Incredibles 2 might not be top-of-the-line Pixar but it undoubtedly a fun and often funny family movie that is a great way to spend two hours and certainly brings back the good memories of the first film from over a decade ago.
Incredibles 2
— Ultimate Collector’s Edition —
(2018)
Genre(s): Animation, Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Disney | PG – 118 min. – $44.99 | November 6, 2018
Date Published: 11/13/2018 | Author: The Movieman
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Buena Vista Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 4.0/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: Everyone’s favorite family of superheroes is back in Incredibles 2 – but this time Helen (HOLLY HUNTER) is in the spotlight, leaving Bob (CRAIG T. NELSON) at home with Violet (SARAH VOWELL) and Dash (HUCK MILNER) to navigate the day-to-day heroics of “normal” life. It’s a tough transition for everyone, made tougher by the fact that the family is still unaware of baby Jack-Jack’s emerging superpowers. When a new villain hatches a brilliant and dangerous plot, the family and Frozone (SAMUEL L. JACKSON) must find a way to work together again—which is easier said than done, even when they’re all Incredible.
Review: It’s been 14 years since The Incredibles and in the years since, we got sequels to Cars (two of them), Monsters University and Finding Dory. Yet I’m not sure there was none more requested than this one and finally Pixar got around to this sequel and while not great, it was worth the wait. On the technical front, this is an absolutely gorgeous looking movie which I suppose is not a big surprise for a Disney-Pixar CGI animated movie, and their previous release, Coco was brilliant as well, but this one was especially exceptional. You could just about capture every shot, frame it and it would look amazing… The voice talent also was well done and nice hearing from both Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter, although they spend a fair amount of the film apart, work well off one another; Samuel L. Jackson has a small part once again while Catherine Keener and Bob Odenkirk were nice additions.
Since it’s been a few years since I last watched The Incredibles, and hadn’t the time to really revisit it, I don’t exactly know how this sequel stacks up in comparison, but I did find this entry to be a fun ride with some genuinely hilarious scenes, mostly with Jack-Jack’s newfound, and plethora of, powers and, albeit a cliché, Bob’s adjustments to being a stay-at-home father and the chaos that ensues from Violet’s teen angst to helping his son with his math homework. Incredibles 2 finds Brad Bird returning to the director’s chair (and also was the solo credited writer) following two live action films with Tomorrowland and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol though was one of the pioneers of CGI animated with the likes of The Iron Giant, The Incredibles and Rataouille.
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SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.75/5 |
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This release comes with a glossy, reflective and embossed slip cover. Inside is a redeemable code for the Digital HD copy. All features are in HD. Disc 1 (4K UHD): Disc 2 (Blu-ray): Bao (7:41) is an animated short that played before the movie in theaters. Auntie Edna (5:08) is another animated short showing what happened while Edna babysat Jack-Jack. Strong Coffee: A Lesson in Animation (18:50) is a featurette and profile on writer/director Brad Bird on the animation process. Disc 3 (Bonus Material):
Heroes & Villains (25:35) are a multi set of featurettes about each of the main characters from Mr. Incredible to Frozone and Edna Mode amongst many others. Includes interviews with the cast and crew talking about their respective characters and designs. Vintage Toy Commercials and Character Theme Songs for Mr. Incredible, Elastgirl and Frozone. Obviously fake but pretty fun. Deleted Scenes (39:44) – Here we get 10 scenes that didn’t make the cut and are unfinished. Included are introductions by Brad Bird on why the scenes were ultimately removed. Under Trailers & Promos is the Global Teaser Trailer (0:56), a Global Trailer (2:20), a Japanese Trailer (2:00) and lastly a Super Moments (4:03) promo. |
4K VIDEO – 5.0/5, BD VIDEO – 5.0/5 |
| Incredibles 2 is shown with a 2.39 widescreen aspect ratio and has a 2160p and 1080p high-definition transfers on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray respectively. Animated films do tend to look, well, incredible with absolutely brilliant and vibrant colors throughout from the deep reds in the suits or purple in Violet’s protection bubble, it all looks fantastic. On both the UHD and Blu-ray, I really didn’t notice any instances of banding with smooth transitions. |
4K AUDIO – 5.0/5, BD AUDIO – 5.0/5 |
| Just like Lionsgate and Sony, the 4K UHD and Blu-ray comes with different audio codecs. The 4K comes with a Dolby Atmos track while the Blu-ray still has a robust DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track. While you really can’t go wrong with either one, I did notice a modest difference with the Atmos track which does sound slightly more dynamic but it’s frankly negligible. In any case, the dialogue does come through with good clarity, though the track really comes to life with the various action-centric sequences which is a bit surprising as I do sometimes find animated features for these scenes do come across more artificial compared with the live action movies. |
OVERALL – 4.5/5 |
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Overall, Incredibles 2 might not be top-of-the-line Pixar but it undoubtedly a fun and often funny family movie that is a great way to spend two hours and certainly brings back the good memories of the first film from over a decade ago. This 4K UHD/Blu-ray combo pack offers up some decent bonus material while the video and audio transfers were top notch. |
The screen captures came from the Blu-ray copy and are here to add visuals to the review and do not represent the 4K video.