The Incredibles 2 is a good superhero movie... but a less than incredible sequel.

The Incredibles holds a special place in my heart.  It opened during my first year of living in New York City (14 years ago!), and my sister and I stumbled upon a screening of it in the basement of the Virgin Megastore (RIP).  There just happened to be a Loews theater in there and nobody really knew about it.  We saw it opening weekend with about 5 other people, and it was love at first sight.  The Incredibles is my favorite Pixar movie and one of the best superhero movies ever made.  It was entertaining as hell, while at the same time, a subversive look at the "traditional" American family and our obsession with traditional gender norms.  The Incredibles 2 is more of the same... and that's my biggest issue with it.  I hate to use the word "problem" because it's a wholly exciting film with amazing action sequences with my favorite Super family.  However, it's not much more than a continuation of the first movie with the roles reversed.

The Incredibles 2 picks up right where the first one left off.  The Underminer (voiced by John Ratzengberger, keeping his Pixar streak alive) has taken over the city.  After 14 years, we finally get to see what happened next.  And what happens next is that society still views supers as a problem... with one exception.  The rich and philanthropic Deavor siblings (Bob Odenkirk and Catherine Keener) want to bring the supers back.  They lead a PR campaign to gain public favor and want Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) as the face of their campaign.  Mr. Incredible is hurt that they don't want him, but after a funny bit about a cost benefit analysis telling him that he's too much of a financial risk, he goes home to play Mr. Mom (no relation to one of my favorite Michael Keaton movies).  Elastigirl gets to have all the super fun, and Mr. Incredible goes nuts watching the kids.  Herein lies my issue with the film.  It basically takes the plot of the first film and flips it over.  I expected more and what I got were some "parenting is hard, amirite?" jokes featuring Mr. Incredible.  I kind of felt like we've seen it all before... only the first one had more to say about societal norms, and in a better way. 

That's not to say that this is a bad film.  It isn't!  In fact, it's pretty damn entertaining.  But, like most sequels, it struggles when it tries to say something new.  It's weird to me that the once powerful Pixar has basically become a sequel factory, while Disney's other animation house is churning out original hits like Zootopia, Wreck-It-Ralph, and Big Hero 6.  Pixar's had a few quality original films in the last 5-10 years (like the brilliant Inside Out), but seems to favor sequels and profits over originality.  Hell, there's a FOURTH Toy Story on the horizon even though the third one perfectly ended the series.

I'm giving the second Incredibles 2.75 stars out of 4.  It's a hell of an action movie... just not an Incredible sequel.  Kids will love it, and I'm sure I'll grow to love it more.  But for right now, I'm wishing there was more to The Incredibles 2 than just action.