[mschaef]

> All I remember is the father -- a superhero -- unable to perform basic child rearing tasks

You try raising a toddler that can uncontrollably turn into a demon, burst into flame, warp into another dimension, and shoot lasers from its eyes.

I think he did pretty well. (And Violet did too...)

[jerf]

"You try raising a toddler that can uncontrollably turn into a demon, burst into flame, warp into another dimension, and shoot lasers from its eyes."

I was actually somewhat disappointed that the sequel started literally right as the previous one ended. Seeing the parents deal with a non-baby Jack Jack would have been interesting. He's already just barely controllable by some of the world's greatest superheros. It will only get worse when Jack Jack isn't a baby anymore.... given the staggering array of powers Jack Jack is given even in just the original movie, it's not that long before he could straight-up defeat his family members. All the things added in the new movie just make it worse. Keeping one Jack Jack in the house when he wants to play outside in the traffic or whatever is hard; keeping six or eight of them will be impossible. This is for the traffic's protection, not Jack Jack's, because Jack Jack is basically an invincible god on Earth by the end of the second movie. This is going to be a huge parenting problem, because parenting, one way or another, involves a great deal of coercion.

[hnmonkey]

It's been a while since I've seen the original but what threw me for a loop was that at the end of the first movie didn't they basically find out that baby had powers? I thought there was a conversation with the babysitter where she was freaking out and told them that their baby had special needs. Wouldn't you as a parent ask your babysitter at some point in the next few days/weeks/months what she meant about your child given they also saw (maybe not perfectly, but still could see something was up) the villain just had your baby and could've easily escaped with him yet something happened in midair to defeat him? I'm just surprised that they tossed that part of the plot out the window for the 2nd movie. It certainly took me out of the story a bit while I was wondering why they were rehashing that they're all just finding out that the baby has these crazy powers when it seemed likely they would've already known.

[mschaef]

> they basically find out that baby had powers?

The baby demonstrates powers in the first movie when Syndrome tries to abduct him at the very end. But the baby in the air and the rest of the family are on the ground, so maybe they didn't see what was happening? They do see the baby fall, so Mr. Incredible throws up Elastigirl to catch him, who then parachutes the baby down.

> I thought there was a conversation with the babysitter where she was freaking out and told them that their baby had special needs. ... Wouldn't you as a parent ask your babysitter at some point in the next few days/weeks/months

That's in the short 'Jack Jack Attack'. Let me think through this:

* During I1, baby is terrorizing babysitter and destroying house with powers as shown in Jack Jack Attack. JJA explains the baby's newfound powers by saying the babysitter played him classical music. (This aligns with Edna Mode's observation in I2 that the baby responds to music.)

* Syndrome relives the babysitter towards the end of JJA, as he attempts to abduct the baby. (So there's no immediate opportunity to talk to the original babysitter.)

* End of I1, baby escapes from Syndrome using powers that maybe his parents didn't see. Because the crashing plane destroys the house, they can't see the damage his powers did to the house.

So at the end of I1, their house is destroyed, which I think is supposed to explain why they're in a motel at the beginning of I2. But if that's the case, how much time was there between the destruction of the house at the end of I1 and the track meet at the very end of the same movie? (Where Violet gets asked out and the Underminer shows up.)

I think for it to be consistent, you have to believe that there wasn't much time before the track meet in I1, and the parents hadn't talked to the babysitter. Maybe reasonable, given that their house was just destroyed? That said, the family depicted at that track meet didn't look like a family that had just been displaced out of their home because it was destroyed by a plane crash...

[hnmonkey]

Great analysis. Yeah, the family could've easily not seen what happened with Syndrome, though it would be weird if he was flying away with the kiddo and then suddenly the kiddo drops (it's not his MO).

Very interesting... the version of the movie I saw has a scene where the family is in a car and the mom is talking to the babysitter and she's leaving freakier and freakier voicemail messages about JJ. Eventually she says something like 'your baby has special needs.' It wasn't super long and didn't show anything from the babysitter's perspective I don't think. Maybe it was cut out of some other versions.

You're right that they don't seem like a family displaced at the track meet. Everything seemed to be back to normal. Given all the chaos it's possible they never talked to the babysitter but if I were in those shoes I would certainly have found out why she freaked out at least at some point after the end of I1.

Good analysis though. Appreciate you digging in on that.