The Incredibles, the best superhero movie I know of. And after 14 years, the movie in the new trailers is the best they could come up with?
I think anyone who really liked the Incredibles will see why I’m upset, but for those of you who might not ever have been that into it, or even watched it, here’s my objections to the ideas in the new trailer:
- Role reversal done wrong: Am I expected to believe that Mrs. Incredible, supermom, is going to decide to pursue a career as a superhero while leaving her children to be guided by their often clueless father. Am I seriously supposed to buy that her mindset will completely change in the span of a few months? That she would feel like it was right to do that? That she would wold become the one pushing for superheros to be a part of the world again at the cost of getting to watch her family grow up…Please. And am I supposed to believe Mr. Incredible would not want to be a part of the bigger picture, whether or not anyone asked him to be. This is what he believes in, down with mediocrity! Yeah! Tell the kids to embrace what makes them special.
- The incompetent male twist: Am I also the only one who remembers that Mr. Incredible is a very adept spy. He hacked into a supergenius’es computer, tricked a probe, knew a bomb was going to go off by listening to a wall beeping, has a self driving car, and figured out single handedly how to defeat the robot. Remember that, Disney? He was the one who figured it out. Oh, and he defeated the darn thing by himself before it got upgraded. he also got Syndrome monologueing and almost took him out. He is Mr. Incredible for crying out loud! Yet I am supposed to buy the stupid dad cliche? He never had any trouble connecting with is kids, or believing int hem, or handling them. and suddenly Jack-jack is going to be too much fro this resourceful, intelligent, experienced man….?
- The demon baby cliche: If I have to watch one more “baby is too smart for adults” movie I’ll…obviously do nothing, but I’ll be very disappointed in it. Boss Baby was probably the funniest and least gag worthy presentation oft hat, and even then it only worked some oft he time, but when it’s not Alec Baldwin pretending to be a baby and an actual baby being a little unstoppable force, then…seriously? Furthermore, Jack-Jack was never a mean baby. He was very sunny tempered until Syndrome took him away. Now if you wanted to play the angle that that traumatized him (though it didn’t seem to) at least that would be interesting but I don’t give the movie that much credit. I don’t buy the idea that Jack-Jack would enter the terrible twos while still an infant who can’t even walk. His personality is completely changed. Also, why would he even be eating cookies? If he’s not toilet trained, he’s definitely not needing sugar and chocolate. He was still on freaking baby food a few months ago.
- The uncreativity: My siblings ad I could come up with three different plots that would have been way more interesting than what the trailers show. We had hoped the movie would be set ten ears into the future, but even for the immediate pick back up we had better ideas for who the whole issue of superheroes cold be handled. Why not do an X-men like story? The Incredibles are already ripping off the Justice League, why not Marvel? (Oh right, Jack-Jack’s become the incredible hulk. Ha!) The Croods was more original then the idea behind this trailer. It seems just like Despicable Me.
- What about the kids?: When I saw the trailer show Mr. and Mrs. Incredible run off to defeat the Underminer, leaving the kids to warch, I was like “What the heck? Didn’t we see all of them suit up at the end of the first movie?” The parents were finally willing to let the kids be superheroes too, it was “in their blood” as I recall. And the kids were good at it. Also, I recall that Violet flat out refused to be left out of the fray. Am I supposed to believe the parents are going right back to keeping them out of it and telling them to hide under a bushel. By all means, let’s play the cliche “mom and day won’t let me be me” card. It’s such a nice change for the unusual “parents encourage their kids to be exceptional” vibe of the first movie.
I guess you get the picture.
You know, I don’t hate the idea of a superhero movie that tackles the balance of fatherhood and letting your wife do great things, and teaching your kids not to let one gift define their personality. That’s fine.
But it has nothing to do with the Incredibles. The Incredibles was much more than that. It tackled hard subjects with such apparent ease, such grace, that it made its points without even seeming to try.
And does anyone argue with how it ended? Whether the world agrees or not, you should use your gifts to help people. To save them. End of story.
Embracing your whole self, Violet shows us, will make you confident. Even if no one else knows why, you know what you’re capable of.
not flaunting your powers but using them when necessary is what Dash learns, and he puts it into practice, while his mom lets him still be good at something that other people can see. Because it’s not wrong to be exceptional.
Letting your talents keep you from your family is a mistake, as is lying to them, but also you need to let them help you bear the weight of the job you have to do, that’s what Mr. Incredible teaches us.
And Mrs. Incredible learns that keeping your family safe often means letting them learn how to protect themselves, and sometimes you have to bring out your dangerous side again to be the best mom and wife you can be. Also, she remembers that she’s a super with or without her husband, but she chooses to be with him.
Jack Jack doesn’t really learn anything, because he’s a baby.
Now, is it just me, or did I just cover all the problems the trailer sets up for the sequel, that the first movie already solved. There’s nothing new here.
Well, I hope I’m wrong, but we’ll always have the first one at least. Until next time–Natasha.
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