Pixar Magic continues

Rating: 10/10 (13 March 2005)

The Incredibles continues Pixar's incredible tradition of infusing every story they bring to life with an energy and vitality that 99% of movies, animated or not, lack today.
The storyline of The Incredibles is enjoyable in and of itself, but the real beauty is in the little moments of reality that are woven throughout. As an example, there is one moment when "Mrs. Incredible" is getting ready to pull off a particularly amazing feat. Instead of having her simply performing the stunt, she takes a moment to psych herself up, going "okay okay okay!" before she begins. These little reminders of their humanity are sprinkled throughout and make the characters extremely easy to relate to.
There are a lot of directions that this story and movie could have gone and it's certainly not formulaic in the traditional Pixar or Disney sense. There's moments of moral "grey" for the characters and the true heart of this movie revolves around the vitality of not only the main characters as they enter middle age, but also the viability of their marriage as they "sleep" through their thirties and into their 40s.
Finally, the mini-story of the kid's acceptance and discovery of their powers (itself and allegory for coming of age) adds a real hook for they younger audience, who may not catch the nuances of Mr. and Mrs. Incredible's relationship. One of the notable strokes of brilliance of this movie is that the multi-layered story gives everyone in the audience a character to personally connect with.
I don't need to own many movies. This one, I MUST buy.