Writer-director Brad Bird picks up right where he left off 14 years ago in terms of both narrative and theme. Narrative: the arrival of The Underminer to ruin the peace and happiness of the Parrs, a family of superheroes that has finally gained those things after years of unhealthy repression. Except not really: it turns out The Underminer just wants to rob a bank. And that brings us to theme: the real underminer, then as now, is us normies, the bean-counters who made superheroes illegal in the first place. Even the big-time villains are just bitter regular folks: in the first, you had Syndrome, a wannabe super who devoted his life to the notion of “If you can’t join ‘em, beat ‘em.” In the second, you have The Screenslaver, who hates supers because they make the rest of us passive and weak — damsels in distress awaiting salvation from our betters instead of taking matters into our own hands. It’s especially bad when we sit around on our lazy backsides and watch them on TV. Which, it turns out, is exactly the supers’ plan for gaining legitimacy: a change in public perception through good televised PR. The obvious counter to the Screenslaver’s argument is the notion of inspiration: that we can strength from the example of the Incredibles and become super in our own lives. Instead, Bird gives us a superhero movie that rebukes its audience for showing up to watch it. On top of that, it’s talky, chunky, and clunky, and relies heavily on the slapstick deployment of super-baby Jack-Jack’s rainbow of powers to distract from all that. Only the story of teen super Violet’s frustrated romantic yearnings achieves the blend of action, wit, and intelligence that the original so expertly managed. (2018) — Matthew Lickona
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