[now available OnDemand]
Director: Brad Bird
Starring: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson, Catherine Keener, Bob Odenkirk
It seems to me Brad Bird hasn’t made a truly great film since The Incredibles. Ratatouille, though loved by many, just isn’t on Parr (hehe) with what it often gets compared to. Even if you compare it to just Brad Bird films, it doesn’t feel like the same type of perfection that Bird’s debut (The Iron Giant) or his first Pixar film as director (The Incredibles) delivered. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol was entertaining as hell, a damn near perfect action film, which he promptly followed up with Tomorrowland. A film that missed the mark so badly it barely made any money with a formula of George Clooney + Disney World. Tomorrowland had an effect on Bird. It lead to him essentially punting on 2018’s The Incredibles 2.
Don’t get me wrong. The sequel focusing on the adventures of the super-human Parr family is a great animated film. It will most likely win an Oscar in 2019, and it will most likely deserve it. But it just didn’t do that exciting thing (whatever that is) that Pixar is known for. The landfill scene in Toy Story 3. Hector finally visiting the land of the living in Coco, Helen Parr telling her kids that the bad guys will indeed kill them if they don’t focus up from the The Incredibles. The Incredibles 2 didn’t have that “wow” moment. It was a good film, with a steady plot, that wasn’t too much of a twist and wasn’t too predictable at the same time. It felt like Bird set out to make “Not Tomorrowland” and it came across that way.
The highlight of the film was the newest member of the Parr clan, Jack-Jack. Jack-Jack is just coming into his powers (of which he has 17 by film’s end) and those powers, mixed with a cute, animated baby, dominate the screen whenever they share it. Highlights include Jack-Jack’s trips to another dimension and him mirroring Edna Mode’s iconic hair.
The movie starts you off thinking that one character is a villain, then another, then another, then back to one of the first two. It’s not enough for you to call it amazing, but it’s enough to keep you interested, and again, I feel like that’s pretty much all Bird was trying to do.
In what feels like the worst review I’ve ever written for a movie that received 4/5 stars from me, I’ll remind you that the worst Pixar films (except for Cars 2 and Cars 3) are still extremely good movies. Give this one a shot and you’ll enjoy yourself for sure. Thematically though, don’t expect anything you haven’t seen before.
Is it Watchlist-worthy? Of course. It’s Pixar.
