America HAS A PLACE FOR SUPERHEROES AGAIN (Beware: POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!)

Rating: 9/10 (8 November 2004)

If this is not an animated film for baby boomers, I don't know what is. Borrowing bits and pieces from everything from James Bond to the Fantastic Four, Bird successfully creates a world that once more WANTS saving.
The film opens at the height of the "glory days" of the superheroes (estimated sometime during the 1960s), flashing magazine clippings and news broadcasts immortalizing superhumans; and Mr. Incredible is immediately identified as rightfully named so. He is the manifestation of every great heroic trait from Hercules to Superman, courageous and strong, suave and quick-witted. But then, on his wedding day, everything changes...
Following a lawsuit over a saved suicide, Mr. Incredible and his wife, formerly Elastigirl, are forced underground, along with the rest of the superhuman population. (Noting the success with Mr. Incredible, the rest of the average population sues until no superhero is left to protect them.) There, hidden among everyday citizens, they remain...until the need for their strength is too desperate to ignore.
The progression America's superheroes have taken from kryptonite to the kitchen and back again is one worth tracing. "The Incredibles" does a remarkable job commenting on the places we've designated for our superheroes over the course of the 20th-21st centuries. In the 1950s and 60s, we NEEDED superheroes like Superman, who is not really of this world, and is therefore a real phenomenon in an almost-divine sort of way. But, faced with the cultural revolution of the 1970s and 80s, our superheroes became more like the rest of us. We moved from adoration to emulation, not necessarily by improving on ourselves, but by stripping those we admire down to their most human qualities. In this way, everyone can be a hero. I think "The Incredibles" villain, Syndrome, actually suggests studying the superpowers until he can package and distribute them to everyone so that everyone can be super, and at the same time NO ONE WILL. In the 70s and 80s, we needed to see "everyday heroes," heroes who weren't necessarily SUPERhumans, but simply super HUMANS. Through the 90s, we needed to be reassured that we are all indeed special and capable of accomplishment. From the commercials for "The Incredibles," I expected it to feed this need further, coaxing audiences in with that old "everybody's special" crazytalk, especially thanks to the scenes of the domestic supers keeping house and paying bills. But I think I was wrong to think that.
This is not your run-of-the-mill superhero movie. It's not about the hero overcoming his weaknesses in order to save the world. The superheroes have always been ready and able. No, this film is about the world overcoming its pride and finally...after nearly half a decade of denial...admitting that it needs to be saved.