slow starting but ultimately worthwhile

Rating: Null/10 (26 November 2004)

SPOILERS
Ever since "Toy Story" way back in 1995, the team of Pixar and Disney has produced some wonderful work. Always clever in design and graphics, the films are often fun with jokes which both adults and children alike would appreciate. With their latest feature however, they've produced a relatively slow moving film which feels more like a spoof of the Hollywood superhero obsession, than a family film.
Bob Parr (Craig T Nelson) is the legendary "Mr Incredible". Traveling around the city solving crimes, he is one of countless superheroes who are forever putting themselves out for the ordinary person. All this changes however when a spate of legal claims are made against them and the superhero relocation programme is introduced. Now placed in a monotonous job for a claims company, Parr spends his time listening to police radio bands with his friend Lucius Best (Samuel L Jackson) and arguing with his wife Helen (Holly Hunt) about their secret powers. Things are about to change for Bob however because a former acquaintance is about to make him an offer he wouldn't dream of refusing.
First and foremost, "The Incredibles" is a remarkably clever piece of animation. With characters who are stretchable, superfast and yet all too human, the animators must have had a tough job drawing scenes in the movie. When viewing the outcome, it becomes clear that they've succeeded perfectly.
Graphics aside however, the key issue must always be the plot and script, and sadly this is where "The Incredibles" slips down a bit.
In recent times, animation has become an increasingly family market. Producing films which contain jokes for young and old, companies like Pixar and Dreamworks always do good jobs at keeping everyone entertained. In "The Incredibles", questions must be raised though, over whether they've succeeded.
After a slow, but necessary start, the film does take off into an eventful piece. Unlike other animations though, it never really produces the jokes. There are some, there's no denying that, but the majority of times these don't really click and the audience seem almost confused by whether they were meant to laugh or not.
Children especially probably find it difficult to connect to this film. When so many jokes poke fun at suburban life or the general superhero lifestyle, adults and comic book fans will be enthralled. Unlike recent films like 2003's "Finding Nemo" however, there never feel like there are any jokes for the children.
In a way, the film seems to become entrenched in it's own philosophical and moral perspectives. In a similar way to the traditional Pixar short animation beforehand, the film seems to be more obsessed with teaching a lesson than with actually enjoying itself. The prefilm animation, about a lamb who looses his coat, is infuriating and annoying and tries to tell us that we should look beyond our own appearance. Whilst a worthy message, it's not something which people want to see. Then when we begin the film and we're constantly being shown how families might fight, but they come together when it matters. Again these are worthy ideals to support but it does feel like they take precedence over humour and fun.
To summarise, "The Incredibles" is a well thought out animation. It has amazing graphics, some nice spoof jokes about family life and superheroes. At the same time however, it does take a while to get going. Also, it never really seems to produce much for the children, and when a feature is a Pixar/Disney animation, surely that should be the target audience? Not as good as other animations, but for adults and comic book fans, worth a watch.