Incredibles 2 Review

Incredibles 2 Review

 

A spoiler free review of Bao and The Incredibles 2.

 

Bao

Before we can dive into the film we must first discuss Bao, the short that featured before the film. I had seen the advert for the cartoon and I was intrigued but when I saw it in the cinema, it was nothing like what I was expecting and I loved that. Without giving anything away I will say that it focuses on a Chinese family which is something I enjoyed. I like film and TV that portray different people’s lives.

Just as a warning, and without spoiling anything, bear in mind that this cartoon if very symbolic, everything is not what it seems. This made it intriguing but also a little confusing. I was left at the end thinking, “Umm, okay? what?” Hopefully you understand it better than I do.

Overall I loved this cartoon, it was adorable and heart-warming but it was also really sad and a little bit shocking.

The Incredibles 2

I’m going to be honest, I wasn’t really a fan of the original film the first time I watched it, which meant that I didn’t re-watch the film until a couple of weeks ago to prepare me for watching this film. I ended up liking it a lot more the second time around. I didn’t have this problem watching Incredibles 2 though because I love it, a lot. When watching the film I was never bored or thinking “When’s it going to end?” The film is on the longer side, but it’s so action packed that you don’t really realise.

 

One of the problems I had with the first film is that it focused too much on Mr Incredible. In Incredibles 2 however they make sure all the family members have a good amount of screen time. You get to see more of Violet and her boyfriend troubles, Mrs. Incredible is off fighting crime, Mr. Incredible is keeping the family together, Jack Jack is trying out all of his powers and Dash, well Dash is the exception. In the original film he had more of a character arc with his struggles about not using his powers in public, but in this film he does math.

 

Now although there is an equal amount of time for each character I think we can all agree that Jack Jack is the unexpected star of the film. He is such a scene stealer. I loved seeing all of his powers, especially when he turns to goo as I know that this was something they wanted to do in the first film, but they didn’t have the time or the money. Jack Jack also helps to push the story forward and helps give some comic relief for what I would call one of the more tense Pixar films. Jack Jack was one of the highlights of the film for me.

I couldn’t talk about characters and not mention Edna Mode, who was without a doubt the most iconic character of the first film. There was a concern that because the audience loved her so much that they would try and over use her, but I think the Pixar team did a good job in not overusing her. She is still the same old feisty and empowering Edna and I loved her.

In the first film Pixar had a really tough time animating hair and now in this film, they have brushed out all of the problems and you can tell they have nailed the problem right on the head. But in all seriousness, you can tell that they have really stepped up their animation game with the super powers, explosions, characters facial expressions and all the unseen details.

The first film started with interviews, which was exactly how this film started and this was something I appreciated. Sequels can often lose the feel that is created during the first film, but having the opening be interviews brings back nostalgia for the first film.

 

One of the things that surprised me was just how violent the film was. Although I don’t believe that there was any blood there was a ridiculous amount of fighting, threats and even death. I know that Pixar doesn’t shy away from sensitive subjects but it was quite a violent film. However, as well as being violent, the film is also quite comical, there are some really laugh out loud moments from a lot of the characters. It’s definitely got a good balance.

 

One of the things that can’t be overlooked in this film is that it ignored gender stereotypes. It is normally assumed that the mother will stay at home with the children while the father goes out to work for his family. In this film it’s the other way around. The Incredibles showed that woman could be kick ass, but in Incredibles 2 it showed that woman could be more kick ass than men. It’s not what you always see and I appreciate that.

Being the big Pixar fan I am, I am aware of the Easter eggs in the films so I was constantly on the lookout for the Luxo ball or the pizza planet truck but I couldn’t spot either. Let me know in the comments below if you spotted either of these Easter eggs. I did however spot the A113 sign right at the end of the film and a hidden Mickey symbol in the credits.

The other Easter egg that was easy to spot, or I should say hear, was John Ratzenberger. He has voiced a character in every single Pixar film to date and he voiced the same character he did in the first film, the Underminer.

 

 

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Spoilers

Disney has been getting really good at creating unexpected villains, like Hans in Frozen, however from the moment that Winston and his sister Evelyn came on screen, I knew that one of them would be the villain. It was just that little predictable. Maybe if they made it Frozone or Mr. Dicker it would have been a lot more shocking. However I have to say that making the villain a woman was another way they eliminated gender stereotypes.

 

In this film they introduced a whole new bunch a superheroes and I really enjoyed this, especially Void, mainly because she is the superhero, out of the bunch, that has the most screen time but also because she is voiced by Sophia Bush who I love from One Tree Hill which was a TV programme from my teenage years. They all have such cool superpowers and I loved to see them in use. If they did an Incredibles 3 or a show on the Disney channel, I would love to see more of them.

 

Screensaver was a creepy villain and he was most certainly powerful, but, I don’t entirely understand her, Evelyn’s, ultimate plan. I mean, her parents were murdered by villains and now she is okay with murdering a whole bunch of civilians by crashing a boat into the land. There is no logic. If she really wanted revenge, wouldn’t you target it at the villains, not at the people who are trying to help. I think Syndrome, from the first film, was a better villain.

Leaving the cinema after seeing this film, I was really happy, it was such a good film. I would 100% recommend anyone going to see it. I am also not against the idea of an Incredibles 3 film. It would be interesting to see Violet, Dash and Jack Jack grown up, some with partners, some with kids and see how they deal with having superhero children. The idea of goodies and baddies will always be interesting and there are so many possibilities. I’m sure someone could think of a worthwhile storyline.

The Incredibles

The Incredibles

 

Plot

Released on 26th November 2004, The Incredibles focuses on a group of superheroes who have had to go into hiding because the public wasn’t happy with how they were being saved. Now Mr. and Mrs Incredible and their two children have to learn to live with hiding their powers and not saving the world.

 

Development

Brad Bird went to school at Cal Arts where a lot of Disney and Pixar animators ended up working including Tim Burton, John Lassiter and Pete Docter. After leaving school Brad worked at Disney on animating Fox and the Hound and The Black Cauldron. Brad then left and worked on the first 8 seasons of a little known cartoon called The Simpsons. Brad left when he got the chance to direct his first full length animation film The Iron Giant. Sadly he wasn’t given the support he needed and the film didn’t do as well as hoped. John Lassiter, now the head of Pixar noticed the talent of Brad and asked him to come to Pixar. Brad agreed.

Brad originally got the idea for The Incredibles in the early 1990’s. He was inspired by events in his own life. Brad was finding it hard to balance work with family life and he was now a first time father. It was this idea duelled with the idea that created the basis for the film.

 

When development for the film began it was originally going to be called The Invincible and the code word for working on the film was Tights.

 

The main Villain of the film was going to be Xerek. His back story was that he once dated Elastigirl and had an unhealthy obsession with her. However when they started working on Syndrome, the idea of “What if Batman rejected Robin? What would Robin do?” came to Brad and this propelled the movie to what it is today.

 

Originally it was planned that Mrs. Incredible, Violet and Dash would all be able to fly, but this idea was scrapped because otherwise it would have just been too easy for the characters to escape from danger.

The budget of the film was $92 million.

 

Animation

The Incredibles was the first film to feature humans as a main character. Pixar had put off this direction because they knew how hard it would be to get right, however I think we can all agree that they did a fantastic job. One reason why I feel as though they didn’t need to worry is because Pixar does there research, for example they knew that animating clothing would be tricky and they had to work with a lot of different materials so in order to make them as realistic as possible they brought in a tailor to help teach the animators about textures and the different weaves clothes can be made out of.

 

Cast

Craig T. Nelson voiced Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible and it took him around 2 years to record all his lines.

Holly Hunter voiced Helen Parr/Mrs. Incredible and her super power is that she is super stretchy and flexible and this was chosen for her because Brad felt as though wives and mothers are always pulled in a hundred directions.

The reason why Elastigirl the name is never used anywhere else other than in the film is because DC didn’t like the fact that they have an Elastigirl and so Pixar agreed to not use the name in any promotional material.

Sarah Vowell, an American historian, author and journalist, was chosen to voice Violet Parr after Brad heard Sarah on the radio programme “This American Life”. Sarah had never voice acted, or acted before, so to encourage her to take the role Pixar animated a short piece of Sarah’s radio programme and it obviously worked because she agreed to take the part.

Violet was given the superpower of turning invisible and being able to create force fields because teenage girls are generically insecure in their own skin and push people away.

 

Spencer Fox voiced Dashiell “Dash” Parr. Just like Dash, Spencer had to do a lot of running during his recordings so that he could sound realistically out of breath when the scene needed it.

Dash was given his superpower of being a fast runner because Brad viewed young boys as hyperactive.

Please note that IMDB have put up a picture of Jesse Spencer (played Billy in Neighbours and Chase in House M.D) instead of Spencer Fox on the Spencer Fox page.

 

Samuel L Jackson voiced Lucius Best/ Frozone.

Frozone’s speed skating style is speculated to be based on Shani Davis, an Olympic gold medallist. He wasn’t happy about his style being mimicked in the film as he got no recognition and no fee.

Frozone’s wife Honey is voiced by Kimberly Clark who worked at Pixar in Human Resources.

 

Edna Mode was voiced by Brad Bird, the director. They cast Lily Tomlin to be the voice but when Brad was in the booth explaining to Lily what was needed to voice the character. Lily told Brad that she didn’t understand what she was there for because Brad was doing the job himself.

Edna’s look was not inspired by Brad, instead it was inspired by Edith Head, a studio costume designer who has won a record 8 Academy Awards for Best Costume Design. She was also modelled after Linda Hunt an American film, stage and TV actress.

Edna was actually edited into the Oscars to award the Best Costume Design alongside Pierce Brosnan who had a very croaky voice. You can watch the segment on You Tube.

 

Jason Lee was cast as Buddy Pine/Syndrome because Brad saw his performance of Azrael in Dogma. It was considered giving the role to Joaquin Phoenix, but ultimately Jason got the job. Jason recorded his lines within four day.

Syndrome is likely to be named after hero syndrome which causes people to put other people danger so they can save them and then receive the praise.

As well as looking like Mr. Incredible, Brad also looks like Syndrome. Brad wasn’t aware of this detail until it was too late. If he had found out earlier he said he would have changed it.

In the scene when Mr. Incredible forgets the name of Buddy and accidently calls him Brody, this is a reference to a character Jason played in several Kevin Smith movies.

Ever wondered why Kronos is the name of the password to Syndromes files? It is a reference to Greek mythology. Kronos was a King who decided to eat all of his children so he could remain king forever. Similarly Syndrome wants to eliminate all other superheroes so only he is left.

 

Both Eli Fucille and Meave Andrews voiced Jack Jack Parr. Jack Jack is named after one of Brad’s children. Also the little boy on the tricycle who waits outside of the Parr family house, is voiced by Nicholas Bird, the son of Brad Bird. Nicholas has also voiced Squirt from Finding Nemo.

Jack Jack has so many superpowers because Brad sees babies as being driven by their changing emotions.

Jack Jack was going to turn into goo in the scene where he is kidnapped by Syndrome, but the four changes were expensive and time consuming enough that goo wasn’t included.

 

Lou Romano voiced Bernie Krupp, Dash’s teacher. Lou would go on to voice Linguini in Ratatouille.

Bernie was inspired by a real life teacher of Brads in his hometown in Oregon. Also the principal is called John Walker after the producer who has the same name. Furthermore the school Violet attends is the same Brad attended in Oregon.

 

Dominique Louis voiced Bomb Voyage who was originally going to be called Bomb Perignon after the wine, however they never consented to the use of their name being used for a bomb loving, civilian killing villain, no idea why.

 

Music

This was the first Pixar film that Michael Giacchino worked on. He would continue to work with Pixar for many years after, working on Ratatouille, Up, Cars 2, Inside Out and Coco.

 

Awards

The Incredibles won 2 Oscars. One for the Best Sound Editing and the second was for the Best Animated Feature.

 

Easter Eggs

The phone number that you see of Mirage’s business card is 866-787-7476. At the time of the film’s release the phone number was unregistered but Pixar was quick to snap up the number when the DVD was released. When anyone rang the number you would hear Mirage’s voice who would tell you to go to the Incredibles website where you would be able to see a deleted scene not included on the DVD. Sadly the number has now been disconnected.

The other secret of Mirage’s number is that the last 7 digits on a phone pad spell out the word “suprhro”.

 

On the second disc of the collector’s edition DVD, if you wait on the main menu for the Omnidroid to come onto the screen and disappear it reveals a hidden scene of all the buttons being pressed and all the explosions going off.

 

Dynaguy, Stratogale, Thunderhead and Meta Man were all guests at Helen and Bobs wedding and all die from cape related issues.

 

A Mr. Incredible pez dispenser can be seen.

 

Mr. Incredible hums his own theme song when he comes home from rescuing the civilians from a burning building.

 

At the end of the film there are two old men, they are caricatures and the voices of Frank and Ollie, two of the best animators to ever work at Disney with Walt Disney. They also appeared in another of Brads films, The Iron Giant.

 

A113 appears twice in the film, once when Mirage suggests to use conference room A113 and then the room cell where Mr. Incredible is being held is on Level A1 in Cell 13.

 

Bits and Bobs

The island where Mr. Incredible is taken to, which is designed to look like Neverland from Peter Pan, is called “Nomanisan Island” as a tribute to the book “No Man is an Island” by Thomas Merton.

If you loved the movie and haven’t already seen, there is a Pixar short called “Jack Jack Attack” which shows the event of Kari babysitting Jack Jack. It is definitely worth a watch. There is also an Incredibles 2 film coming out(it’s already out in the USA) in the UK on 13th July.