Wow. Move over Disney. It's all about Pixar now.

Rating: 10/10 (16 November 2004)

I haven't been so excited about a movie since I saw Moulin Rouge the first time years ago. I have been a fan of Brad Bird since I saw his episode of Amazing Stories way back in the day ("The Family Dog"...well worth renting if you can find it, incidentally). In any case, I'm glad Bird's finally at the top of the animated heap. I suppose things were looking somewhat bad for him back when his very skillfully rendered "Iron Giant" didn't make all that much money (which I am led to understand is more the fault of the distributor...was Warners just fearful after their Quest for Camelot and King and I flops, or did they have something against Bird?). Now he's directed a superb film for the premier animation outfit in the world. I hope he gets to do more. Indeed, I'm already hungry for an "Incredibles 2."
I've wondered when someone in animation in the U.S. would attempt to match the dynamic motion and speed in action sequences that you see in Japanese pictures like Macross Plus and Cowboy Beebop (thinking of the feature here, not the series). Disney's Tarzan had some pulse-heightening jungle-swing sequences, but it wasn't until the beginning of Toy Story 2, with the video game Buzz Lightyear doing battle with robot armies and his nemesis Emperor Zurg that I felt that American animators had really noted how exciting and mobile they could make their visuals. Incredibles will probably get a lot of praise for its humor, especially as it relates to the funny mixture of a standard American nuclear family and super powers. What may be neglected is the fabulous is praise for the very animated animation. Kudos for gorgeous action sequences. I'd love to see more.
I hope that Pixar will continue to knock 'em out of the park. So far, every story has been the sort of heart-warming, feel good stuff that we American (and probably international) audiences really adore. I suppose there are some Marxists out there somewhere that think this is a bad idea. I don't buy that. There are some things we need to believe in at a very personal and very profound level. I hope Pixar will never forget that the simple themes of love, family, belonging and such are the ones that we all seem to respond to the most. Disney tried the politically correct theme of tolerance and got their butts handed to them at the box office for it (thinking of Pocahontas here, and Hunchback, for that matter). I hope Pixar keeps it simple, and keeps to the things that really matter most to most human beings.
Furthermore, I hope Pixar can keep the artists and animators around who have the wonderful comic timing that their present crew has. These folks are so good at what they do, it's amazing. There's a lot more subtle and nuanced stuff going into drawing and moving characters in such a way that they turn out to be really good actors than one might realize. Right now Pixar is the reigning champ. I personally hope they stay that way.
A couple of last thoughts: if John Ratzenberger gets a role in every animated movie made from now on, I think that would be just great. Also, nice work Jason Lee. I've been watching his career since Mallrats. Very much enjoy his work.