The Incredibles is … er, are!

In a world where super-heroes once saved the day, but are now outlawed and “relocated,” what happens to a super who just wants to help people, and his equally-powerful wife who just wants to raise their family without any trouble?

It’s funny. It’s poignant. It’s not terribly deep, but it’s not just a laff riot. And it is freakin’ beautiful.

The Incredibles.

(No spoilers below.)

I’m not going to go into the plot, simply because it’s too much fun to watch it unfold unspoiled. It holds together quite well, though, without getting in the way of the action.

Influences
The influences behind The Incredibles‘ story are many. There’s the whole super-hero comics genre, of course. Indeed, there are some superficial similarities with, of all things, Alan Moore’s classic Watchmen.

More on the surface, the Fantastic Four are an obvious parallel — the super-family with a strong guy, a stretcher, an invisible girl with force fields, and a super-speedster … well, make that three out of four. Toss in a mysterious younger child who appears to have no powers, and a final cameo villain appearance, and one has to wonder whether Marvel might not expand its suit against Disney (just kidding).

The other major media influence on the look and feel of the film is the James Bond movie series. Many of the villain’s lair set pieces look to have bought surplus from Blofeld, Goldfinger, Stromberg and Drax, complete with cool monorail pods, huge modern rooms carved out of the living rock, volcanoes, rocket silos, and endless guards. The score by Michael Giacchino (Alias, Lost) evokes some of the quieter riffs of John Barry’s work from those “Golden Age” Bonds (Barry’s music from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was used in some of the trailers). It lacks a truly powerful action theme or anthem, but it works pretty well, especially in those less busy moments.

There’s even an amusing homage (probably too subtle for most) to at least one Jonny Quest episode, “The Robot Spy.”

Animation
The Pixar animation for The Incredibles is fabulous. This is the first major film of theirs with truly human (as opposed to, at best, toy) characters, and they do solid job of creating “solid cartoons.” There are a few bobbles — the nostrils don’t quite look right, and some movement feels strangely at odds with gravity — but overall it’s quite good, and the expression of genuine emotion in such a cartoon form is eerily moving.

Two flashy examples of both great animation and great understanding of the comics genre are:

• Dash’s super-speed flight from the pursuing guards. Practically every super-speed shtick, from running on water to bugs in the teeth, takes place here, but it feels real (the guards’ menacing rotary sawblade craft work marvelously here, too). Dash’s ongoing discovery of what his powers can do is delightful to watch.
• Mr Incredible’s buddy, Frozone, is an ice projector. He swings into serious action in the climactic battle at the end, and I suddenly understand, in his movements and the solidity of what he does, exactly how an ice projector (e.g., Ice Man) would actually operate, what it would look like. Truly marvelous.

I’m glad the decision was made to run with this in CG form. The movie, at 115 minutes, is the longest all-CG film to date. The plot actually fills the time out nicely — I never felt bored, rushed, waiting for the next scene, or wondering why we hadn’t seen more of the goings-on. It wouldn’t be nearly as good a film in either traditional animation, nor in live-action. In the CG realm, the amazing powers of these supers look both incredible and natural. With live actors, they will always look like special effects unless done really well, really subtly, or with the suspension of belief firmly in place before you get anywhere near them.

Creative stuff
While the movie’s a great action romp, there’s a bit of meat to those bones. There are themes about being yourself, and following your dream. There are themes about achievement, and what makes someone special (and whether, if everyone is treated as “special,” nobody actually is). And, of course, there’s the question of honesty in relationships. None of these gets explored in too much depth — this is, after all, a fun action movie — but they’re there, almost subversively in some cases. To take an example, if you have a kid who run a few hundred miles an hour, what do you do when he wants to compete in sports? How do you teach him to be proud of himself, if you don’t let him be himself?

Kudos, by the by, to the writer for coming up with a long list of decent sounding yet unique super-hero names. It is not, I can attest, easy.

The Kid Factor
The movie is rated PG for “Action Violence,” the first non-G rating for a Pixar film in the US. People get hit, things (and a few people) get blown up. Things get a bit anguished at times, and slightly dark, and a bit alarming. Katherine, who’s going on 4½, and who’s well familiar with Jonny Quest (the violence and menace are at a similar level) and Justice League, started out the movie over between Doyce and Lori, but, about mid-way through, moved over to sit on her mother’s lap. She opined it was a little scary, and that she wished she had brought Blue Bunny with her — but that was the extent of her upset, and she laughed and cheered at many of the parts. Overall, she said she enjoyed it, and she sat through the whole thing, and I don’t think any lasting harm was done. I probably wouldn’t have taken her a year ago, but she was able to handle it now.

Extra bits
In addition to main feature, the movie started with an entertaining (and much more kid-sensible) short Pixar tale, Boundin’, an uplifting story of a dancing sheep and a jackalope (and one which is oddly and unexpectedly appropriate for this post-election period). And, yes, we got to see the Star Wars Ep. III trailer, which, remarkably, still gets the pulse pounding, even as you know that Lucas will manage to screw it up again.

The only thing missing from The Incredibles was Pixar’s trademark end-credit out-takes and fun bits. The end credits were creative, but nothing overly special.

In short
I’m not sure I agree with Jack that this is the best super-hero movie ever — but the bar just got firmly nailed up higher, both in terms of what will need to be visually presented, and what will need to be described in a world of super-heroes.

Overall, I highly recommend The Incredibles for lots of entertainment, lots of eye candy, a true appreciation for the genre, and just plain fun leavened with a spice of seriousness.