Overall Rating
  Awesome: 81.4%
Worth A Look: 14.34%
Average: 1.94%
Pretty Bad: 0%
Total Crap: 2.33%
12 reviews, 186 user ratings
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| Incredibles, The |
by Laura Kyle
"Inc. Red. Ible."
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Under Disney's umbrella, Pixar is at it again, and this time a freshman to 3D animation is calling the shots. Pixar has a new, unique stamp on it: that of creator Brad Bird. Since that first full-length feature in 1995, Pixar's characters have remained heartfelt, its stories epic, and its effects have been gracefully polished year after year. Although THE INCREDIBLES may fall a bit short of the universal appeal of its forerunners, it is indeed "incredible" (you had to know that was coming).The shock of Digital has worn off; Bird and his team know this and are not aiming to restore that initial awe: "Oh, look how realistic it all is!" They can't... yet. So The Incredibles clearly operates within the boundaries of an artificial world -- but what a world it is. Even so, every once and a while you'll have to give certain images a second glance to remind yourself of this.
The animation is best described as slick - the very fact that you forget to think about all the technical workings, says mountains of the talented and skilled animators, driven by Bird's imagination no less.
Craig T. Nielson, Holly Hunter, and Samuel L. Jackson headline The Incredibles, Nielson voicing Mr. Incredible, a muscular superhero with a massive chin and the power of strength. When he is sued for preventing death (after stopping an attempted suicide), the litigation floodgates open wide and force all superheroes, including Hunter's Elastigirl and Jackson's Frozone, to resort to the anonymous lives of everyday citizens.
Bird's fun with clichés dies down a bit as Mr. Incredible, or alter-ego: Bob Parr, mopes through a career at an Insurance Co, and role as family man, husband to Elastigirl (Helen). His only enjoyment comes from secretly meeting with Frozone and saving lives undercover. And when he is summoned to be a part of a big underground superhero plot, unbeknownst to a suburbia satisfied Elastigirl, he immediately agrees.
Eventually, it all culminates into a thrilling second act with Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, and their two especially able children, fighting evil like there is no tomorrow.
The Incredibles is very much like a big elaborate comic book -- an energized, action packed, and intricate story with just as much smart humor as goofy, old fashioned good v. evil, characters with itty bitty mouths, and after all, we are talking about superheroes here. So is this really fun for the whole family? Yes, it most definitely is.
As in most successful animated features and farces in general, it's in those small details and big themes that Bird gets us to relate to The Incredibles. And he is successful -- it will be a long time, if ever, before Woody and Buzz are topped, and Marlin, Dory, and Nemo are still more endearing than all the characters in The Incredibles, but Bird's film definitely hangs there equally with its Pixar peers, concerning it's masterful storytelling, and though it may not raise the bar beyond its technical feats -- it keeps it nice and steady.
What's innovative about The Incredibles is that it really takes advantage of the opportunity to play and fantasize. Thus, moviegoers get a dose of real life mixed in with some serious creativity and ingenious action sequences. The big villain, Mr. Incredible's ultimate nemesis, is loads of fun, and so is Edna (voiced by Bird), a fashion designer who insists on styling the superhero costumes with cutting edge features like fire resistance that can withstand thousand degree temperatures.
All in all, The Incredibles varies from Pixar's earlier films in that it is a lot quicker, and on a much grander scale -- you've got an entire city and island to work with, not just a kids bedroom, a homogeneous sea, or single street.
The most striking difference though, is the danger -- significantly more present than in other Pixar films. This, mixed in with those jokes and satire that go over the heads of the little ones, is ultimately what makes The Incredibles geared more toward the adult population than all the rest. That's not to say it isn't a sturdy kiddie flick, but rather a movie that can easily be watched by all ages, probably for ages to come.If anything draws THE INCREDIBLES away from perfection, it is the pacing, but such a smooth overall execution more than compensates for a few dragging moments.
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link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=11123&reviewer=369
originally posted: 11/21/04 03:45:05
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OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2004 Leeds Film Festival. For more in the 2004 Leeds Film Festival series, click here.
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USA
05-Nov-2004 (PG)
DVD: 15-Mar-2005
UK
N/A
Australia
26-Dec-2004
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