Happy Or Not? More Thoughts on Incredibles 2
I’ve been stewing over this for a few months, about why the more I see the Incredibles 2 trailers, the more uncomfortable I get. I want the movie to succeed, as a fan. The film will surprise us. And yet, I am afraid.
What I want from an Incredibles sequel is a continuation of what we saw, taking metaphorical Lego pieces and adding onto each bit. We have seen a remarkable world asking who is super and who isn’t. And why these super people can’t find a place. Now they have a place. The trailer implies that, rather than having a stable role, Happy Ending Override is in effect.
Happy Ending Override is a trope where a sequel to a work takes the happy ending of the first story, retcons it, and starts anew. There are numerous examples, like the Die Hard sequels, the third Thor movie regarding Jane Foster, and the new Stars Wars trilogy.
Not Everyone Is Super
The ending of the first Incredibles implies that, with the Incredible family having saved the city, that the supers can slowly come out from underground while the politicans handle the paperwork. The extra DVD material also implies this, with Frozone and Mr. Incredible commenting on a terrible cartoon adapted from their adventures.
We don’t get this in the sequel. Supers are still illegal, despite the fact that the government lacks the firepower or means to defend against science fiction or supernatural threats. This means that the ending to the first movie was a deception, and the sequel retcons the stability that the Parr family feels after they happily adjust to becoming crime-fighters.
This is why it annoys me: Pixar has done sequels where they haven’t retconned their endings. Finding Dory picks up long after Marlin has shed his overprotective nature, and when Dory has become part of the clown-fish family. Each Toy Story movie in the original trilogy starts at a later time; Toy Story 2 starts months after Andy’s family has moved, and when Woody has become one of Andy’s favorite toys again. Toy Story 3 takes place as Andy packs for college, deciding if he wants to keep his toys, toss or donate them.
Let the supers come out of hiding! Bring a wrinkle that isn’t a telecommunications business duo deciding to “help” Elastigirl and Mr. Incredible break the law and start to change it. Maybe have supervillains that desire the thrill of the chase, the way Syndrome enjoyed seeing Mr. Incredible do his thing.
The Teenage Shield
Violet Parr is the teenage girl, and the representation of generation Y in her first film. A shy, moody kid, Violet frets that she can’t be normal because her entire body can turn invisible and she can summon shields that may be useful in combat but aren’t for anything else. At the start of the Incredibles, she and Dash bicker because Dash teases her about her unrequited crush. Violet will fight her brother about it, within the safety of their home, but she won’t come out of her shell at school because she feels that she has something to hide.
When Violet gets an opportunity to follow her mom to find out why her dad is in trouble, she shows confidence in her choice: getting a babysitter for Jack Jack, a classmate who is a baby expert. This same classmate, Kari, is able to awaken Jack Jack’s power, while also nearly succumb to exhaustion from dealing with it. So Violet made the right call, which even Elastigirl acknowledges after she talks to Kari on the phone and has to hang up due to missiles threatening to blow up the plane. It helps that we find out that Syndrome’s prison orbs don’t work on her, so she manages to free herself and her family so that they can stop Syndrome’s robot and save their city.
By the end of it, however, after surviving the giant robot attack and seeing the villain destroy her house and take her baby brother hostage, normal life doesn’t seem so scary. She talks to her friends happily, and accepts a movie date with her crush. Then she dives into hero work like it’s everyday business for her.
The sequel trailers imply that Violet’s crush will see her outed, right when she’s with her baby brother, and that will wreck the self-confidence she’s spent building for more than ten years out of the movie and several months within it. Violet as a result becomes angry and tries to shred her suit. That is just cold, man. Violet deserves a continuation of her story, not a monkey wrench.
Our generation is already despondent as it is. We need Violet to be happy, for our sake. Let’s hope she will be.
I Hope I’m Wrong
I really do hope that my predictions are off regarding the Parrs’ collective happiness. As a romantic, and a believer in Brad Bird, I know we will get a good story and fun ride out of this, at the very least. And who doesn’t like a funny superhero movie?
Let’s go hide the capes from Edna Mode, welcome the next generation, and see how incredible a sequel can get.