I wrote this yesterday on a whim, but didn’t feel like sending out anywhere. So, I’m publishing here…

It’s been fourteen years since the last Incredibles movie as the actors remind us in an unnecessary promo in the beginning of the Incredibles 2. What’s happened in that time to the characters? Not that much. The teenagers are still being teenagers, surly and shy. Bob is still a knucklehead. With the large age gap, Jack-Jack is the classic “ooops, we forgot to use birth control” baby. In this movie, he’s still toddling around and developing his powers.

Like any superpower movie, there are bad guys who want to destroy the world. The public is annoyed with the inevitable clean up afterwards, as they were in Spiderman Homecoming. Like the X-Men films, the supers have to deal with the general distrust of those with weird powers.

But those themes are secondary to the real drama, which surround Helen’s role as a mother and her itch to work. Can Bob take over as lead parent for a while? Can she ramp up her career and join the ranks of other career women? Can she still save the world and look good in Lulumon spandex with the perimenopausal spread of her hips and boobs? Can she travel for work without calling home a million times? Continue reading “Helen Parr’s Messy Work-Life Balance” →