Film Review: Incredibles 2

"It's Time To Make Some Wrong Things Right. Help Me Bring Supers Back Into The Sunlight..."

With the likes of Inside Out, Zootropolis and this year's Coco categorically proving that the twentieth century has been open ground for a wide range of superb animation releases, the much anticipated return of the power-inflicted Parr family in Incredibles 2 after a prolonged fourteen year wait since their first appearance on the big screen back in 2004 mightily continues the winning streak which Disney is currently relishing in. Directed and written by Brad Bird, the brains behind the original, whose ventures in between the two films have included the rather enjoyable Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and the not so enjoyable Tomorrowland, Incredibles 2 is a uproariously entertaining animated blockbuster, one which attempts to balance two separate story-lines as it revels in reverting particular familial stereotypes and one which ties into the conventional superhero mould by blending action spectacle with an abundance of rib-tickling humour, and whilst at times the twists and turns are rather unsurprising and the movie carries an overall feeling that two hours is far too long for most movies, let alone an animated feature, Brad Bird's fourteen year project in the making does have flaws, but thankfully the many positives result in his latest feature being a damn fun ride. 

Ditching the real life time gap and picking up three months after events of the first film, Bird's screenplay sees the Parr family attempting to rebuild their life after the outlawing of superheroes, and with the help of Bob Odenkirk's (Breaking Bad) Winston Deavor, a superhero-loving millionaire, the matriarchal figure of Helen Parr/Elastigirl (Holly Hunter, The Big Sick) is placed front and centre of a scheme to reintroduce powered saviours back into favour of the world's ever-watching eyes. With Helen's absence therefore, the job of stay-at-home parent falls to Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson, Gold) who attempts to juggle the stress of managing his three children and wife's new found success alongside the threat of the ominous Screenslaver, a tech-savvy terrorist type whose intentions seem to be aimed towards the newly popular band of superheroes. Jumping in and out of the two main narrative strands throughout the course of the movie, the primary superhero plot involving Elastigirl and her discovery of Screenslaver is solid enough fun, incorporating flashy and bright action set pieces including a high speed monorail chase and some epilepsy inducing boss battles, however the real winning streak of the movie falls in events back home with Mr. Incredible, particularly in the discovery of infant Jack-Jack's new-found powers, an extended gag which offers a wide range of set pieces which genuinely land up there with some of the best on-screen comedy I have ever seen. With eye-catching animation, a heartfelt centrepiece message at the centre of the story and a heavy balance of enough there to fulfil both child and adult audiences alike, Incredibles 2 isn't exactly groundbreaking, but it offers enough of a good time to be more than worth a visit to see its' ravishing pleasures. 

Overall Score: 7/10

Film Review: Tomorrowland

Back to the Future

To say that Disney have done reasonably well this year in terms of both cinematic revenue and, more importantly, critical success would be something of an understatement, with Cinderella and Avengers: Age of Ultron two of the many Disney distributed films that are set to be released in 2016 already doing fabulously well in both categories. If I was to pick a favourite in terms of its' critical appeal out of the two so far, then Cinderella would take that gong at this very moment in time, but maybe not for long, with Brad Bird's Tomorrowland causing a potential upset for Mr. Branagh and his little glass slipper. I mean come on, George Clooney and time travel. what more can you want? 

After being arrested for trespassing on a defunct NASA operative base, heroine Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) comes across a pin which transports her to the magical world of Tomorrowland, a utopian dimension of life where Frank Walker (George Clooney) has been exiled due to his creation of an algorithm designed to determine the future of those who wish to see it. When such algorithm determines that the Earth is set to destroy itself within the next 66 days, Casey and Frank are tasked with saving it by Athena (Raffey Cassidy), a girl who may not be as she seems. Firstly, a film which basis itself on a theme park is destined to have restrictions from the get-go. Take the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise for instance, where the first may have been rather good-fun, if overlong, but then sank into depths of darkness with its' sequels where plot points ran thin and characters' became tiresome, even if they continued to still take bundles of cash. Where the first Pirates was good fun and entertaining, Tomorrowland at times, is arduous and obvious in its' direction and intentions, with its' main morale standpoint of 'move to Disneyland when the shit hits the fan on Earth', questionable to say the least. 

Aside from questionable underlying themes of utopia, which for some youngsters may be a step too far, Tomorrowland does feature some solid acting, particularly from Raffey Cassidy, who aside from sounding startlingly like the evil sentient AI from the first Resident Evil film, is the standout performer as young-un Athena, who even out-acts Clooney at times, who although gives it his best shot as Frank Walker, is reduced to cliche'd adventure-film lines throughout most of his time on-screen. In fact, all of the child-actors in Tomorrowland do a solid job in comparison to their elder co-stars, even Pierce Gagnon. last seen as spooky child Cid in the wonderful Looper, as Nate Newton, whilst Hugh Laurie is given way too little screen time to embrace himself in the role of the evil David Nix. The visuals may look top-notch, and so they should for a Disney film, but they also seem vacuous, something of which is now common place in a lot of 21st century films due to the magic of CGI. Does anyone still remember stunts? Aside from George Miller that is.

Muddled in its' morale standpoint, messy in its' exploration, Tomorrowland seeks to assert the notion that good things come to those who buy Disney products are good themselves, featuring some rather excellent child-actors, whilst strangely wasting the combined talents of both Clooney and Laurie. Cinderella, have no fear. You are still the top Disney dog of the year so far. 

Overall Score: 6/10