It’s been 14 long years for Pixar fans since The Incredibles was first released. And a lot has happened in the world of animation too. Pixar wasn’t even owned by Disney back when the first Incredibles came out, that merger happened a year later. Incredibles 2 is proof that Pixar has continued to evolve for the better under the Disney banner. Say what you will about the mouse owning franchises like Marvel and Star Wars when it comes to Pixar films they’re spot on.
Incredibles 2 takes place right where the first left off, leaving many to wonder if Brad Bird could pull off the nearly impossible, having it look and feel just like the first while still being new. Not only did Bird pull it off, but he and the Pixar crew have exceeded everyone’s expectations. The one complaint some have voiced is that the storyline in Incredibles 2 was slightly weaker than that of the first movie. While this may be somewhat true, the weakness in the story gets a facelift from tons of deep character development. Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack get plenty of scenes where they’re not in combat, helping audiences to connect with the characters even more than before. Even Frozone (who was one of my favorites from the first movie) gets to show off more of his personality. Becoming more of the Parr’s friend than the token super who still hangs around to talk about the glory days.
Warning Spoilers Ahead!!!
If you haven’t seen Incredibles 2 yet, I highly suggest watching The Incredibles before you do. Not only will it enhance the overall movie-going experience but tune you into the characters with a modern-day perspective. It’ll also help you catch everything you missed in Incredibles 2.
30 Jack-Jack’s 17 Powers
The name Jack-Jack Parr is a play on Helen and Bob’s baby being a “jack of all trades,” when it comes to superhero powers. Jack-Jack is said to have shown 17 of those powers in Incredibles 2.
Jack-Jack’s 17 powers include self-combustion, shapeshifting, demon form, mimicking features on others, phasing through solid objects, enhanced strength, levitation, dimensional traveling, balloon pliable, laser vision, creating duplicates, electrogenesis, molecular vibration, wall crawling, teleportation, size manipulation, and being able to harden into metal (from the first Incredibles movie).
If an Incredibles 3 was to ever get made, it’s likely we’d get to see even more of Jack-Jack’s superpowers.
29 The Secret A113
At the end of Incredibles 2, Violet and Tony Rydinger are getting chaperoned by the family to go see a movie for their first date. The movie shown to be playing is Dementia A113.
The A113 is a running Pixar Easter egg which appears in every Pixar film (except Monsters Inc.).
It’s a nod to the name of a classroom at the California Institute of the Arts, where a bunch of Pixar artists and filmmakers studied. Dementia13 is a real movie which was released in 1963. It was also Francis Ford Coppola’s first film as a director.
28 Stealing From DreamWorks
Evelyn Deavor is not only a new character in Incredibles 2, but she’s also the villain. For fans of animated films, it doesn’t take much to see the similarities between Evelyn and a DreamWorks character from the movie Megamind (2010).
Evelyn Deavor is almost identical looking to Roxanne Ritchie.
Roxanne is the hero in her story while Evelyn only pretends to be one of the good guys. DreamWorks was in partnership with Disney up until 2016 but now works out of the offices at Universal Studios.
27 Usher Cameo As Limo Driver
Usher makes an appearance in Incredibles 2 as the limo driver and errand boy for Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk). He also says, “I’m your biggest fan,” to Frozone which is a callback to The Incredibles when Buddy Pine says the same thing to Mr. Incredible.
Billy snapped because of how Bob responded to his petitions to be a sidekick, but Frozone played it super cool (pun intended) with Usher the limo driver. Although, it would be funny if Usher was to become the villain in Incredibles 3 because he felt Frozone played it too cool.
26 The Hidden Meaning Of The Hotel Painting
After completing her first mission, Helen is bubbling with joy as she recounts her adventures to Bob over the phone. Behind her is a painting on the wall featuring white and red geometric shapes. There are 4 on the left and one on the right.
The painting is symbolizing Helen (Elastigirl) being separated from her family and that they only succeed when they’re all together. Bob was captured in the first Incredibles movie after working alone, as was Elastigirl in Incredibles 2.
25 Sarah Vowell To Do Awful Things To Herself
One of the cutest and memorable scenes in Incredibles 2 is when Bob takes the family to the diner where Tony Rydinger works as a server (his parents own the diner). The bit involves a spit-take, with Violet embarrassing herself thoroughly in front of Tony.
In an interview with Collider, Sarah Vowell (Violet) said she had to ostensibly waterboard herself to get the sound right for the spit-take.
Vowell was so invested in getting the sound just right, she even caused herself to throw up all over the studio.
24 Ghostbusters Shout-Out
Elastigirl mentions to Evelyn Deavor that something “feels off,” regarding her capture of the criminal mastermind Screen Slaver. Helen knows it went down too easy, which leads to Evelyn trying to make excuses (since she is Screen Slaver).
Evelyn tries to get Helen off her current path of thinking by mentioning “Einstein was a patent clerk,” when talking about the pizza delivery driver being Screen Slaver. This line is almost a direct quote from Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters when he’s trying to convince Ray they’ll be alright without funding from Columbia University.
23 Superhero Theme Songs
Winston Deavor is a true fanboy of supers, even memorizing their theme songs. Audiences get to hear Mr. Incredibles’ and Frozone’s theme in part, but not Elastigirl’s. Winston tries to sing it later but is cut off by Helen.
For those who stuck around for the credits, there’s a treat featuring the full versions of all three theme songs.
Elastigirl’s is like Spider-Man’s song, Frozone’s has a classic Marvin Gaye-style to it, and Mr. Incredibles’ is like a catchy jingle. The music for Incredibles 2 is scored by Michael Giacchino and should win plenty of accolades come the 2018 awards season.
22 Voyd’s Video Game Powers
Sophia Bush is the voice actor for Voyd, a new superhero character introduced in Incredibles 2. She is a fangirl of Elastigirl and can divert objects around her by creating voids in space, allowing them to appear and disappear in different spots.
Voyd’s powers are very similar to the video game by Valve, called Portal.
In the game Portal, players are challenged with a first-person puzzle-platform involving moving objects through portals to complete an objective. Voyd uses her powers (much like one would in Portal) during the battle on the DEVTECH ship to assist and save Elastigirl.
21 End Credit Teases Incredibles 3
In true Incredibles form, the film ends with a sequence of stunning art and musical scoring while the credits start to roll. Hidden within these visual and audio clips is a potential hint towards the return of the Underminer.
A drill breaks ground in one of the final clips, which could be Brad Bird’s way of suggesting we’ll get an Incredibles 3 in the future — with the Underminer causing havoc once again. Either the Underminer is horrible at saving and spending money (since he got away with the loot in Incredibles 2) or he’s simply bored.
20 Hidden Micky Mouse
Hypnosis has been around since the late 1700s and was often a real fear during the 50s and 60s. Disney capitalizes on this theme by making it Screen Savers weapon of choice but also throws in a hidden Easter egg too.
If you look real close while the trippy spirals are blowing your eye sockets out, it’s possible to make out a warped looking Micky Mouse.
Is Disney trying to hypnotize the American public by using Micky as their trigger? It would sure make for a cool story if they were.
19 Mission Impossible 6 Shout-Out
In a line very close to the one uttered by Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible 6, Elastigirl calls out, “where is the closest window,” before jumping out of it. Cruise, who likes to perform his own stunts, was initially injured during the window jumping scene with a broken ankle.
In typical Tom Cruise fashion, after his injury healed he reshot the take, this time without any problems. Elastigirl doesn’t suffer any injuries due to her powers, but the shout-out to MI6 and Tom Cruise was a neat little Easter egg.
18 Classical Music Kari
True fans of The Incredibles will remember Kari McKeen (Bret Parker), best friend of Violet who was assigned to babysit Jack-Jack while Dash and Violet stowed away on their mom’s jet. Helen finds the kids and calls Kari, making sure she can handle Jack-Jack.
Kari mentions she’ll play lots of Mozart for him and it’ll make him smart.
In Incredibles 2, Jack-Jack is shown to have a love for Mozart after spending the night with Edna Mode (Brad Bird). Not only did Mozart potentially make Jack-Jack smarter, but the composer’s music became assimilated with Jack-Jack’s powers.
17 Safari Court Is Safari Inn
For those who have visited Burbank, California, the motel the Parr’s get holed up in, might look familiar. The Safari Court, as it’s called in Incredibles 2, is almost identical to a real and semi-famous hotel called the Safari Inn.
The Safari Inn has appeared in various films including True Romance and Apollo 13. The Inn has also been featured in television series’ like Six Feet Under, Desperate Housewives, CSI: Vegas, Monk, and Prison Break. It was even on the album cover of The Wallflowers. The inn was built in 1955 and has been home to plenty of aspiring talent in the entertainment industry for decades.
16 No Honey Again
Playing off the trope of “He (or she in this case) who must not be seen,” Honey’s (Kimberly Adair Clark) voice is in Incredibles 2. Brad Bird even included a neat callback to The Incredibles where Lucius Best (Samuel L. Jackson) is asking his wife Honey “Where is my super suit.” This time, however, Frozone’s super suit is where it’s supposed to be.
Honey was initially supposed to have a character and be in the movie.
Bill Bird scrapped the idea, saying “she was funnier off screen,” and recycled her design for another superhero character. This could possibly be Voyd or one who didn’t make the cut.
15 Disney Animator Tribute
Elastigirl rushes off to save Ambassador Henrietta Selick, but what audiences might not know is that her name is paying tribute to a Disney animator. Henrietta Selick is a nod to director Henry Selick, who like Brad Bird was a graduate of the California Institute of Arts.
Henry is known for his stop-motion work on James and the Giant Peach and The Nightmare Before Christmas, along with writing the screenplay for Coraline. Most recently, Selick is reported to be directing a Little Nightmares TV adaptation, which is being produced by the Russo Brothers.
14 Famous Chinese Takeout Box
The Parr’s have been released from jail after their fight with the Underminer and are sitting around the dinner table eating Chinese takeout. A keen eye will notice the Parr family is still in their clothes from the final scene of The Incredibles, as their house was destroyed. It should also pick up on the logo placed on the Chinese takeout boxes.
The famous Chinese takeout box and logo has appeared in numerous Pixar films like A Bugs Life, Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., and Ratatouille.
13 Pew Pew Jack-Jack
The saying “pew pew,” is commonly applied to the sound a laser blaster makes in sci-fi movies, most often associated with the Star Wars franchise. Laura Dern was even called out for saying it while playing Vice Admiral Holdo in The Last Jedi.
Much like Dern, Violet (Sarah Vowell) couldn’t hold back her excitement either, saying “pew, pew,” while firing Jack-Jack’s laser eyes to save Dash.
Whether the pew, pew was intentional or left in for fun, hasn’t been determined. As a Star Wars fan, I’m glad Brad Bird let it be in Incredibles 2.
12 New Math Callback
Introduced during the late 50s was a program dubbed New Math by the United States and even certain European countries in the 1960s. The idea was to boost math skills amongst grade school kids to combat areas of technology during the Cold War Era. The program was snubbed shortly after it began.
Dash’s math book not only says New Math on it, but Bob also can’t figure out how to do it because “why would anyone change the way you do math?”
The idea of new math is also a dig towards the common core standards, which were introduced to American students in 2009.
11 Going Poltergeist
Jack-Jack is revealed to have the ability to enter other dimensions while still being heard, although, unseen. This is a unique callback to the movie Poltergeist when Carol Anne gets sucked into another dimension. The Poltergeist scene relates to Incredibles 2 through Craig T. Nelson, who plays Jack Jack’s father Bob and Carol Anne’s father, Steve Freeling.
If we wanted to get technical, both scenes are a callback to 1962 episode of The Twilight Zone, titled Little Girl Lost. This also fits with the theme of Incredibles 2 taking place in the 60s.
