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In the 14 years since The Incrediblescame out, superhero movies have exploded. Circa 2004, we got maybe two a year; in 2018, Incredibles 2is the third such film within the past two months.

In that context, it's easy to imagine Incredibles 2getting swallowed up by the wave, buried under the meta jokes of Deadpool and the ambitious world-building of Marvel. Instead, however, Incredibles 2rises above it. Here's how.

The action is, well, incredible

Incredibles 2opens with a city-destroying battle of good versus evil that's become a staple of the genre. But Pixar pulls it off with such style and finesse that it retroactively makes the competition look sloppy.

The choreography is sharp and dynamic, playing with each character's specific strengths and weaknesses. Elastigirl's bendiness contrasts and complements Mr. Incredible's brute force, while Dash's super-speed combines nicely with Violet's force fields.

Meanwhile, the camerawork and dialogue keep our focus on the characters, not just the spectacle. It serves as quick reintroduction to the leads, their personalities, and their relationships, in case your memory's grown fuzzy after a decade and a half, and underlines why this particular fight is important to them.

It's like the best of the Avenger-on-Avenger bits from Captain America: Civil Waror Avengers: Infinity War– only better, because it's easier to follow the the crisp, colorful action.

Granted, animation has some advantages over live-action on that front. Movement can be more precisely controlled, and is less constrained by the limits of believability. (It's difficult to imagine Elastigirl, in particular, working quite as well in hyper-realistic CG.)

Still, it's hard not to hope Pixar's cousins over at Marvel will borrow a few pages out of their playbook.

Incredibles 2 wrestles with what superheroes mean

At the end of that opening sequence, the Incredibles are dragged back down to earth. They're reminded that their superhero-ing can be more headache than help, that public perception can matter a great deal, and that they're part of a long history and large community of Supers who've had to deal with the rest of the world.

Incredibles 2isn't the first superhero movie to take ordinary citizens' thoughts on superheroes into consideration. It's a common theme, from X-Mento Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justiceto Black Panther. But Incredibles 2takes it one step further by asking what our obsession with superheroes tells us about ourselves.

Its attempts to grapple with that question are shaky, and it never quite gets around to an answer. Thinking too hard about it might lead you down some unpleasant paths. (Do they, as one anti-superhero character puts it, represent "a desire to replace true experience with simulation"?) By the end of the film, it's largely been pushed to the wayside in favor of easier, cuddlier themes.

Still, it's interesting to see a superhero movie pick up on that thread at all, at a time when the movie industry seems to take our insatiable appetite for all-powerful do-gooders for granted.

Jack-Jack steals the show

One of The Incredibles' most unusual elements was its focus on parenthood. It's rare for superheroes to have close-knit families at all – just ask Batman or Iron Man – and rarer still for them to have their own kids. That throughline carries over into the sequel, as Elastigirl is pushed into the spotlight and Mr. Incredible, formerly the breadwinner, is left at home to take care of the children.

At first, this seems like the setup for the usual hokey gags about how hopeless dads are at "babysitting" their own kids, and how everyone's better off when Mom gets home to take over domestic duties with a knowing smiles. Fortunately, it evolves into something sweeter and more nuanced, as both parents struggle to let go of their old roles and take pride in their new ones.

But the single best thing about Mr. Incredible's transition into stay-at-home dad are his dealings with baby Jack-Jack. This kid – irresistibly cute, dangerously powerful, and blissfully oblivious – is the highlight of Incredibles 2. He gets the best jokes, the tenderest moments, and even the most creative action beats.

Plus, he's utterly unique as a superhero movie character. When's the last time you saw a movie about a superpowered baby raised within a loving and stable superpowered family? Don't you want to know how that works out for him, and where he ends up?

It's not part of a damn cinematic universe

Although Incredibles 2picks up right where the last film left off, and although it leaves enough room for an Incredibles 3if Pixar ever wants to make one, it feels, first and foremost, like a proper, self-sustaining movie. That makes Incredibles 2feel blessedly straightforward, at a time when every tentpole blockbuster seems to come with a cinematic universe or the hope of building one.

True, this means Incredibles 2doesn't enjoy the same advantages of a well-run cinematic universe that, say, Avengers: Infinity Wardid. Your emotional attachment to the characters isn't as strong, and your familiarity with the universe isn't as deep.

But it also gets to avoid some of the pitfalls. Incredibles 2doesn't need to spend time tending to potential spinoff characters or setting up possible sequels, or wink-wink-nudge-nudging at stuff you've seen in other movies. You can even enjoy it without having seen the first Incredibles, though it's probably a little easier to follow if you have.

It feels like a proper movie, with a beginning, middle, and an end, rather than just another entry in an extremely lavish and slow-moving TV series. It's a satisfying meal unto itself – one delicious enough that you'll probably want to return for another helping, sometime in the future.

Oh, and the short film before it is pretty wonderful too

In typical Pixar fashion, Incredibles 2comes packaged with an animated short film: Bao, about a mom with empty nest syndrome who finds renewed purpose when one of her dumplings comes to life.

It's a little horrifying (she comes this closeto eating the dumpling before she realizes it's sentient!) but a lot touching, and made this reviewer shed more tears than the feature film did. There were lots of giggles and coos from my audience, and even the occasional gasp. The baby dumpling is heart-meltingly adorable, and it continues to be both impressive and frightening how deft Pixar is at manipulating my emotions.

While the subject matter seems surprisingly mature – how many kids watching Incredibles 2will sympathize with a lonely middle-aged parent? – it dovetails nicely with the themes of the movie that follows. If you're a parent who really wants your kids to understand the sacrifices you've made for them, you could do worse than a Bao/ Incredibles 2combo.

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