Pixar has done it again, as has Brad Bird. The man behind the Iron Giant and the studio behind Buzz Lightyear, Nemo, and Mike Wazowski have collaborated to create a collection of intriguing characters, dazzling animation, and a solid story that come together to make The Incredibles one of the “must see” movies of 2004’s holiday season.
The characters: a few retired, aging superheroes; their super-children; and a former fanboy-turned-wannabe-superhero villain. They live in a world in which superheroes were retired by the government because they were becoming a liability—more and more often, those that the “supers” rescued were turning against them—-and they were shuffled off into a relocation program, given new lives and common, everyday jobs, and told to never again use their powers.
Mr. Incredible (voiced with a sort of world-weary optimism by Craig T. Nelson) is now known as Bob Parr. He works as an insurance adjuster in a cubicle jungle Mike Judge would surely recognize. He chafes at the limitations placed upon him and wants nothing more than to be able to make a real difference once more. His wife Helen (Holly Hunter in her “voice of reason in a world of insanity” mode), formerly known as Elastigirl, serves as homemaker and soccer mom to their three children, the two oldest of whom have powers of their own but, because of governmental restrictions, can’t use them. In true teenage fashion they don’t really understand why, and find themselves isolated from their schoolmates. Samuel L. Jackson brings the funk as Lucius “Frozone” Best, another former super who, along with Bob Parr, trolls the police scanners, wanting just to help, frustrated at not being able to do their best for society.
Other notable voice appearances include Wallace Shawn as Gilbert, Bob’s manager at the insurance company, a petty dictator in grand Dilbert tradition, and Jason Lee, whose villain, a grown-up fanboy who calls himself Syndrome, looks like the Heat Miser on crack and cackles madly as he schemes. He turns out to be the best villain that Pixar has yet brought to the screen. The movie is very nearly stolen however, by Edna “E” Mode (voiced by director Brad Bird), the “Q” (in the James Bond sense, not the Star Trek) of the super world. A bizarre mix of Joan Rivers, Edith Head, and Marcie from “Peanuts,” she designs their uniforms, holding capes in contempt in hysterical fashion (pardon the pun), and egging on our heroes in rah-rah diatribes that had everyone in the theater laughing out loud.
The animation is, in a word, incredible (again, pardon the pun—it’s Pixar, though, so what else would you expect?). The characters themselves are straight out of a Golden Age comic book, all lines and angles and shapes—no attempts at Shrek-type human realism here. They are wonderfully realized within those stylistic bounds, however, and show true expression in their caricatured eyes. The true genius of this movie, however, lies in the little details: the hair on the characters’ heads, the reflections on the surface of a body of water, the ominous glow of a pool of lava, the view of a city skyline. The realism of these things is like nothing I have seen this side of Smeagol and speaks to the enormous amount of work that had to have gone into the creation of each shot. Special kudos must go out to a particular chase scene in a jungle that echoes the speeder bike chase from Return of the Jedi nearly shot for shot.
The story is up to the standards of Pixar movies past. The action is crisp, the dialogue snappy, and there are real messages within the movie. The power of the family unit, emotional growth through adversity, teenage self-acceptance, the absurdity (and potential danger) of an overly litigious society—these things are all addressed in so subtle a way that you don’t even realize it’s happening until about an hour after the movie when you suddenly realize Bird actually had something to say among the razzles and the dazzles.
The movie moves at a quick pace despite its length—115 minutes, a little long for an animated feature. The action is intense, sometimes too intense for my three-year old daughter, who reported afterward that she liked the movie, but that there were some “sort of scary parts.” The PG rating is well earned, the movie featuring explosions, a skeleton, an actual body count, and lots of references to character mortality. My daughter absolutely loved the music though, a pastiche of styles from James Bond trumpets to Superman fanfares to romantic schmaltz that had her on her feet dancing more than once.
All in all, a very satisfying movie experience. I find myself wanting to go see it again right now, to look for all the little off-kilter details that Pixar always throws into their movies for the trivia freaks, and I know I’ll be eagerly awaiting possible sequels and DVD releases. Like the kid on the tricycle said:
“That was totally wicked!”
5 out of 5
Sam Brady is waiting for something amazing, he guesses.
Related Items:
|
|
|
