Delivers on what it promises

Rating: 7/10 (13 July 2008)

Had it been done as a live-action picture, I don't think "The Incredibles" would have been nearly as successful (in a worst-case scenario, it probably would have wound up a dumb parody, a la this year's "Superhero Movie"); the interplay between live action and CG remains a tricky balance that few filmmakers can convincingly pull off. Thankfully, writer/director Brad Bird has taken his years of creativity (as a longtime contributor to "The Simpsons") and poured every drop into one of the best computer-animated films I've ever seen--while the title may sound pompous and hyperbolic, "The Incredibles" delivers high-quality thrills and laughs on an epic scale. Part of the fun lies in Bird's own lampooning of superhero clichés while developing a narrative that draws a very valid conclusion about the dangers of fanboy-love. The Incredibles themselves are a family defined by their super-powers: Bob Paar (aka Mr. Incredible, a Superman surrogate, voiced by Craig T. Nelson), his wife, Helen (aka Elastigirl; Holly Hunter), daughter Violet (able to turn herself invisible and put up force-fields), and sons Dash (named thus for his ability to run super-fast) and Jack-Jack (whose hidden talent is saved for the very end); when obsessive fan Buddy Pine (Jason Lee) takes his own superhero-fascination to extreme lengths, it is up to the quirky family (called out of exile after being blacklisted) to put a stop to his plans. The voice-actors fully inhabit their animated counterparts, nailing the human imperfections and weaknesses that eventually equate "saving the fam" as an act just as important as Saving the World. While I had considerably less love for Bird's "Ratatouille," "The Incredibles" is still a beacon of promise for an extensive animation career to come.