! :D

Oh! And no worries about the ask being “negative”, that’s fine! We’re buddies, and buddies have each other’s back in both good and bad times, right? What sort of bad friend would I be if I only spoke about the good things with you? Nah buddy, not my style! You throw anything that’s in your mind to me, and I’ll catch it just fine. You’re my buddy and I’m interested in anything you say, even if it’s bad news. Can’t do much to help, but I’m there to read you at least! :3

And even sharing bad news has its bright side; you’re putting some trust in me to tel me all that. Which, honestly, means lots to me and I think it’s something very pretty. So thank you soooooooooo, so much for this bit of trust you’ve given me, and for sharing what’s been going on in your side with me!! I’m happy that you share your news with me, I’m happy to hear from you about anything, and I’m happy that you take the time and effort to write to me. Aasjdsdkljgfs, it really means lots to me, buddy. Thank you.   (ﾉ_；)ヾ(´ ∀ ` )♡

Anyway, that’s that!

Thank you LOTS for dropping by, buddy, I’m happy to hear from you even if it’s not so happy news. :3

Thank you for sharing this with me, and for being as nice and good as usual. You’re amazing!! *clings to your head*

I hope you too are having a MOST INCREDIBLE (hah! see what I did there?) day or night, buddy!! Lotsa raccoonie good vibes and hugs for you!! (ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ