The Incredibles opened with a small bizarre short piece of animation called Boundin? about a self-centred sheep who loves to dance and does so with much gusto. That is until he is shorn of his fleece and becomes a bit of a laughing stock. A bounding jackalope (of course) comes bounding along and perks him up. The writing is smart and was obviously funny for some. I?ve read somewhere that the short was used to test some new lighting techniques that will be seen in next year’s Cars. But on to the main show ?
The Incredibles starts with superheroes doing what they do best ? saving the world. However, in a reflection of today?s litigious society, a landslide of lawsuits soon forces the superheroes to go underground. Under the witness protection program the superheroes of yesterday are assigned new Joe Public personas. Fast-forward to 15 years later. Mr Incredible, alter ego Bob Parr, lives an ordinary surburban life with wife Helen, formerly Elastigirl, and their three children Violet, Dash and Jack Jack. We learn that Mr Incredible has found it difficult to give up the glory days and is constantly blowing his cover with his super hero antics. His latest job at an insurance firm is soon history as his frustration at not being able to help those in trouble overtakes him and he puts his boss through the wall ? several in fact. Naturally he is fired. When Mr. Incredible is offered the chance to play the role of hero again by a mysterious communication, he jumps at the opportunity, but when it turns out to be a trap set by an enemy, the whole family must jump in to save the day.
The movie starts off relatively slowly and it is not until the second half of the movie that the action starts in earnest. The writing is funny, intelligent and highly imaginative. As with any successful animation The Incredibles caters for adult and children alike ? plenty of adult themes and social commentary interwoven subtly into the story line. No need to even speak of the animation because you would expect the best coming from Pixar.
Overall it is a very good story and definitely a movie I would recommend. I?m not going to go overboard and say that it?s the best thing since sliced bread as it was a little slow at times, hence my title, but for the majority of the movie it was definitely very entertaining.
As a final comment, the look out for the very amusing E (Edna Mode), Superhero Fashion Designer. Voiced by the director-writer Brad Bird himself this lady is sassy, the epitome of high fashion and fantastic homage to Edith Head, the famous film wardrobe designer. “Ve must do this again soon, dahling. I do so love our visits.” She really lit up the screen.