The Incredibles - Page 2

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.

Creative stuff
While the movie's a great action romp, there's a bit of meat to those bones. There are themes about being yourself, and following your dream. There are themes about achievement, and what makes someone special (and whether, if everyone is treated as "special," nobody actually is). And, of course, there's the question of honesty in relationships. None of these gets explored in too much depth — this is, after all, a fun action movie — but they're there, almost subversively in some cases. To take an example, if you have a kid who run a few hundred miles an hour, what do you do when he wants to compete in sports? How do you teach him to be proud of himself, if you don't let him be himself?

Kudos, by the by, to the writer for coming up with a long list of decent sounding yet unique super-hero names. It is not, I can attest, easy.

Article Author: Dave Hill

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