Valiant, but off the Pixar mark

Rating: 6/10 (8 November 2004)

Toy Story, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, A Bug's Life. Heard of them? Well you don't need to have kids to have a strong recollection of these computer-animated gems. The fact that all four of them are in the Top-100 grossing domestic films of all-time prove that there is both an audience and a lucrative back end for the studio's to keep pumping these out with some regularity.
In fact, while the four earlier mentioned titles represent films from Pixar Studio's and Disney, other animation sects like Dreamworks (which has given us both Shrek films) and Fox Studio (Ice Age) have jumped on the bandwagon. No less than eight computer animated feature films are in the top 100-grossers of all-time. It's a statistic that can't be overlooked. And now with the new Disney/Pixar release of The Incredibles, it won't be long before The Sound of Music (1965) falls down a rung to number 101.
The Incredibles is the sixth film to be produced through the rocky relationship between the Disney and Pixar studio's, and although this film has its moments, it can also be accredited as the weakest to date.
A mixture of The Fantastic Four, Get Smart, James Bond and the X-Men franchise in animated form, writer/director Brad Bird (The Iron Giant) brings us the story of a superhero family that goes into the hero-protection program after a series of lawsuits cost the city too much money to enlist or endorse their services. Promising to keep their powers a secret and never again perform super heroic duties, they are given new identities, jobs and a suburban life that is made even more monotonous by the fact that they could be saving lives or flying the skies like the glory days of yesteryear.
It is with their everyday lives that the movie has its sharpest moments. Seeing Mr. Incredible and his hulking size squeezed into an office cubicle and dealing with an interfering boss and needy customers was a subdued delight and much more interesting than when he dons the costume and begins again to fight crime. Watching the children try and contain their powers in the pressures of everyday school life was also an interesting premise that I had hoped the film would have spent more time.
However, it is the action that puts bums in seats and although the story might not be as interesting, there is plenty of fast paced chaos to keep the average moviegoer from napping. After Mr. Incredible gets a taste of the heroic life he once lead its like a shark to blood or me to a buffet table. He just can't get enough. However, all this is done behind the back of his wife and family who only come to the revelation of his alter-life when he is captured by the evil Syndrome (voiced by Mallrats' Jason Lee). In an effort to find their father and ultimately rescue mankind, the family lead by Elasticgirl and including children who posses the powers of speed (Dash) and invisibility and force fields (Violet) set out to a remote island that would have Ian Fleming grinning from ear to ear to take on the bad guys.
The action sequences on the island are quite clever and include razor cutting ships that chase the children through the forest and enough machine gun fire to earn Pixar their first ever PG rating. But for all the menace and action that ensues, the villain might be the major problem with this venture. As the evil Syndrome, the tyrant doesn't really have any character and comes off as boring and as plain as any enemy of James Bond during the Timothy Dalton years. As the focal point to the second half of the movie, this weak development holds the film down like an anchor in a canoe.
But, for all its small issues, this is still a valued effort. Pixar is still a force to be reckoned with and the movie will made bags and bags of money. It's just that put side-by-side against its peers, it just doesn't have the same humor, originality and tempo. Too bad.
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