9:23 p.m. - 2018-07-03
FOX SHOULD WATCH "INCREDIBLES 2"
I just came back from seeing "Incredibles 2" at the local cineplex, and I think it stands up pretty well with most of the superhero movies I've seen up to now: Interesting characters, exciting action, a plot that has more going on than superhero vs super villain or superhero vs superhero (although both those things happen), a villain who is interesting without taking over the story, and a lot of clever takes on superhero tropes. Does it matter that this movie is a cartoon matching up well against live action? Well, the live action movies are derived from cartoons, or, if you insist, graphic novels. And the cartoon characters in "Incredibles 2" are just as multidimensional as the movie versions of X-Men, Justice League, or The Avengers.

And more entertaining than the four--count them, four--versions of The Fantastic Four that Fox Studios has ground out so far. (I do know how to count; the first FF movie, directed by Roger Corman, was never released, but is available in pirated versions if you want to look for it.)

The Incredibles begs comparison with FF because the makeup of the respective teams is so similar. Like the FF, the Incredibles feature a team member with super strength, another with elastic powers, and a third with invisibility. Only young Dash Parr, who has super speed, does not correlate exactly with Johnny Storm, the Human Torch. And the FF are pretty much a family, just like the Incredibles. Reed and Sue are married, Sue and Johnny are siblings, and Ben Grimm is Reed's best friend. And the whole bunch of them live together in the Baxter Building.

So how is it that one family of superheroes has been consistently entertaining while another keeps stumbling at the box office? Maybe Fox should stop exploring the dark side of super powers (Marvel could stand to lighten up as well) and aim for a close but quarrelsome family whose back story never distracts us from the issues at hand. Time for the Fantastic Four to be Incredible.

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