Incredibles 2 (2018 film) = Finished

Incredibles 2 made a major aesthetic shift that I don't quite understand yet.

I know the components it's using. Incredibles 2 combines realistic materials and lighting with heavily stylized art deco forms, and dramatic, archetypal colors/backdrops torn from the Golden Age of comics. It pops off the screen and looks great, but initially, it's a complex mental leap to make. The treatment of objects, water, hair and skin, all tell you that this is the real world. However, the obvious exaggeration of its inspirations forces you to discount that notion, and balance the two. Reconciling this dissonance takes unexpectedly significant time and energy. Again, it doesn't look bad--it's just complex in a way that I haven't experienced with a Pixar movie before.

So I knew the ingredients. What I didn't know is how it differed from the first movie. Why it felt wrong.

I went back and watched clips of the original Incredibles (which holds up spectacularly, by the way). The change, indeed, goes beyond more advanced technology. It's a shift in philosophy--one that works artistically, but not narratively.

In the original Incredibles, Mr. Incredible's overhanging Art Deco nose, Mrs. Incredible's thighs, and Frozone's angular face used to stand out in a world of 'normal' people. Average human beings--in other words, those not even associated with the world of superheroes--were plain to the point of caricature. All realistic proportions, bulbous faces, and cookie cutter jobs beneath fluorescent lights. When superheroes re-emerged, battling through the city for a world that had shunned them, they stood out on every level. Both as people of character, and artistic creations. They had a visible, immediate contrast. They were, for intentional lack of a term that isn't a pun--incredible.

In Incredibles 2, everyone gets that treatment. Everything gets that treatment. Tony, a previously average, bulbous boy, is enhanced with wide eyes and a projecting, stylized head. Visually, the approach previously limited to superheroes has been applied to the entire world. It looks fantastic, but it reduces their impact in a composition. At times, the screen just gets downright busy--and not always when that effect is desired.

All of that said, as much as I enjoyed my time with Incredibles 2, I can't help thinking of Syndrome's words from the first movie:

"When everyone's super...No one will be."