I, along with millions of others, went to see the Incredibles 2 this past weekend. I had not seen the Incredibles prior to that.  And, I don’t think it mattered as the storyline was fairly self-contained or so it seemed to me.   The movie was funny at times and very cute. The short film that preceded it was tear-producing but I will discuss that some other day. I don’t think I really need to go into a true review of the Incredibles 2.   It is not my thing. But I most definitely wanted to write about it in some way.

One of the funniest scenes for me besides Jack Jack’s tantrums was the raccoon fight with the baby. It reminded me of a tweet of raccoons that had gone viral a few weeks back.

Who isn’t afraid of raccoons yet isn’t fascinated by these garbage eaters?  As this tweet notes, I eat a lot of junk food and have these horrible dark circles under my eyes these days.   I may be a little rabid as well when provoked. I am quite congenial really. I may even be one to win a Miss Congeniality contest. Someone last week noted that everybody likes me. Those that don’t, its more a matter of there being something wrong with them. Yet, yet, I identify and empathize with the raccoon as they tend to be so misunderstood. They are in our garbage because we take up more and more space. Why shouldn’t they come down and rummage through bins and bins of leftovers?   But even as I say this I will admit to being deathly scared of them. The first time I ever saw one, I mistake it for a kid in a Halloween costume and I got up close. I will never make that mistake again.

But why do I empathize? Their name means “one who rubs, scrubs and scratches with its hands”.  They are hardworkers and get a bad rap as a result. They like to eat and get a bad rap. They can be fierce if provoked. They seem kind of fun in a way.

As a result I really enjoyed the raccoon fight in The Incredibles 2. Also, I enjoyed that scene (spoiler alert) because it was the first time we really got a sense of Jack Jack’s crazy, random powers. With each power presentation, I grew more impressed and wished that I had that specific power.   I would really love to have laser eyes.  If I had to have a power from the Incredibles, it would be that. Sure, being able to stretch would be cool. Sure, creating other dimensions would be super cool. But laser eyes would be handy in just regular interactions.   So, you can see how I would find the fight between the baby and the raccoon to be delightful.

While I enjoyed the raccoon and Jack Jack, I did like this one statement by Violet, the angsty teenage daughter: “Boys are jerks and superheroes suck. I renounce them.”  It just seemed like such a true teenage girl statement from this century.

Overall, not a bad animated film. At the end of the movie, people actually clapped.  Actually, people clapped at several points in the movie. I think people forgot these weren’t real superheroes. I think that says a lot about the film.   Catch it if you can!