14 years ago, a superhero family hurtled into our lives, made us laugh, bought a heck lot of merchandise and yearn for their return. While Tory Story churned out one sequel after the next, The Incredibles never did return, until now.
Mr and Mrs Incredible will be back on the big screen with their three children in tow. This time around, Mrs incredible, Helen (Holly Hunter), seems to be wearing the pants in the family, while Mr Incredible, Bob (Craig T. Nelson), is a stay-at-home dad, looking after the youngest in their brood, Jack-Jack. The movie will happen directly after the events of the first movie. And here’s what else we know about the movie:
1. Why so long for the sequel?
Director of both movies, Brad Bird, has long stated that he will only do a sequel if he could come up with a story that’s as enjoyable as The Incredibles (2004), if not better. He was adamant about not making a sequel for the sale of making a sequel, stressing, “the thing is, many sequels are cash grabs. It’s like, money on the table is not what makes me get up in the morning; making something that people are gonna enjoy a hundred years from now, that’s what gets me up. So if it were a cash grab, we would not have taken fourteen years – it makes no financial sense to wait this long – it’s purely [that] we had a story we wanted to tell.”
2. Get ready for a long ride
Incredibles 2 is Pixar’s longest movie to date. In fact, at just 2 minutes shy of two hours, this may be the longest computer-animated feature to date. Not that we’re complaining.
3. Cover your little ones’ ears!
Don’t say you haven’t been warned! Incredibles 2 is Pixar’s first movie to contain profanity! So if you’re bringing your kids to watch, be warned, and ready to cover their ears! We don’t know which part of the movie it’ll pop up in, just be on your toes.
4. Centring on family
This sequel will, like the first one, still have a very strong family theme. And it’s crucial for and close to Bird’s heart. He had first gotten the idea for The Incredibles based on his own experiences trying to balance a career with family. And this family theme will carry over with this sequel, even though we see Helen zipping around time, saving the world while leaving Bob behind to look after the kids. Bird wants to use the movie to draw parallels with real-life situations.
Since the release of The Incredibles, the movie industry has exploded with superhero movies, and just in case you’re thinking that Incredibles 2 is yet another superhero movie, Bird wants to assure it isn’t, “We always felt like what makes our film unique is that it’s about a family. Their superpowers were based on iconic roles of men and women and children in the family. The dad is always expected to be strong. The mom is always stretched in a million directions. Teenagers are defensive and insecure, so she has force fields and invisibility. Ten-year-olds are energy balls. And babies are unknowns. They could have no powers at all, or they could be the next leader of the free world. And that was a unique approach, because it was more about stages of your life.”
5. So, what’s new?
It wouldn’t be a proper sequel if there isn’t anything new. And in Incredibles 2, the something new comes in the form of villain named Voyd, voiced by Sophia Bush. She looks up to Helen and has some nifty tricks up her sleeve. Apart the addition of Bush, you can expect voiceover talents of actors like Breaking Bad’s Bob Odenkirk and Jonathan Banks, Catherine Keener (Get Out) and Isabella Rossellini (Blue Velvet).
6. Oh, Edna
Yes, just in case you were wondering, Edna Mode will return and Bird will once again do voice-acting for her. He decided to handle the voice-acting for Edna himself because several actresses who tried expressed difficulty in capturing Edna’s accent. Bird had based Edna on several characters, most notably after Q from the James Bond Franchise and real-life costume designer Edith Head.
7. What superpowers do Jack-Jack actually have?
From what we can remember from The Incredibles, Jack-Jack got lit on fire and shot through the air and landed unharmed. His powers will be evolving in this sequel, and one of the favourite scenes from the producers is when he “goes through walls and turn into a little devil or catch on fire.” And look out for a racoon fight scene.
We can’t wait.
