Review Roundup: Critics Weigh In On THE INCREDIBLES 2

It's been 13 years. Needless to say, INCREDIBLES 2 is one film everyone has been waiting for. The film is set for theatrical release on June 15th, 2018.

The Incredibles is a 2004 American computer-animated comedy superhero film written and directed by Brad Bird and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was the sixth film produced by Pixar Animation Studios. The film's title is the name of a family of superheroes who are forced to hide their powers and live a quiet suburban life. Mr. Incredible's desire to help people draws the entire family into a battle with an evil villain and his killer robot.

The long-awaited sequel hits theaters today, so check out what the critics are saying below:

Manohla Dargis, The New York Times: "The family that fights together remains the steadily throbbing, unbreakable heart of "Incredibles 2," even when Bob and Helen swap traditional roles. There's something too self-conscious - overcompensating much? - about Bob's taking on the part of the stay-at-home father and Helen's embarking on her solo adventures. Mr. Bird even throws in a line about strong women. Plunking the Incredibles down in the early 1960s informed the first movie's graphic midcentury cartoon style. It also allowed Mr. Bird to stick to a comfortably old-fashioned vision of the world, one that he is redrawing one baby superhero step at a time."

Pete Hammond, Deadline: "Returning from the first film are fan favorite and fashion maven Edna Mode (voiced by Bird), who if you ask me is something like Edith Head on steroids, and Frozone aka Lucius Best, again voiced by Samuel L. Jackson. Voyd, a new character who has Super ambitions of her own, is delightfully voiced by Sophia Bush, and THE VOICE cast also includes Jonathan Banks as Rick Dicker and Isabella Rossellini as a reassuring presence in the proceedings. Of course Nelson and Hunter hit the bull's-eye again in roles they made famous all those years ago. The kids are all ably voiced as well with Sarah Vowell as teen girl Violet, Huck Milner as 10-year-old Dash, and Eli Fucile handling Baby Jack Jack."

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: "It may have taken years for Bird & co. to get this sequel together, but the action picks up right where the original left off, as if it were yesterday. The Parr family - mom Helen (voiced by Holly Hunter), dad Bob (Craig T. Nelson), 14-year-old Violet (Sarah Vowell), 10-year-old Dash (Huckleberry Milner) and baby Jack-Jack (Eli Fucile) - is still in exile, massively frustrated by being forced to keep their powers in check. All of which goes out the window when a villain named the Underminer (John Ratzenberger) starts raising hell in Municiberg. Nothing like heroics to get THE FAMILY out of its funk."

Owen Gleiberman, Variety: ""Incredibles 2" offers a puckishly high-spirited but slightly strenuous replay of the original film's tale of a superhero family working to prove its relevance. Once again, the family's members are on the cusp between humdrum domesticity and saving-the-world bravura. Yet what was organic, and even obsessive, in the first outing comes off as pat and elaborate formula here. The new movie, energized as it is, too often feels like warmed-over sloppy seconds, with a what-do-we-do-now? riff that turns into an overly on-the-nose plot."

Scott Tobias, The Guardian: "It isn't long before a new opportunity arises, and the film finds its groove. A glad-handing telecom billionaire (Bob Odenkirk) and his tech-savvy sister (Catherine Keener) believe that superheroes are a benefit to society and put their vast resources behind Elastigirl as the face of a PR revival. While she thrives in the role, Mr Incredible plays Mr Mom in a gadget-filled mansion on loan, haplessly juggling lovelorn 14-year-old Violet (Sarah Vowell), 10-year-old troublemaker Dash (Huckleberry Milner), and baby Jack-Jack, who has about a dozen unmanageable superpowers. The entire family gets called into action against Screenslaver, a mysterious and untraceable danger that hypnotises and controls the masses through TVs, teleprompters and any other monitor in the room."

Anne Cohen, Refinery29: "It's a marked shift from the first film, which saw Mr. Incredible moonlighting as a super behind his wife's back for much of the movie, until she and the kids has to save him from an uber-fan turned enemy. (A commentary on stan culture before its time?) This time around, it's Bob's turn to stay home with the kids while Helen goes out to save the world."

Richard Crouse, CTV News: ""Incredibles 2" is a fantastic looking movie. Advances in CGI since the first film allow for bigger and wilder, more cinematic action scenes and director Bird mixes-and-matches a variety of influences from silent movies on up to modern day blockbusters to engage the eye. There's plenty of action of the sort we're used to in recent live action superhero adventures and therein lies the problem. We're used to it now and even though Bird stages some inventive work it feels, in a summer of superhero overload, like more of the same."

Image courtesy of The Incredibles 2 official Facebook page

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