Exhilarating action-adventure

Rating: 8/10 (5 December 2004)

With The Incredibles Pixar have made a big departure from their standard story lines of cute critters on a voyage of discovery. With its opening pastiche of 40s comic book serials through to the Bondian stylings of the set and the super heroics of the finale, for me it was clearly aimed as being an action-adventure for the family, more Indiana Jones than Woody and Buzz. As such I think it succeeds wonderfully.
The opening sets the tone with a night in the life of Mr Incredible, as he foils bad guy after bad guy and even saves an elderly woman's cat! It manages to throw in a bit of satirical humour too, as Mr Incredible saves a man attempting suicide, he is thanked with a lawsuit, leading to a surge of lawsuits against crusaders, in a clever dig at "compensation culture".
15 years on we find ourselves in the suburban lives of the Parr's, headed by Mr Incredible himself Bob Parr and his wife Helen, formerly Elastigirl, as they pretend to be "normal". Seeing Parr at work as a pathetic insurance clerk grounds the movie with a glimpse into the mundane reality of his new life, as he tries (and fails) to forget the glories of his past. There is a Nietzchean undertone to this passage of the story, with a hint of Professor Charles Xavier's school for gifted children and the hounding of masked vigilantes from Watchmen. Why be normal when you can be special, why be a desk clerk when you possess superhuman abilities. The unfairness of having to hide what you really are, whilst being hounded from town to town to hide one's anonymity. He can't even get angry for fear of giving himself away by revealing his super strength. In a philosophical moment, his son Dash, banned from using his super speed, bemoans the fact that if everyone is special then no-one is.
The plot switches up a gear as a mysterious benefactor requests Mr Incredible's help, to subdue a giant robot running amok on his desert island. The classic Bondian set design of genius Ken Adam is strongly evoked by this setting. Mission accomplished Parr soon finds events taking a dangerous turn.
The movie does drag a touch during this section, before the family Incredible team up for the non-stop finale. However we do get the hilarious costume designer Edna Mode to give our ribs a tickle, in a treat of a scene, as she demonstrates the dangers of wearing a cape for superheros. It's actually pretty dark humour, as a succession of heroes are seen in flashback meeting untimely deaths due to their flowing apparel.
In fact there are plenty of laughs to be had throughout, if not of the belly ripping variety, they help keep the mood light. I particularly enjoyed Sam Jackson's Frozone, reminiscing as to how his life was saved by a "monloguing" villain. Anyway I feel it's become a trend for movies to have a few set piece moments, either comedic or action packed, to help carry them, something the more evenly enjoyable Incredibles does not do.
Overall I'd probably agree it does not quite enter the class of the Toy Story movies. There perhaps is a certain amount of charm lacking, but that's not to say the characters are dull, far from it. The genial and likable humanity of the Parr's makes that so. It establishes strong central character's by showing them going about there everyday lives and as far as superhero, action-adventure movies go it's all the better for it. Movies like this do or die on whether you care for the characters, and this set are strong enough to sustain the necessary hold on the audience, young and old. It's one the most enjoyable movies I've seen this year, I'd say up there with the web slinger. Overall 8 out of 10.