Adult Pixar film

Rating: 10/10 (14 November 2004)

This movie on one level is an action movie. Clearly the filmmakers are fans of action comic book heroes. The action is intense for a children's movie, and it may not be for very young children. It is more suspenseful than other Pixar films. When the characters are in danger, you think they are in danger. At one point, the mother, elastagirl, tells her children, "remember the bad guys from the Saturday morning cartoons? These bad guys are not like that. These bad guys are going to try to kill you, and unless you use your powers they will."
But the filmmakers go further to develop the comic book characters. Like Spiderman, Mr. Incredible is a flawed family man. He, after being force to retire as a super hero, is unhappy in his job as an insurance adjuster, ignores his kids, disagrees with is wife about how to run things, he is a little overweight, etc. He has the frustrations of your normal suburban husband. Adding to his frustrations is his grander image of himself. He wants to help people. He wants to be the hero he was. Mrs. Incredible has also fallen into the role of being a housewife. When she suspects her husband is having an affair she cries to a friend, "what do I do?" The friend, who is one of best characters in the movie, says, "Do! You are elestagirl. You remind him who you are!"
The movie beyond the fun of superheroes is about family and mid-life crisis, and it handles the issues as well as any drama. This probably the most adult of Pixar's movies, and the best.