A Superhero movie with real Superheroes.

Rating: 7/10 (31 August 2011)

I am on a superhero high. I've had so much of them that I have finally learnt to shoot laser from my eyes; really. Most of it has been bad. I felt that the superhero days were over. A certain desolateness was creeping into my hapless existence. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I stole my hot, blonde neighbour's Porsche, drove at jet speed to my nearest retail store, ran down two priests, a banshee and a flatulent Eskimo on my way and bought a DVD of The Incredibles. That digital versatile disk didn't work, so I sued the shopkeeper and did the stealing, running over and buying thing again. I plugged it in and blissfully slipped into an animated world of action, comedy and some real superheroes.
The reel rolls with an expected action sequence. Mr. Incredible (voice by Craig T. Nelson) catches thieves, prevents a man from committing suicide, saves a cat and is about to defeat Bon Voyage when an intrusion by his 'biggest fan' results in large scale loss of public property and the escaping of the criminal. Suddenly, the public is angry at these virtuous vigilantes and they are forced underground.
Fifteen years later Robert Parr is facing a midlife crisis. He has married Helena Parr, formerly Elastigirl (voice by Holly Hunter), has helped increase the world population by three and works in an insurance firm under an obnoxious boss, who soon fires him. On the same day he gets a message from a mysterious woman who provides him with another shot at long lost glory. It is a clandestine operation and hidden from the scrutinizing eye of his family, Mr. Incredible returns to business.
In all fairness, animated movies have a definite advantage over non- animated ones. The former don't have to worry about testy actors, bad weather and other such misfortunes that plague the unfortunate latter. If The Incredibles was not an animated movie, it wouldn't have been as good a movie as it otherwise was. However, it IS an animated movie and that puts things in a whole new perspective.
As many detractors would say, the concept isn't highly original per se and it is difficult to contradict them. However, undeniably, The Incredibles was a fresh watch. It was a surprise in 2004, releasing before Nolan's Batman, Ironman and other recent hits.
The four protagonists are extremely well characterized and do not end up becoming tropes. They are affable, endearing and with a baby named Jack- Jack, make a good little superhero family. The side –cast too (Frozone, Edna, Mirage) too manage to carve their own identity, each of them being memorable. The antagonist, Syndrome, leaves more to be desired. He should have been more evil, more clever, more mysterious and more everything else Supervillians need to be.
The film loses out slightly because of being predictable. At every point in the movie you can foretell how the events are going to unfold next. As a result of which nothing surprises you. Everything happens exactly how you had expected it to. What could have been an amazing entertainer becomes a clichéd entertainer. It lacks the ingenuity that other PIXAR films bring with them. It is a pity because an otherwise brilliant movie slips into mediocrity due to this error.
The Incredibles scores well on other fronts. It does well to wring emotions out of you. Your kids, who are also the target audience, are going to love it. The kid in me did. They will be enthralled by the effects, action and superpowers, and in all likelihood won't begrudge the movie for the above mentioned reasons.
And to top it all, like all PIXAR releases, this one too is subtly heart-warming. How does one complain against that?