The Incredibles: Is The Sequel Better Than The Original?

In 2018, after 14 long years, The Incredibles joined Toy Story, Cars, Monsters Inc., and Finding Nemo, becoming the fifth Disney Pixar franchise to release a sequel. While the Toy Story follow ups have been met with almost unanimous praise, the others have left a lot to be desired. Though good movies in their own right for the most part, Cars 2 and 3, Monsters University and Finding Dory struggled to live up to the expectations set by their predecessors.

Part of the problem, particularly with Monsters U and Finding Dory, was that we had to wait 12 and 13 years respectively for the next installment of the franchise, allowing the anticipation to grow through the roof. Ultimately, fans were let down by good movies not reaching their own unrealistic expectations.

This was a trap Incredibles 2 had to avoid, as no other sequel was so long in the making, or had, arguably, as much hype and promise to live up to. Incredibly, Brad Bird has created a movie that has lived up to just about everything that was expected of it, and has, at the time of writing, earned an exceptional 94% on Rotten Tomatoes.

So there is no doubt that Incredibles 2 has been a massive success, but has it achieved what most sequels can't, and bested the original movie?

The Incredibles is a classic example of a family friendly, light hearted Disney movie, where other Pixar movies have dabbled with more solemn, darker moments, like Woody and co. being seconds away from a fiery demise, or the entire opening sequence from Up.

While Incredibles 2 didn't have any real emotionally crushing moments either, there was certainly a noticeably darker tone to this movie than the first. When we learn about Winston Deavor's motives behind his superhero programme, we see his father shot and killed by robbers, followed by his wife passing away shortly after.

This feeling is consistent throughout the rest of the movie, with the majority of the action sequences taking place at night, including the very Dark Knight-esque train sequence. Even Elastigirl's new suit is darker. While this is not a negative in itself, it is certainly jarring when compared to the first movie and not what the audience entered the cinema expecting.

Winner: The Incredibles