Movie Review: The Incredibles

The Incredibles

As almost all of you know, I rarely see any animated features. I make a notable exception here and there, but I'm by and large not a big fan. It seems particularly strange, then, that I've made two exceptions in the last three weeks. First, I saw Team America World Police (and loved it). Then this weekend, I found myself sitting in a theatre filled with kids to see The Incredibles (my only excuse is that the movie—which is rated PG—was said to be at least as much for adults as for children and it was getting stellar reviews to boot). Judging from much of the reaction around me, neither the kids nor the adults were all that impressed.

In The Incredibles, Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, Frozone, and many other superheroes have made it their mission to save people from criminal mayhem or disastrous harm. But after Mr. Incredible rescues a man who doesn't want to be saved, he's sued for millions. Once the precedent is set, other superheroes are also repeatedly sued. To save itself a fortune and put an end to the lawsuits, the government decrees that superheroes must stop using their powers and live as oridinary citizens, just like everybody else.

So Mr. Incredible now lives as his alter ego, Bob Parr (Craig T. Nelson). Along with his wife, Helen (Holly Hunter) —formerly better known as Elastigirl— he lives in the suburbs. Every morning, he gets up and goes to work at an insurance company doing a job he hates; every night he commutes back home where he finds life with his wife and family to be humdrum at best. Although Helen manages to be relatively happy with things the way they are, Bob has a hard time letting his superhero identity go. Along with his good friend Frozone (known to the rest of us as Lucious Best, played by Samuel L. Jackson), Bob tries to do what he can when he can without giving away his identity.

The Parr kids have superpowers, too, but they've never really had the opportunity to use them. In fact, with the public antipathy toward superheroes, they've been told not to use their powers at all. Dash (Spencer Fox) can move at a high rate of speed; his older sister Violet (Sarah Vowell) can turn invisible at will. Baby Jack-Jack hasn't manifested any powers at all; but he does apparently enjoy watching the others have to control theirs.

It's only a matter of time, though, until Bob's patience with his mundane life wears thin. So when he's approached by the beautiful and mysterious Mirage (Elizabeth Penña) to do a superhero's job, he's unable to resist. Mr. Incredible has no idea what he's really getting into, however, and he's soon in well over his head against a man calling himself Syndrome (Jason Lee) whose strongest identifying characteristic is his hatred for superheroes. Fifteen years after their enforced retirement, several superheroes old and new must find away to stop Syndrome from taking over the world.

Pixar is perhaps the country's supreme animation studio at the moment, and it's likely to remain on top after The Incredibles. Although the animation isn't as flawless here as it has been with movies featuring characters other than people (animating people is allegedly the most difficult challenge the computer imaging personnel can face), it's quite good, particularly when the superheroes are in their costumes (the rendering of the softness of ordinary fabric looks artificial; the sheen of spandex over bulging muscles and, well, stomachs and thighs, is perfect). There were a few instances I saw where the motion of the characters was odd or incomplete, but taken as a whole it's an impressive accomplishment.The backgrounds in particular are richly detailed and beautifully rendered.

The acting was top notch, including the director (Brad Bird, a Simpsons veteran, who took it upon himself to voice the character of Edna Mode, seamstress to the superheroes). The script was, however, somewhat lacking. The kids in the audience didn't laugh, and people were moving around and even going in and out of the theatre with some frequency during the movie. I myself smiled a couple of times, but found myself more than once forcing my attention back onscreen after having drifted off into chore lists and other upcoming plans.

In short, The Incredibles is okay, but it's not the film some critics and their glowing reviews led me to expect. That may have contributed to the disappointment, but the bottom line is that—with or without added expectations—it's the film itself that's moderately disappointing.

POLITICAL NOTES: There are two particularly interesting (and valid, in my opinion) points made in the movie. One is overt; the other quite subtle. As concerns the former, the fact that superheroes are essentially put out of business by frivolous lawsuits is a very real commentary on what is a very real problem in America today. For example, in the film superheroes are forced to stop saving lives; in reality, doctors regularly relocate or quit due to impossibly high malpractice premiums. The latter point is subtle enough that it's mentioned twice in case you miss it the first time, but that point is this: Helen, for what is obviously not the first time, tells Dash he must never use his powers. He defiantly tells her that he thought he was special. She agrees that he is, but then adds that everybody's special. He looks her right in the eye and says, "If everybody's special, then nobody is." Way to go, kid!

FAMILY SUITABILITY: The Incredibles is rated PG for action violence. Although parts of the film might be too much for the littlest ones, I don't really see a problem with it for kids of about age 6 or 7 and up. There is, however, talk of such things as divorce, and there are some scenes of torture. So keep that in the back of your mind as you consider whether or not your own kids are of an age to deal with that kind of thing in the movies. Fans of animation will obviously want to take a look at some of the latest and greatest computer imaging technologies (the word is that the programming for Violet's long hair was a breakthrough). For the rest of you, The Incredibles is a take-it-or-leave-it movie. You'll be okay with having spent the money on tickets if you do, but you don't have to worry that you missed much if you don't.