"The Incredibles" was a benchmark for Pixar Animation. It stands as one of their more adult films dealing with themes such as society forcing mundanity on those with exceptional gifts, obsessive and toxic fan culture and mid-life crises while also being a fun action film about a family of superheroes. While "Incredibles 2" doesn't quite reach the high bar set by its predecessor, it does have a few tricks and ideas up its sleeve to make it a worthy successor.

The film begins where the first film let off, with the titular Parr family battling the villainous Underminer (John Ratzenberger) and attempting to stop him from robbing a bank. While the family saves the money, the Underminer escapes and the family are taken into custody when the ensuing battle causes countless amounts of damage. However, the family is approached by billionaire Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk) and his sister Evelyn Deavor (Catherine Keener) who want to overturn the lawmaking superheroes illegal.

To do this, Winston makes a massive P.R. push and focuses on putting Elastigirl/Hellen Parr (Holly Hunter) back into the game, due to her powers being the least likely to cause collateral damage. This means that Mr. Incredible/Robert Parr (Craig T. Nelson) has to be a stay-at-home dad and is forced to deal with their teenage daughter Violet Parr (Sarah Vowell) who are beginning to resent her hero status as it destroys her chance at a normal life, Dash Parr (Huck Milner) and his math homework and their baby Jack-Jack Parr who has manifested several deadly powers and no means of controlling them.

On top of all of this, Elastigirl has to deal with the rise of a new villain in the form of the Screenslaver (Bill Wise) who has begun causing various accidents around the city in an attempt to draw the superheros out into a fight. However, Elastigirl later discovers that all might not be as it seems.

Like any Pixar film, "Incredibles 2" is a beautifully animated and rendered film bursting at the seams with colorful visuals, well-designed characters and a unique aesthetic. Like the first film, "Incredibles 2" captures that retro-futuristic early sixties art style that would have been common in gold and silver age comics at the time, while also adding a dash of more modern sci-fi to make the film feel like it lives in its own unique world unlike our own.

The film also works as a genuine action film. All of the action scenes know how to utilize the characters' unique powers in fun and downright creative ways. The action scenes also emphasize the importance of teamwork and how each character has a role to play in saving the day.

If you've seen the previous film (and if you haven't, then why are you watching a sequel first?) you know that the voice cast is very talented and does a fantastic job creating believable and likable characters. Special notice has to be given to Holly Hunter who plays Elastigirl as a lovable and level-headed mother figure who has this youthful sense of energy and fun just hiding underneath. Craig T. Nelson also gets a shout-out for playing an exhausted stay-at-home dad who's driven to exhaustion but plows through it anyway for the sake of his family.

Like the last film, "Incredibles 2" flirts with themes surrounding Randian Philosophy. While the first film dealt with society's attempts to make unique people mundane out of either fear or jealousy, this film deals with themes surrounding the public's over-reliance of power structures (superheroes); how it weakens humanity and by getting rid of the supers humanity will grow more independent and therefore stronger. The interesting aspect of the film, however, is that these Randian arguments are being made by the villain rather than the heroes this time; which means the film argues against this quasi-anarchistic idea.

The film has quite a few flaws. Dash Parr, sadly, still remains the most underdeveloped member of the family and is given little to do in terms of character. Frozone/Lucius Best (Samuel L. Jackson) is also left in a minor role, though to be fair his role in the first film was minor as well. I just wish he had more to do this time around.

For a little while, it feels like the film doesn't have a central plot and is a combination of two equally sized subplots. However, it kind of gets around this by keeping a consistent pace throughout the film. To me, it just felt like watching two really good films that were awkwardly sewed together and one of the plots didn't exactly thematically connect well to the other.

However, my biggest complaint is the villain Screenslaver. While I found the ideas and themes that the character embodied fascinating, the character itself felt a bit generic, especially after the first film featured the excellent villain Syndrome and no one wants to be in that shadow. There's also a twist in the film involving the true identity of the Screenslaver, but I was able to see it coming a mile away to the point where I was wanting the story to speed up and just reveal the twist already.

Despite all of that, "Incredibles 2" is a worthy sequel that adds a lot to the world and themes surrounding the series. The action was fun and all of the gags involving Jack-Jack had me in stitches. It did effectively scratch that same personal nostalgic itch I had while walking out of "Toy Story 3" eight years ago (wow, time flies!) and "Finding Dory" two years ago. Even though it has some large faults, it still managed to put a warm smile on my face, which I really need nowadays.

Score: 8.8 out of 10

"Where is my super suit?"