As I begin to scale this website to include coverage of animated films I thought I’d begin to review what films I watch regardless of how old they are in order to pull together a sort of Archive of Animated Movies and my thoughts on them.
The Incredibles was released way back in 2004 and much like other animated movies from Pixar, it’s aged well and still holds up as a visually stunning movie. The movie was Brad Bird’s first at Pixar and he has since gone on to direct Ratatouille and a Mission Impossible film. Slightly more pertinent to this post, he will go on to direct The Incredibles 2 to be released in 2018.
The Incredibles follows the story of a family consisting of two school aged children a baby and a couple of Super Parents. Given that since this movie has come out the number of Super Heroes that hit the silver screen has likely increased ten fold, the story is still original and whilst managing to capture the tedium of modern “cubicle life”, manages to go deeply into the mindset of each of the main characters.
The protagonist Mr Incredible (Bob) is essentially a disgraced super hero that struggles with a midlife crisis, having been removed from active duty before rediscovering himself through a series of missions on a secret island. The film is a rolled coaster ride through his strengths and vulnerabilities.
The story manages to provide an accurate view of parenthood, family dysfunction and the aforementioned middle class struggle of managing the expectations of life in the suburbs. All this with the niche of a family of special talents. The villain comes in the form of a disenchanted child genius who wanted to work for good but was pushed aside by Mr Incredible during his fanboy years. The supporting characters in The Incredibles do not fall short at all. In the same way that Slinky and Mr Potato Head are as much a part of Toy Story as Woody and Buzz, Frozone and Edna Mode will always be as remembered as well as the main characters within the Incredibles family.
There are elements of the film that perhaps don’t look as good as they might if the film was rendered in 2017 (Such as the City Center) but I’m sure at the time the sets, the characters and all the animation was in true Pixar Fashion, stunning. Notably the detail of character hair, the lighting and shading and the clothing holds up pretty well by modern standards.
I think the best thing about this film is for those of us that have lived a fairly atypical family life it resonates throughout. Despite the extreme being that each of the family members is a super, there is still the sibling conflict, the rough days at work, the desire for something more. I hope these are elements that shine through in the sequel that we are expecting next year.
The incredibles is one of Pixars best in my opinion. Brad Bird has an eye for a strong story and whilst I’d say this film takes less risks that Ratatouille (another great film), it’s far and away better story wise than nearly all standard super hero movies being output from Marvel Studios. This is clear from the way it evokes emotion throughout without just relying on the “cool factor”. Not to say it doesn’t have that, Frozone is a clear nod towards the classic superhero style.
Looking back at a film 13 years after its released can often result in a different set of emotions and thoughts. Coming away from watching the Incredibles as a much older person the biggest difference was which characters I resonated with the most. What didn’t change is that I thoroughly enjoyed it throughout and believe it to have aged incredibly well.
