Jack-Jack Strengthens the Famcentric 'Incredibles 2'

Incredibles 2 begins where the first one ends, wherein the arrival of a new villain in town called The Underminer wreaks havoc. The titular family once again don their superhero costumes to save the town. But since the first one ends happily ever after, and they, yet again successfully prevent The Underminer to cause destruction, writer-director Brad Bird creates another conflict for the Parr family.

It's a new day in Metroville, and superheroes are forced to permanently comply to their secret identities. We can all just imagine the effect of this to "The Incredibles" and to no surprise, we are right--Mr. Incredible becomes heavy-headed as the homedad cluelessly dealing with Violet's teenage problems, Dash's Math homework, and Jack-Jack discovering his incredible superpowers. Even worse, his wife Elastigirl is selected to be the forefront of DEVTECH, a private organization allegedly proposing a blueprint to reclaim the public's love for superheroes, and it makes Mr. Incredible even more insecure.

Mr. Incredible and Jack-Jack, Pixar

The focus is more on Elastigirl, the DEVTECH tycoons and their marketing stunt to put the heroes in good light. Bad news is it's pretty unremarkable. Good news is, her absence in the Parr household opens up interesting side storylines. Mr. Incredible having a hard time controlling his kids is a joy to watch. Violet's teenybopper puppy love arc is really cute, and her awkward relationship with her dad is even cuter, as cliché as it may have played out. But the cutest is, without a doubt, Jack-Jack unknowingly discovering his superpowers, which apparently is the best, since it's a combo of his whole family's powers. This paves way for a funny and heroic Tully-esque role for Edna Mode. All of these make up for the lackluster Elastigirl/DEVTECH story that involves a villain called ScreenSlaver, and other newly introduced D-lister superheroes except for Sophia Bush's eccentric but helpful Voyd who has the same magical teleport power like Doctor Strange.

The movement of the film is smarter and faster this time, but the third act really picks up bigtime when the fast track action starts to kick in. The animation is even more impressive, slick, and gorgeous, especially with the reddish sunset sky in the background during the high-strung climax. "The Incredibles" work best when all of their superpowers are in display, and with the addition of Jack-Jack's superpowers, they become even more invincible. Add Frozone's icy display, and it superbly matches CGI packed actions films of today, and to be honest, put others to shame.

It's also really commendable the lack of emotional punch in this as if it's the film's twists as we all know that Pixar is known for its dramatics. It's pure comedy and action and I love it for it. I'd rather watch a film with harmless family jokes than offensive ones with Deadpool in it.