‘Incredibles 2’ expected to be super

Sequel released 14 years after original

Illustration by Isha Pandya

Although “Incredibles 2” is geared toward families, teenagers who grew up with the original are excitied to see the film.

After 14 long years of waiting, “The Incredibles” is finally getting a sequel. 

On June 15, fans will see the nationwide release of Disney’s “Incredibles 2.” 

The 2004 hit about a superhero family trying to live a normal life after superheroes are outlawed was the first Pixar movie to feature an all human cast. Before, Pixar’s movies had been about talking toys, talking bugs or talking fish.

Along with winning over audiences and critics alike, “The Incredibles” won two Academy Awards, one for best animated feature film and the other for best sound editing.

With it grossing $633 million worldwide compared to a $92 million budget, fans probably expected to see a sequel right away, but this didn’t happen. Why? 

It could’ve been because director Brad Bird, who also provided the voice of fashion designer Edna Mode in the film, was busy working on his next animated feature for Pixar’s “Ratatouille.” 

But I think the real reason it took so long to get a sequel is because in an interview soon after the first film was released, Bird said he’d only make a sequel if it could be better than the original. 

So, will “Incredibles 2” be better than the original? Let’s take a look.

“Incredibles 2” picks up where the first film left off with a new supervillain named The Underminer trying to spread destruction and chaos. But it’s OK because Mr. Incredible and his family, now accepting their responsibility as Superheroes, are here to stop him. 

The only problem is that Supers (short for superheroes in the movie) are still illegal.

But everything changes when two wealthy siblings named Winston and Eleanor Deavor, who run a telecommunications company, have a plan to bring back the Supers by improving their public image.

There’s only one catch. In a twist from the first film, instead of Mr. Incredible being brought out of retirement to fight crime, it’s Elastigirl who they want to go back to fighting because they believe she can improve the reputation of the Supers better than he can.

It makes sense, considering  in the first film, Mr. Incredible was partially the reason the Supers became illegal in the first place.

So, Mr. Incredible/Bob Parr is forced to stay home and watch the kids while Elastigirl/Helen Parr goes out and fights crime. But while all that’s happening there’s a mysterious new villain on the horizon called The Screenslaver who only appears in silhouette in the trailer.

Returning voices from the first film are Craig T. Nelson as Mr. Incredible, Holly Hunter as Elastigirl, Sarah Vowell as Violet, their oldest child, Samuel L. Jackson as superhero Frozone, and John Ratzenberger as one of the film’s villains, The Underminer.

Replacing old actors from the first film are Huck Milner as Dash, the middle child (taking over the role from Spencer Fox), and Jonathan Banks as Rick Decker, the government agent in charge of “The Incredibles” (taking over the role from Bud Luckey who died earlier this year).

New characters to this film are siblings Winston and Eleanor Deavor, played by Bob Odenkirk and Catherine Keener, respectively. Their goal is to make superheroes legal again by raising their approval rating and improving their image, but they need the Incredibles help to do it.

The film has a ton of hype already. The first trailer released on College GameDay on ESPN, and received 113 million views on YouTube in just 24 hours, making it the most viewed trailer for an animated film in the history of YouTube.

But will it be better than the original? We’ll find out next