It’s been 14 years since we last hung out with the Parr Family and frankly it doesn’t seem like those kids have aged too much in that time. Incredibles mastermind Brad Bird has a reason for that and it’s an excellent one.
Chatting with Entertainment Weekly, Bird addressed why Incredibles 2 is avoiding doing a time jump with its tots. His approach is from a storytelling standpoint that recognizes the core of what made the first film so special. (Aside from Edna Mode, of course.)
“To me, that’s a much more common idea, and I think that part of the intent of The Incredibles is to capture people and how their powers connected with the way they are at a certain age and their roles in the family,” Bird told EW. “That was actually kind of the ‘Aha!’ idea for me when I thought of the original film.”
As Bird explains, the first film wove familial expectations right into the fabric of the characters.
“Men were expected to be strong, so I made the dad super strong,” said Bird. “Mothers are pulled in 20 different directions at once, so I had her be elastic. Teenage girls are defensive and shy and insecure, so I made Violet invisible and gave her force fields. Ten-year-olds are energy balls, so I made Dash super fast. And babies are unknown! So Jack-Jack either has no powers, or every power in the universe, because babies are all about possibility.”
“So, if you age them up,” continued Bird. “Then they’re just powers. And that’s not interesting.”
Pixar obsessives have been able to take in an early peek at the sequel courtesy of the official trailer that arrived in April. The finished product will hit your local multiplex on June 15.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)