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'Incredibles 2' Will Empower Children And Their Parents

(SOUNDBITE OF MICHAEL GIACCHINO'S "THE GLORY DAYS")

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

It has been nearly 14 years since Pixar's "The Incredibles" introduced a family of superheroes that had a hard time living quietly in the suburbs. Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl and their kids are now back in "Incredibles 2." We're going to talk in a minute with actress Holly Hunter, who plays Elastigirl. First, our critic Bob Mondello has this review.

BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE: Here's where we left off last time - our favorite suburban family crossing the street when suddenly a giant drill erupts from the pavement.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE INCREDIBLES")

JOHN RATZENBERGER: (As The Underminer) Behold The Underminer.

MONDELLO: And here's what we've been waiting 14 years for.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "INCREDIBLES 2")

HOLLY HUNTER: (As Helen Parr) Watch after Jack-Jack.

SARAH VOWELL: (As Violet Parr) But I thought we were going to...

CRAIG T NELSON: (As Bob Parr) You heard your mother. Trampoline me.

MONDELLO: Saving the world is hard-wired in these folks, but...

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "INCREDIBLES 2")

HUNTER: (As Helen Parr) Superheroes are illegal.

MONDELLO: The good news is there's a rich guy who's thinking is gratifyingly in tune with the woman-centric times we live in to change public perception of superheroes. The key, he says, is not brute strength, Mr. Incredible's superpower. Its flexibility.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "INCREDIBLES 2")

BOB ODENKIRK: (As Winston Deavor) Elastigirl is our best play.

NELSON: (As Bob Parr) Better than me?

MONDELLO: So Mom goes to work.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "INCREDIBLES 2")

HUNTER: (As Helen Parr) Bye, sweetie.

NELSON: (As Bob Parr) I'll watch the kids, no problem.

MONDELLO: And Dad has a midlife crisis dealing with a teenager who wishes she could disappear and actually can, a hyperactive boy who should never be entrusted with the remote and, to the hilarious frustration of a territory-protecting raccoon...

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "INCREDIBLES 2")

ELI FUCILE: (As Jack-Jack Parr, laughter).

MONDELLO: ...A baby who is just discovering new powers.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "INCREDIBLES 2")

FUCILE: (As Jack-Jack Parr, laughter).

MONDELLO: Director Brad Bird in short is traipsing through time-honored comic territory with Looney Tune gag spectacular animation, James Bondian music and a retro-futurist worldview that may be straight out of Ayn Rand but that's leavened by putting Holly Hunter's commonsensical Elastigirl front and center.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "INCREDIBLES 2")

HUNTER: (As Helen Parr) I know it's crazy, right? To help my family, I got to leave it. To fix the law, I got to break it.

MONDELLO: Actual ideas about balancing work and life in an action-packed kid flick - Marvel, take note. I exaggerate not a bit when I say that parents will feel just as empowered while watching "Incredibles 2" as any child.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "INCREDIBLES 2")

BRAD BIRD: (As Edna Mode) Done properly, parenting is a heroic act.

FUCILE: (As Jack-Jack Parr, laughter).

BIRD: (As Edna Mode) Done properly...

FUCILE: (As Jack-Jack Parr, laughter).

MONDELLO: I'm Bob Mondello. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Bob Mondello, who jokes that he was a jinx at the beginning of his critical career — hired to write for every small paper that ever folded in Washington, just as it was about to collapse — saw that jinx broken in 1984 when he came to NPR.