A company is like an enormous clock.

Rating: Null/10 (22 December 2013)

There a lot of super heroes out there have an assortment of talents. The Flash can run thousands of miles within a matter of seconds. Superman can fly and lift buildings with merely his hands. Spiderman can shoot webs from his arms, and climb walls as though he were an arachnid. Power free, not powerless heroes such as Batman use merely their intellect and resources to seek justice and carve their presence in the cruel and inhumane world they walk endlessly. Now when discussing these well-known heroes, the question of what makes a person special is delivered with a perplexing aura. It would be redundant to define these heroes merely by the gifts they were born with, be it super strength or the intellect to create justice through the world. There is more to a person than simply their talents. Following the success of his 1999 directorial debut, The Iron Giant, film maker Brad Bird presents yet another emotionally charged and politically themed animated feature worthy of the examination of American society.
The Incredibles is a brilliant and artistically creative animated comedy which examines a world were super heroes are no longer allowed to be super. Mr. Incredible/ Bob Parr (Nelson) and his wife, Elastigirl, Helen (Hunter) were both forced into retirement in a world that began to believe that the super hero's secret identity was the only identity that which they could dawn. Now living the quiet, settled down, and hypocritically comfortable suburban life, with their children Dashiell (Fox) (short for Dash) and Violet (Vowell), they must make due with a world that merely moves by the prospect of capital and bureaucratic abuse. Now in saying that I know a lot of right-wingers probably hate Brad Bird's political leanings as his films constantly tackle American society regarding economics and even military conflict. Take for example the subject of the cold war in The Iron Giant which focused on the tension between the U.S. and the Soviet Union as paranoia defined our society heavily at the time that sputnik was launched. It can be said that The Incredibles borders more on an anti-capitalist agenda as the introduction of Mr. Incredible's employer gives an insight into the biased hypocrisies of white-collar America in the 1950's and even to this day. Wallace Shawn is known for playing strange and overly frantic characters in an attempt to deliver a bundle of laughs in whichever film production he makes a cameo, live or animated.
Now as Gilbert Huph, Wallace comes off as both greedy and fully aware of the deception his insurance company demonstrates when providing services to people in need, and when questioned by Mr. incredible on these ethical matters, he simply resorts to an elitist standard of corporate antagonism. Aside from the anti-capitalist views Brad Bird expresses within his characters, are even more prevalent within the nihilistic characteristics of the film's antagonist Syndrome (Lee). Now as the evil villain, Syndrome represents the apathetic psychopath who's quest for power knows no bounds within the common ethics he breaches within this film. Women, children, nor even the life of his lover matter as he cynically disregards life to the standard a power play between him and his nemesis Mr. Incredible.
It is very fascinating to see that an animated film like The Incredibles entertains such a philosophical discussion within such a broad topic as dynamically themed super heroes. It's even more interesting to see that within this simple story a lot of complexity can emerge from these animated characters. But then again that's why DreamWorks always comes second to Pixar, with the Shrek films being the exception. Near the end of the film is the big battle scene of any superhero film, most of the time with a big city being leveled and the heroes gathering to battle their monstrous adversary. Mr. Incredible rushes to face off against the Omnidroid, a robot designed by Syndrone, and as he is about to fight, his wife Helen objects as to why he is going alone. She presses him on whether it is about his pride, or his desire for glory, thus giving Helen's feminist depiction a three dimensional aspect to her character. The scene is emotionally engaging, no doubt it coming from the unique performances from Holly hunter and Craig T. Nelson, but it also speaks a lot about the unity of human beings. There are those who prefer to take on the hardships for others, believing they are not strong enough to bare their loved one's suffering. And there are those who feel that strength comes from the unity people can give to one another as a source of strength.
For an animated comedy it still seems new to see the prevalence of the theses themes of moral conflict, and emotional support being portrayed within a film that targets mostly child audiences. But then again, these themes were shown in Brad Bird's previous feature film, The Iron Giant, as it not only portrayed an era of political chaos, but it further elaborated on the nature of violence, and its implementation into American society. What can really make these films affective is the relevance they hold with their audiences, consisting of children between the ages of 5 to 10 and older. In today's modern world, most people see that the invasion of Iraq was immoral and unjustified, and that's primarily through the use of mainstream media. Now it would be absurd to say that television makes a majority of children imitate it, however it is also relevant to point out that it can have an effect in implementing certain beliefs into their mental construct. With a film as well-crafted and visually engaging as The Incredibles it doesn't seems as though it is a far cry from having the socially affective means of the director's intentions.