The Incredibles is super for fans

Rating: Null/10 (13 November 2004)

Pixar Studios has become the premiere animation studio and The Incredibles supports that ranking. With Dreamworks' claim to the mantle through its Shrek films, an interesting battle for best animation film shapes up for the 2004 Oscars. The Incredibles represents Pixar's first animation film to feature human (albeit superhuman) characters.
The story starts with superhero Mr. Incredible who, like other superheroes, fights crime until some of the public sues them for super damages. So all the heroes go into a kind of witness protection plan and raise families. Years pass and when a fateful call goes to Mr. Incredible to be a superhero again, he jumps at the chance. But what seems like a great opportunity turns out to be an evil plan by someone from Mr. Incredible's past who wants to eliminate all superheroes until there is no one left to save humanity. What follows is a clever mix of comic book derring-do and a plot lifted from a dozen James Bond films. Even the musical score by Michael Giacchino oozes so much horn and percussion, it is hard to tell that John Barry himself did not repeat his famous scores of past Bond films.
The whole family is comprised of super humans (whose powers emulate heroes from the D.C. and Marvel Comics canon.) Mr. Incredible is a super strong hero (like Superman or the Hulk), Elastigirl can stretch her body rubber band thin (like Mr. Fantastic of The Fantastic Four), daughter Violet can turn invisible and use force fields (like Invisible Girl Sue Storm), and son Dash can run very fast (like The Flash). There is also the baby who seems normal, but you just know something's going to happen by movie's end. The only thing missing is maybe a super dog or cat. Syndrome, the bad guy, gives a sort of John Lithgow villainy and even has the hair of TV's Mr. Heat Miser.
Throughout the film, there is always the connectivity of family and responsibility. This is not about good versus evil and showing off great animation effects. What the writers do so successfully is to take the hero mythology and turn it on its ear. Fans of super heroes are going to be in heaven here. There are the requisite demonstrations of super powers and the threat of danger and death. The animation is so good and the plot line so full of threads that one wonders what Pixar could do by recreating other superheroes or reanimating classics of television past like Jonny Quest.
Craig T. Nelson finds the right intonations to give his Mr. Incredible a sympathetic, yet heroic voice. Holly Hunter has such an attractive lisp of Southern womanhood that she is perfect to voice a strong female who leads the triple life of hero, wife, and mother. Samuel L. Jackson is amusing as Frozone, Mr. Incredible's best friend. Even writer/director Brad Bird (Iron Giant) voices Edna, the costume designer for superheroes, in a deliciously funny turn; imagine Truman Capote crossed with Linda Hunt!
The film is almost too sophisticated for young children and yet perfect for adults who are kids at heart. Some of the action scenes, while exciting and intense, may prove a bit too dark for really sensitive youngsters. The film lags a bit in the middles stretches as the story gets more complex. There is also a cute animated short that precedes the film. All in all, although The Incredibles is not the funniest animated film of the year nor necessarily the best, it sure is pretty terrific!