The Incredibles

In a world where super-heroes once saved the day, but are now outlawed and "relocated," what happens to a super who just wants to help people, and his equally-powerful wife who just wants to raise their family without any trouble?

It's funny. It's poignant. It's not terribly deep, but it's not just a laff riot. And it is freakin' beautiful.

The Incredibles.

I'm not going to go into the plot, simply because it's too much fun to watch it unfold unspoiled. It holds together quite well, though, without getting in the way of the action.

Influences
The influences behind The Incredibles' story are many. There's the whole super-hero comics genre, of course. Indeed, there are some superficial similarities with, of all things, Alan Moore's classic Watchmen.

More on the surface, the Fantastic Four are an obvious parallel—the super-family with a strong guy, a stretcher, an invisible girl with force fields, and a super-speedster ... well, make that three out of four. Toss in a mysterious younger child who appears to have no powers, and a final cameo villain appearance, and one has to wonder whether Marvel might not expand its suit against Disney (just kidding).

The other major media influence on the look and feel of the film is the James Bond movie series. Many of the villain's lair set pieces look to have bought surplus from Blofeld, Goldfinger, Stromberg and Drax, complete with cool monorail pods, huge modern rooms carved out of the living rock, volcanoes, rocket silos, and endless guards. The score by Michael Giacchino (Alias, Lost) evokes some of the quieter riffs of John Barry's work from those "Golden Age" Bonds (Barry's music from On Her Majesty's Secret Service was used in some of the trailers). It lacks a truly powerful action theme or anthem, but it works pretty well, especially in those less busy moments.

There's even an amusing homage (probably too subtle for most) to at least one Jonny Quest episode, "The Robot Spy."

Animation
The Pixar animation for The Incredibles is fabulous. This is the first major film of theirs with truly human (as opposed to, at best, toy) characters, and they do solid job of creating "solid cartoons." There are a few bobbles—the nostrils don't quite look right, and some movement feels strangely at odds with gravity—but overall it's quite good, and the expression of genuine emotion in such a cartoon form is eerily moving.

Two flashy examples of both great animation and great understanding of the comics genre are:

• Dash's super-speed flight from the pursuing guards. Practically every super-speed shtick, from running on water to bugs in the teeth, takes place here, but it feels real (the guards' menacing rotary sawblade craft work marvelously here, too). Dash's ongoing discovery of what his powers can do is delightful to watch.

• Mr Incredible's buddy, Frozone, is an ice projector. He swings into serious action in the climactic battle at the end, and I suddenly understand, in his movements and the solidity of what he does, exactly how an ice projector (e.g., Ice Man) would actually operate, what it would look like. Truly marvelous.

I'm glad the decision was made to run with this in CG form. The movie, at 115 minutes, is the longest all-CG film to date. The plot actually fills the time out nicely—I never felt bored, rushed, waiting for the next scene, or wondering why we hadn't seen more of the goings-on. It wouldn't be nearly as good a film in either traditional animation, nor in live-action. In the CG realm, the amazing powers of these supers look both incredible and natural. With live actors, they will always look like special effects unless done really well, really subtly, or with the suspension of belief firmly in place before you get anywhere near them.

Article Author: Dave Hill

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