Agreed. Which is unfortunate. Violet also had less development than in the first movie. More than Dash, less than either parent.
Though her development is very thematically linked. And I just realized this.
One of the big themes of the movie is the parents making the choices they do, so their kids can make their own choice. In fact they whole motel scene is them debating this openly.
Well her development is about her making that choice. And she does.
And then she changes her mind.
And she can do this because the parents are doing what they did to make her able to have the option.
All the Jack Jack stuff was just gags from the first Incredibles ballooned into an entire movie. Kind of like when Saturday Night Live takes a funny skit and makes a whole movie out of it.
Yes, and there was a lot of that (especially if you had ever watched “Jack Jack Attack”). Or at least that’s my lingering memory of it-- it’s odd.
I remember I came out of the theater feeling a tad disappointed; the movie was a mild misfire, not great, but pretty good, very entertaining… and yet I’m having a hard time trying to remember anything at all about it. I swear I can barely remember the villain. Considering I thought the first film was an instant unforgettable classic right after my first viewing, that’s a bummer.
I could actually understand his frustration there. When my kids came to me with their “new” math stuff I told them they must have misunderstood what the teacher said.
Oh I understand! I’ve got it to look forward to. But I’m the kind of crazy person who recognizes that the methods of teaching used when I was a kid may not be some perfected divinely ordained form that is inalterable. That, perhaps, as our understanding of the science of learning improves, that we may recognize that forced learning of rote memorization of multiplication tables may not be the most effective.
So I’m the kind of crazy radical who, after the knee jerk ‘why are they changing it’ reaction actually considers the idea on its merits ;)
Which is to say I really appreciated that, instead of going the cheap laughs route of having him become petulant and aggrieved about it, and goes to argue with the principal about it (as the way to show he is stepping up as a father), they instead go the more thoughtful route of having him buckle down and do the hard work of actually helping his kid, rather than the more personally satisfying ‘strong man’ route of ‘helping’ by fighting with the school.
I can just picture that scene as done by a lesser studio. Think of this in some ‘90’s cartoon, you know they’d go the latter route and play it for laughs. Basically a rehash of the scene where he strangled Wallace Shaw’s character from the first movie.
I just really love what Pixar did instead! It shows their maturity and depth of understanding of narrative. By going the more subtle route, they make a far better scene, with a vastly superior message (and one that is more thematically appropriate!)
Hehe, as a father of three, a teacher and witness to the disastrous results of (and later backpedaling from) “alternative” education methods, let’s say Mr. Parr’s frustration hit very close to home here as well.
Basically the Jack Jack/raccoon stuff should have been a short and the rest of this… didn’t need to exist. Which is sad, because the first one is great. It’s also sad because I love the idea of making Helen the central character in the second one.
Okay, you guys are making me really like that part of the movie. So now it’s got the math homework plus the Elastagirl motorcycle chase going for it. I also liked the stuff with Violet and her boyfriend. Hmm, maybe I did like this movie?
Its a classic Pixar sequel, made to sell toys and popcorn but no where near the original in depth, emotion, or character development. If you go into Pixar sequels with that in mind they become much more enjoyable.
So after watching the original Incredibles again on Sunday, I watched this last night.
On the whole, I was very entertained. I also loved the dad struggling with being a dad, Elastigirl getting the chance for the spotlight, and I loved the kids saving the day at the end. The action sequences were all superb. The motorcycle/train chase was excellent, and I thought parts of the helicopter sequence were even better. I just love the way Elastigirl acts so quickly and it sort of uses the animated movie format to its advantage, as I don’t think this kind of fast action is possible in a live action movie.
With that said, I still preferred the first movie. I just loved the whole thing taking place against a James Bond style villain. That was completely gone in this one. I was a bit surprised at the villain reveal in this one, because I genuinely thought the brother and sister were obviously the bad guys from the beginning. So when that turned out not to be true, I was kind of pleasantly surprised. I
Overall I really enjoyed it. I hope one day Brad Bird does another sequel if they come up with some great ideas for one. One thing I absolutely love in both movies is just how imaginative they get with how to combine superhero powers. I loved how the family got together at the end of the first movie and used powers together. And I loved the emotional beat of Violet helping her Dad get a good night’s sleep and in the end the kids rescuing their parents.
