Entertainment
Watch The 'Incredibles 2' Cast Hilariously Try To Recap 'The Incredibles'
A lot can happen in 14 years. People grow up, technology changes and society evolves. But in the world of The Incredibles, 14 years is just the blink of an eye, because Incredibles 2 picks up at the exact moment the original film ended. To recap what happened in The Incredibles, that means all the Parrs, including Bob (aka Mr. Incredible), Helen (aka Elastigirl), Violet, Dash and baby Jack-Jack not only look and sound the same, but they're also still fresh off their first mission together as a family of supers. They just saved Jack-Jack from evil supervillain Syndrome, still don't know that the baby has developed powers of his own and they all think that life is going to go back to normal.
Of course, anyone who saw 2004's The Incredibles knows how wrong that assumption is. Incredibles 2, out June 15, finally will show us what happens after The Underminer attacks the city during Dash's track meet. Will the Parrs succeed in their first public outing as a super family? Will Jack-Jack finally reveal his newfound powers to his family? Will Violet finally get to go on her date with Tony Radinger? So many questions that will finally get some answers a decade and a half later.
Because it's been such a long time since The Incredibles first came out, I decided to sit down with the cast behind the voices of everyone's favorite super family to grill them on their knowledge of the first film. Original Incredibles voice actors Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter and Samuel L. Jackson, along with Incredibles 2 newcomers Bob Odenkirk and Catherine Keener, plus director Brad Bird and producer Nicole Grindle, were all game for a little Incredibles trivia. Hunter even declared herself the champion before we got started and tried to employ some sneaky tactics to secure that title.
But while the competition was fierce, there was one topic that surprisingly stumped everyone: Jack-Jack. Clearly, everyone needs to brush up on their Jack-Jack knowledge before the sequel comes out, since it's hardly a spoiler to say he's the shining star of the new movie. Check out the fun trivia challenge above to see which Incredibles 2 member came out on top.
While the sequel doesn't miss a beat in continuing the story as if no time has passed between the two movies, it does take on a decidedly prescient arc in which Helen springs into action as Elastigirl to save the day as the new public face of supers, while Bob faces his greatest challenge yet: taking care of the problems of their three children as a stay-at-home dad. This role reversal sparks a conversation about gender norms and breaking stereotypes that Hunter says she was "thrilled" to see in the script.
"It was like a retroactive thrill," she explains during a press conference at the London Hotel in West Hollywood, Calif. "I started gleefully singing during our recording sessions about how great my part was. But to me, it was just really fun."
But Hunter makes sure to clarify that despite Incredibles 2 putting women front-and-center, it isn't "a message movie in any way." Explains the actor, "I think it's purely luck of the draw that this happens to be dovetailing with #MeToo and Time's Up. But obviously, time is up. And I feel that way personally. And it happens to be serendipitously reflected in this particular movie."
It's true that Bird, as he says in the press conference, began thinking about making Helen the hero of Incredibles 2 since the very first film, but that doesn't make the movie's timing any less exciting. And even if the franchise's cast and crew might need to brush up on their Incredibles trivia, it's doubtful they'll ever forget how momentous an occasion this is.