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| SUNDAY • 5 AUGUST 2018 maltatoday 10 SUPERHEROES are currently oversaturating our media land- scape, but when Brad Bird's orig- inal, quasi-parodic take on the in The Incredibles (2004) made it to the big screen courtesy of Disney's 3D animation stalwart studio Pixar, the genre certainly did not dominate the field of pop culture as it does now. Sure, there may be some shared brushstrokes between The In- credibles and other landmark su- perhero properties. Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon's Watchmen (made into a film by Zach Snyder in 2009) also places superheroes in a more grounded context, while Marvel's more recent Civil War story-line – also travelling across the spectrum of comic book and cinema – has our he- roes facing government regula- tion that aims to curb their activ- ity for the common good. But being a family-friendly property that also has very lit- tle truck with earnest superhero mythology and the foibles of franchise-building, Bird's ani- mated feature was allowed to be both more playful and more touching. Now, the same mix is being re- introduced into the scene years later, and while the long delay between the two films may have sagged franchise momentum and/or resulted in heightened expectations, the resultant film thankfully has both heart and in- telligence to spare. Going by The Incredibles, the Parr family – made up of Bob aka Mr Incredible (Craig T. Nelson), Helen aka Elastigirl (Holly Hunt- er), Violet (Sarah Vowell), who can become invisible and gener- ate forcefields, the super-speedy Dash (Huck Milner) and the tod- dler of the team, Jack-Jack (Eli Fucile) – are once again forced to retire their superhero perso- nae after a disastrous encounter with the supervillain the Un- derminer results in a highly PR- unfriendly destruction of public space. Temporarily shunted off to a dingy motel, the family re- sign themselves to reconsider- ing more mundane alternatives to their lifestyle... until a stranger comes knocking. The entrepreneur Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk) is a su- perhero fan, and he wants to see the Parr family – and all other "supers" around the world – re- instated to their former glory. With the help of his sister Evelyn (Catherine Keener), Winston is determined to overturn the law that makes superheroics illegal, and picks out Helen to be the guinea pig in this lobbying drive, much to the chagrin of her hus- band, who is now charged with taking care of the kids in the plush new apartment offered to them by Winston, while Helen is kitted out with a brand new cos- tume and hi-tech bike to match. The charm that underlies Brad Bird's Incredibles endeavour is very much in evidence here, and the risk of repetition is undercut by the domestic sphere more than the superheroic one. Bob's fumbling with the kids yields to many moments of hilarity – chief of which comes courtesy of his youngest, Jack-Jack, who discov- ers a whopping array of 17 su- perpowers in a series of hilarious set-pieces as his exasperated dad looks on. It will come as a shock to most to remember that the original Incredibles came out a whop- ping 14 years ago, and the sequel does fine work of making things just that tiny bit more topical for the adults – especially the par- ents – in the audience. Beyond Bob's basic parenting mishaps – it's always fun to watch a colos- sus collapse under the weight of helping their middle child with maths homework, and fail to deal with his daughter's hormonal outbursts while also failing to put the youngest to sleep – it's Helen who takes control of the meat of the story. This of course brings up issues of representation and agency, and by isolating Elastigirl as the bona fide hero for the bulk of the running time, gives us a true heroine to root for, and one we can believe in. And while the build-up to the finale may be a bit staggered – building up in episodic incre- ments as we ping-pong from Bob to Helen's respective storylines – when it all comes together, it does so in a customarily riotous technicolour blast. FILM Brad Bird's long-awaited sequel to the Pixar classic The Incredibles (2004) is a warm and welcome addition to an already-winning formula INCREDIBLE INSPIRATIONAL INGRATIATING INCREMENTAL EXCREMENTAL Trading places, changing nappies: Holly Hunter and Craig T. Nelson are back to voicing Elastigirl and Mr Incredible in Brad Bird's thoroughly satisfying sequel to the beloved 2004 original T H E I N C R E D I B LE S 2 ( P G ) Teodor Reljic ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The verdict A treat for fans of the origi- nal and a heartfelt example of what Pixar does best in any case, the long-awaited sequel to the Incredibles is as much an animated action- hero romp as it is a wry look at parenthood and the foi- bles of domestic life. Perhaps a tad overlong and suffering some pacing issues due to its back-and-forth narrative, its heart is very much in the strong place and keen to beat all throughout, while direc- tor Brad Bird succeeds in packing the story with inci- dent and often hilarious set- pieces. My family and other superheroes