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Writer's pictureRahul Gupta

Incredibles 2: The Family strikes back with a vengeance!

"The strength of a family like an army lies in the loyalty to each other"

MARIO PUZO

Perspective of The Incredibles 2


Its always fun to watch superheroes with a halo on top of them. See them crush evil, bad guys, love the citizenry and so on..... But how do they make a living. What are their daily chores? What is the catharsis they go through with their special powers? How do they make a living? What if the world is bored with them? What if they are declared illegal and become drifters? What if the whole family are superheroes including an year old baby?


"The Incredibles 2" is the second instalment in the franchise which releases 14 years after "The Incredibles" came out. And it aims to answer all of the questions above. Incredibles 2 is the cheapest and most high quality vacation you can buy with your kids....


Director Brad Bird is the creator, writer, director and chief imagination officer of Incredibles. There are scores of information sites online which will tell you that it took 10 years for Bird to write "The Incredibles" before Pixar decided to go ahead with it.This is a breath of fresh air as this story does not belong to the DC/Marvel stable and has a life of its own. It borrows a few things here and there from DC/Marvel but 90% its a unique story with even more unique characters. The story of Bob Parr (Mr Incredible), Helen Parr (Elastigirl), Lucius (Frozone) and their children might seem "superheroish" but their character arcs are defined by below average challenges and a daily struggle to survive in a brutal world. Be it Bob's unsuccessful stint as an insurance salesman, be it his daily chores of teaching his kids, being supportive of his wife, managing everyone's mood swings and his after hours counselling sessions with Lucius. This daily, average life is not like Tony Stark's or Bruce Wayne's. Its this humane fragility of the Parr family which is at the centre of the narrative of this film. They all might feel very powerful and unstoppable but they are really like ordinary people in many ways.


According to me, one can get a full crash course in parenting after watching this movie.

Bird has restored the magic of the first movie by hiring its original voice cast of 2004 of legends Craig T Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L Jackson and new hires Catherine Keener and my fav actor of this decade Bob Odenkirk rounding up with his "Breaking Bad" co star Jonathan Banks. Even the characters of the film derive their sketching from their voice cast. Eg Elastigirl's lower lip movement while talking is an exact copy of Holly Hunter. Similarly Bob looks exactly like Craig T Nelson..


The Look and Feel of Incredibles 2

Although its not mentioned clearly as to when does the story take place, Incredibles as per estimates is based in 1960's in the current avatar. But its a mishmash of sorts. You can see that the Cold War sentiment is brewing, there are long vintage cars sporting the streets of a city distinctly reminiscent of New York (from the TV show "Mad Men"). Even though there are a few hi tech gadgets, but you get a sense of the time period when you look at the furniture of their home, fonts in company logos and the decor of the classic diner "Happy Platter"where Violet Parr's love interest works as a waiter. The clothing in the movie, the styling is all 1960ish.



Larger than life characters

Incredibles 2 might be the first superhero movie which takes its styling of clothes quite seriously as in on a different level altogether. To cement this fact, one can look at the creation of the character of Edna Mode, who is a superhero costume designer. It might be noted that Heidi Klum, Kendall Jenner and a number of A list fashionistas were responsible for her look and the costume design in the entire film. Edna is voiced by Brad Bird himself.....Can u beat that? Thats what i call passionately consummate..... In addition, Screenslaver the main villain has been created as someone who hypnotises people who watch a screen. In a funny way, Bird creates a prophecy that the world will be reduced to watching and doing everything on screen in the future. But the scene stealer is the new baby to Parr family...ie Jack Jack. A different kind of mayhem and madness which you might have never seen before. It has shades of "The Boss Baby" but it equally superior. His fight with a raccoon in his backyard will go down in the annals of movie history as legendary....hahah



The Opulence and the scale

One might ask that what kind of scale might be built in an animation film with no big time superheroes in it.....Incredibles 2 tried to build the scale of William Wyler or Cecile B DeMille. Be it Elastigirl's adventure for stopping the bullet train (not the Modi one), the DevTech headquarters, The Jet Boat owned by Winston Devour. Each and every object in the movie has been designed by the Pixar team in exhaustive detail. The fun part of this is the IncredoMobile which is largely inspired by the Batmobile. More than 12 new superheroes surface in this film whom you may have never heard of like Voyd, Brick, GazerBeam and more.....


Incredibles and other superhero franchises

Incredibles is the first global superhero family. What makes it special is that the film derives its origin from the real life parenting and family life issues of its creator Brad Bird. Bird talks of the reason of calling Elastigirl where he states that a mother keeps getting pulled in all directions while raising a family. Most of the time you will see the Parr family resolving its own issues and agendas. They are surviving with modest means through out. Its possibly the only superhero film that has a large human connect with its audiences.

Dont miss this movie by all means.....


Baniya Meter

The Baniya meter gives "Incredibles 2" 8 out of 10

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