With the first film being released over a decade ago, many fans were ecstatic that we were finally getting a sequel to arguably one of the best modern Disney movies of all time. After all, we were all left on the edge of our seats at 'The Underminer's' cliffhanger entrance at the end of the first installment. But with all the buzz around the long awaited sequel, I started to get nervous as I wasn't sure where in the blockbuster age we are living in this film would fall. Would it feature over used superhero tropes that are well established now thanks to Marvel and DC's cinematic universes? Or would it stick to its 2004 roots and act like no time had passed at all?

From the beginning of the sequel's opener I could tell that both of these questions answers were in some capacity, yes. Through the first set of frames, I was shocked at how far animation has really progressed in the past 14 years. Perhaps this was due to me watching the CinemaSins "Everything Wrong with 'The Incredibles'" video the night before, but it did take me a minute to get used to the updated art style of the iconic Disney characters.

On the other hand, I was happy to discover that my hopes came true and that the film did pick up right where the last one left off, with the Parr family fighting 'The Underminer.' I tried my best not to compare it too much to the fight's now non-canon take in the 2005 video game The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer (yes they did release a form of a sequel a year after the first film, and yes I will be digging out my Playstation 2 to see if it holds up).

So far so good right? My worries about the film's timeline and it's overt usage of tropes seemed to balance each other out. And luckily for this sequel it wasn't trying to cater to new and old audience members **cough cough** The Last Jedi **cough cough**. But the real world gap of time still hung over the film's narrative. Yes they did touch on modern society outside the film for its older audience members to get, but it was still strange to me that I had grown up, and these characters hadn't.

After all, this was one of my favorite films as a child, one of my go-to movies to bring with me on long road trips to watch on our portable DVD player (I'm dating myself, I know). My cousin, Jack, was born the month of the film's release and we still occasionally call the now 13 year old 'Jack Jack' after the youngest Parr family member.

However, I wouldn't call these feeling completely nostalgic. Sure it made me reminisce of my childhood, (that Jonny Quest cameo didn't help) and the first film is one of the reasons I am so into superheroes to this day, but because of the over a decade long gap, I felt out of place in the theater, despite being surrounded by other adults. The whole thing felt almost surreal. One minute I was watching the film and transported to those childhood car rides and the next they would make a joke targeted at the older audience members and suddenly I was an adult again.

Although these feelings didn't ruin the film for me, I would still give it an 8/10, it left me feeling this hyper-nostalgic feeling until the next day. But maybe that's because after seeing the sequel I'm more annoyed than ever I didn't get to experience it sooner. Disney has now hopefully realized the missed opportunity they had 14 years ago to establish a superhero franchise before the MCU. Although I guess now it might not be a long stretch to imagine the Incredibles join the Avengers in a later film. Or did they get snapped too?