The First Bob Super Hero

Rating: 8/10 (12 November 2004)

This movie is a classic homage to super hero shtick. As a lifelong reader of comic books, I spent a fair amount of mental energy ticking off producer Bird's various hero tributes. I won't spoil the movie by listing those here, just point out for those thinking this is a kid's movie, that it certainly is not.
Holly Hunter was wonderful as Helen. The animation and voice overs were so good in spots, I stopped seeing this movie as a cartoon. Bob and Helen really love each other, and their kids, and Helen's solicitude for her family is the most touching element of this picture.
Samuel L. Jackson gets far too little to do as Frozone. "Honey, where's my super suit?" A line that 60 years from now will be as endearing as "Here's looking at you, kid .. "
Violet (the Invisible Girl clone) and her coming of age was touching and poignant to watch. Her gawkiness, and timidity, painfully shy, her contentious relationship with her brother, her first failure which gave rise to her ultimate victory not just over villainy but over the vicissitudes of life was charming. *So* poignant, it tugged at your heart.
You'll notice I haven't said a lot about the special effects, or the battle sequences. These are the hook that draws many to see the movie, but they are not what is most memorable about it. What makes The Incredibles ..well, incredible .. is how fully realized they are as people, with real feelings, real aspirations, real successes and failures, and real frustrations and disappointments.
Can't wait for Incredibles 2: Attack of the Underminer!