The Incredibles- 5 Stars

Theatrical Release Poster

The Incredibles has easily got to be one of the most watchable films of all time. Amongst all the gems of early Pixar, The Incredibles sits alongside WALL-E and the Toy Story series as the best. It effortlessly blends action with comedy and a thoughtful meditation on mediocrity and family. Although dressed up as a superhero film, The Incredibles is not typical of its genre despite being one of the best superhero films ever made. It rather uses the medium of the superhero film to explore the character dynamics, which is the true genius of the film.

For those of you have never seen The Incredibles the basic plot summary is that Bob Parr (the secret identity of superhero Mr Incredible) has taken forced retirement from hero work and is now living an unfulfilling life selling insurance, married to Helen (formerly Elastigirl) with three kids Violet, Dash and Jack-Jack. However, the old days come knocking when he gets a mysterious call from Mirage...

Mr Incredible, voiced by
 Craig T. Nelson

Even from a basic plot summary The Incredibles does not sound like your average Superhero film. How many Marvel movies have you seen where the protagonist is a middle aged man with kids and a wife? What is so brilliant about the film is the fact that the romantic interest is not some attractive young woman, but rather Bob's middle aged wife who he reconnects with by the film's end. Also important is his relationship with his children. At first Bob is a disinterested parent, barely engaged with his family's lives. By the end, he is much more involved and the family's problems resolved. Although the character arc may seem cliched, the way it is executed at first through Bob's deception and later through his remorse is done with subtlety not present in most blockbusters. Even cleverer is the way each hero's power represents their personality. Bob's strength represents his crisis of masculinity, Helen's flexibility her elegance, Violet's invisibility her shyness, Dash's speed his youthful arrogance, and Frozone's ice his, well...cool. Two of the best scenes in the film are when Mr Incredible and then, later, Mrs Incredible, break into the villain's secret base. Mr Incredible goes in smashing the pods and beating up guards left, right and centre. Mrs Incredible, however, is much more stealthy reflecting her own rational, more practical personality (although she does end up in caught in an awkward position by several automatic doors). It's subtleties such as these that help define the characters and flesh out the film. That said, Mr Incredible is not made to be stupid or brutish as is the comic stereotype of the superhero muscle man (e.g. Hulk or the Thing). Instead he finds alternative solutions to force and is a touchingly sensitive man. The contrast between the arrogant (in his dismissal of Buddy) but charming man at the beginning of the film and the world weary, mid life crisis stricken Bob of the majority of the film helps the audience to sympathise with Bob and understand his frustration with his own impotence.

The Incredibles' Family

The main reason for the film's success and watchability is it's effortless blending of tone. It manages to be funny one moment, moving the next, and then straight onto a perfectly timed, tense action scene. Take, for example, the scene where Helen goes to visit Edna. There is a comedic bit with the suits, then a moving scene where Helen finds out she's been lied to and Bob discovers the deaths of the Supers, and then a burst of action as he triggers the alarm, and then back to comedy with Edna. This tonal diversity can be attributed to the perfect pacing of the film. None of it feels out of place and each scene flows into the next. This is helped along by generally flawless dialogue, full of humour and generally devoid of cliches. Although there are some slightly irritating lines (for example, when Helen sees the rocket and says...'a rocket!'- the audience can see that, there is no need for the line and it feels forced), the scenes which could have been cringey- generally the scenes where Bob apologises for not being strong enough- are undercut by a certain humour that gives it self awareness and are also relatively short- there are no grand monologues (except for Syndrome's monologing of course). The humour underlining serious moments are often some of the film's best moments such as when Mr Incredible hurts his back fighting the Omnidroid, or when Mrs Incredible stops to look at her reflection in the middle of Syndrome's base.

Frozone, far right, is one of the Incredibles'
most memorable characters

The film's supporting characters and bit parts also contribute to the film's watchability. Aside from the main family of Bob, Helen, Violet and Dash, memorable characters such as Frozone, Edna and Mr Huff populate the world and provide the necessary humour. These characters flesh out and develop the main ones as well as driving the film along. They also help with another of the film's triumph's in that they ensure that every plot point is sufficiently set up. Too many blockbusters don't even bother to create build up to their events. For example, in the last part of the Hobbit series, lots of events and different enemies just appear with no build up- Gandalf just says 'Oh no the horrible mud worms' and the audience just has to accept they're a thing. In The Incredibles, every point is set up perfectly from the password to the super computer to Mr Huff's tirade against Mr Incredible (he is introduced briefly in a previous scene which establishes his character).

Holly Hunter's voice portrayal of Elastigirl/Mrs Incredible
is amongst the best in the film

If I have one criticism of the Incredibles it's that the final act is not quite up to the standards of the first two. This is because, during the final battle, only the skills of Mr Incredible, Dash and Frozone are properly utilized. Mrs Incredibles flexibility is not really used and as for Violet, other than a pathetic period of invisibility and one, admittedly crucial, forcefield, she might as well not be there. This creates a rather unrewarding climax, or certainly takes away from it somewhat. That said, the action in the film is generally perfectly executed with the action scenes intense, personal and short- the best combination. There is nothing worse than an action scene that drags on too long and so becomes boring, or one that takes such a wide scope of what's going on that you can't tell who's doing what. The voice acting is also some of the best around with special shout outs to, of course, Frozone (Samuel L Jackson) and Edna (the director and writer, Brad Bird), but I think most of all to Holly Hunter as Mrs Incredible. She does a phenomenal job of portraying Mrs Incredibles' strength but also her vulnerability. She is helped by the fact that, in my opinion, Mrs Incredible is one of the most complex and likeable characters in the film, but still she does a very good job and deserves a lot of credit.

Overall, The Incredibles is one of my very favourite Pixar and animated movies. Not only is it hugely entertaining, but it also has, for an animated superhero film, an important message about families, mediocrity and accepting yourself for who you are- not deep philosophical themes, but worthy ones. It must be said, that the film is probably fairly right wing in it's approach to people's value (that people are inherently unequal), and the traditional concepts of marriage- however, even for a lefty like me the politics doesn't bug me at all as the values are thoughtfully espoused and ones that most people would generally agree with- the value of family and of learning to not get depressed by life's challenges. In conclusion, it's fair to say, The Incredibles is...really good.

Ratings: Entertainment: 10 Technical: 5 Intelligence: 4= 19/20








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