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Review

The Incredibles

Director

Brad Bird

Year

2004

Rating

Reviewed by

José Ruiloba a.k.a. Morris

Review date

Saturday, November 20, 2004

Ok, ok, I know every time I review a Pixar movie it becomes more than a review, but a love fest. But who can blame me? The guys just continue to make extraordinary, one-of-a-kind movies. And as long as they keep doing that, I’ll be there to gush about them and sing their praises.

Bob Parr (voice of Craig T. Nelson) and his wife Helen (Holly Hunter) are superheroes known as Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl, whose days of glory have long passed. Superheroes are not allowed to make use of their powers anymore, so they try to cope with a normal, everyday life with their children Violet (voice of Sarah Vowell), Dashiell (Spencer Fox) and baby Jack-Jack. Violet and Dashiell also have superpowers, but feel frustrated about the use they do, or don’t, give them. Everything changes, though, when Bob is hired to do some special jobs that have evil mastermind Syndrome (voice of Jason Lee) behind, and the whole family has to get involved at some point.

The Incredibles has some peculiarities that set it apart from all the other Pixar movies. To start off, it is not precisely a young children’s movie. Not that there’s anything wrong with them watching it, but the target audience is mainly older children and adults. The fact that the movie runs almost 2 hours is one point to make my case. But the whole plot, jokes and dynamics are much more appealing to a slightly older audience. And I dig that. It’s good that they try their hand at something different, especially when it pays off so well!

To be perfectly honest with you, I think the movie takes its time to really take off. The first 30 minutes are not as effective as the rest of the movie, but they aren’t disastrous or anything close to that. I just thought the pace and some of the jokes was not as effective, but the story is set up pretty well and from then on it’s pure, unadulterated, grandiose fun.

The whole movie feels like an inside joke regarding the superheroes world. We’ve seen countless movies about superheroes, but nothing like this. The way Mr. Incredible can’t fit into his suit, or the way the family uses their superpowers when a fight between children takes place, or how they spy on each other in their own way… these are all small pleasures that elevate this movie into something more. Sure, two thirds of the movie are spent on huge action sequences that are wondrously amazing, but it’s these details that give it its uniqueness.

And that’s where Pixar has always excelled. For them, it’s all about the characters and their stories. They go from there and then create everything else. The Incredibles is most of all a movie about family and their values and their interaction. It has a beautiful message about the power of a family sticking together and being there for each other that is neither preachy nor obvious. And every single relationship in this movie rings true. Dash behaves like a boy his age who is mesmerized by his talents and wants to use them at school, Violet just got to that uncomfortable adolescent age in which she starts to notice boys but can’t get them to notice her, and their parents have that wonderful love-hate dynamic of a couple that’s been together for a long time and are trying to raise their children as well as they can. But having all these dynamics show up even when they’re in the most dangerous of situations is priceless. A true superhero family just doing what they know best.

I’d also like to say that Pixar has once again raised the bar concerning computer-animation. I can’t even begin to describe the look of this movie, it is far above anything I’ve ever seen. The wonderful thing is that they were not going for a hyper-realistic look except for some scenes that actually needed it. It’s all cartoon-y and that’s the way it should be. But the variety of sets and sequences are full of imagination and creativity that never cease to impress. I was blown away.

Voice work is extraordinary by everyone involved. That the characters work as well as they do is also thanks to the work of the actors lending their voices. And then there’s the animation of each character, which is just amazing. My favorite character in the movie is not a member of the family, but the mastermind behind their special suits and gadgets: Edna. What a wonderful creation! And to think she was voiced by the movie’s director… it just adds to its brilliance. Also note-worthy is Frozone, who is voiced by the coolest: Samuel L. Jackson.

So much fun I felt guilty after watching it. And I can’t find a bigger compliment!

“You tell me where my suit is, woman!”

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Other reviews of The Incredibles (2004): Mithrandir

Review

The Incredibles

Director

Brad Bird

Year

2004

Rating

Reviewed by

Jorge Castillo a.k.a. Mithrandir

Review date

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

The Incredibles is an amazing movie. That could be my complete review right there, and I would be so totally right. This is the 6th movie from the Pixar/Disney collaboration, and it's probably the best out of them all, tying right there with Finding Nemo (2003) as the greatest of them all. The moment that the title for this one changed from Unknown to The Incredibles, I decided that it was something I wanted to watch. Having the name Pixar attached to it was more than completely enough for me, but let's just say I wanted to watch it since I knew the title. I saw the trailer over a year ago, and I've been waiting to see it ever since (because the bastards who run these companies decided that giving you a little snippet of something they're sure you'll want to watch a year and a half before the actual movie is released, would be a good idea - and it kinda is. I'm just pissed that I had to wait so long.)

Mr. Incredible (voiced by Craig T. Nelson) and Elasti-girl (voiced by Holly Hunter) are your regular "city saver" superheroes. Mr. Incredible has incredible (pun intended) strength, and Elasti-girl, as the name suggests, is elastic (which looks and plays out incredibly - again, pun intended - throughout). Their real names in real non-hero life are Bob and Helen Parr. They are married, and fight crime together, until a wave of lawsuits against all the superheroes of the city force the government to place them in the Witness Protection Program, making it impossible for them to use their superpowers to help people. While living this secret life, they have two children: Dashiell 'Dash' Parr (voiced by Spencer Fox) and Violet Parr (voiced by Sarah Vowell). These two get special superhero powers too, with Dash receiving the ability of super speed and Violet being able to disappear as well as make a protection shield around her.

While living this 'normal life', Bob (Mr. Incredible) works at a rather dull job, from which he eventually gets fired because of smashing his boss through 6 walls (or so I counted) when pissed off while in a very bad mood. Who doesn't make that mistake every day? Anyway, he's contacted by this woman who asks him to serve as Mr. Incredible again, in order to rescue a machine that the company she worked for had created which outsmarted them and ran into the wild. He accepts the job without telling his wife, which will prove to be a very bad thing. You see, the person who hired him in the first place, was an "archeneneminy" of his, who in the end just wanted to capture and eliminate him, just like he had eliminated all of the other supervillains that existed up to that time.

The plot thickens much more than that basic draw-out, but I'll leave it at that because, just like the smart yet evil people behind Disney and Pixar left you waiting for over a year in order to actually see the film, I want you to see it, and eventually give me your feedback on it and tell me how much you loved it.

I found during the movie that certain parts reminded me of certain movies. I don't know if they were spoofing those, or just took ideas from them, or never even noticed, but I thought it played out very smartly. There's a Spider-Man 2 (2004) "imitation", in which Mr. Incredible saves a train from falling into an open space by stopping it using his incredible strength. There's also a (what I consider) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) "homage", where Mr. Incredible fights this 'thing' (which I shall not reveal) in the crater of a volcano with lava all around them (think Gollum and Frodo fighting for The One Ring). All in all, whether they meant it to be a spoof or an imitation or maybe even an homage, these scenes where really good, and played out wonderfully onscreen.

Everything is good in this movie: the plot, the dialogue... the actors chosen for each character voice-over were magnificent, with big props going to Holly Hunter, just because I love her.

Animation-wise, there's really not much to say, other than it was amazing, as every Pixar animation is. There's so much of everything, so much attention and description-wise animation from the big things to the small things that it's truly wonderful to just sit back and enjoy the wonderful creations that these people can come up with. It's perfection in an animated format... it's just incredible.

"It's showtime."

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Other reviews of The Incredibles (2004): Morris