Is Elastigirl stretching herself too thin?
Pixar released the second trailer for Incredibles 2 Friday, showing former housewife Helen Parr (Holly Hunter) leading a campaign to bring Supers back—all while her husband, Bob Parr (Craig T. Nelson), handles the day-to-day heroics of "normal" life at home with kids Violet (Sarah Vowell), Dash (Huck Milner) and baby Jack-Jack (whose superpowers are appearing at random).
Not everyone is thrilled with the turn of events. Bob is overwhelmed with his new role as a stay-at-home dad, and Violet is, like, so over it. Dash, meanwhile, can't help but be amazed by the gadgets and gizmos. "Whoa-!" he marvels at Helen's headquarters. "I like mom's new job!"
Fans of the first film, released in 2004, will be relieved to see Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) and Edna Mode (Brad Bird) are back. But soon, Helen's mission will be derailed after a new villain arrives on the scene. (Be sure to watch the entire trailer to get a glimpse of her formidable foe.)
Other voice actors include Sophia Bush as Voyd, Catherine Keener as Evelyn Deavor, Bob Odenkirk as Winston Deavor, John Ratzenberger as The Underminer and Isabella Rossellini as The Ambassador. Written and directed by Bird, Pixar's Incredibles 2 hits theaters June 15, 2018.
In an Entertainment Weekly interview published in December, Hunter revealed Elastigirl will show an "incredible sense of competitiveness and ambition" in the sequel. "She throws down the gauntlet in this one," she said. "It's so much fun to see a woman luxuriating in those two arenas, because women have for so many generations been brought up to not be ambitious or to not be competitive, and it's fun to see Helen basking in those two arenas in much the same way that we give men license to do." In today's world, she said, "I just think it's beautiful that Incredibles 2 is allowing Mrs. Incredible to reveal all these other different colors of who she is."
Make no mistake: It's Elastigirl's time to shine. "Helen's appetite for adventure comes to the fore. Whereas before, she was driven to become Mrs. Incredible out of necessity, where she went into it to save her husband, I think this time she really meets her own ambition head-on," the actress revealed. "The ambition of being an adventure is something that we get to explore."
Working with Bird again was a dream come true. "It's always interesting when you have a storyteller who can take off the way that Brad can, and in a way, I feel that his storytelling abilities acquired a different kind of lift-off with this movie. This time was so much fun because I know Brad so much better, and the way the story unfolded for me in the recording sessions has been kind of stratospheric. Brad's imagination veers off into intensely funny stuff, and I find that so fresh. And of course, that also includes the character development of Helen throughout this second movie," Hunter added. "It just feels really rich, and like…This guy is a true feminist."