In 1995, the first completely computer animated movie, Toy Story, was released by Pixar and Disney. Since then, Pixar has become the leader in computer animated movies and other studios have started making computer animated movies as well. I love animated movies and tend to see most of them. I also enjoy movies that feature superheroes. I have been wanting to see The Incredibles, the new Pixar movie that features superheroes, for months.
Mr. Incredible was a well known superhero. He enjoyed helping people. He even took the time to get a cat out of a tree and go after some criminals on his way to marry Helen, who was also the superhero Elastigirl. Helen took some time to fight crime before the wedding too. Soon after they got married, all superheroes were forced to stop helping people and live only as their secret identities after several lawsuits were filed against them. The government took care of relocating all the superheroes. Fifteen years later, Bob and Helen were living like a normal family with their three children. Helen stayed home to raise the kids and Bob worked for an insurance company. He missed being a superhero though. Their daughter Violet had the ability to become invisible and their son Dash was extremely fast. The baby Jack Jack didn’t have any powers. Helen told Violet and Dash all the time that they had to act like a normal family and shouldn’t use their powers.
Bob was unhappy with his job and still wanted to help people. He and Lucius, who use to be Frozone, sat around listening to the police scanner and helping people when they told their wives they were going bowling. After things went bad with his job, Bob was given an offer that would allow him to work as a superhero again. He didn’t tell Helen what he was up to. He was much happier and even started to work out again. He didn’t know who he was working for and only had contact with a woman named Mirage. Helen did start to get suspicious after he bought a new sports car and kept going out of town for conferences. She was worried he was having an affair. Bob encountered a super villain named Syndrome. Bob ended up in trouble and Helen went to find him. She planned to confront him about what was going on. Violet and Dash managed to sneak along.
I have always thought that animated movies weren’t just for children. The Incredibles definitely proves this. There were several kids in the movie when I saw it, but there were more adults who came without kids. It is almost two hours long, so it is longer than most animated movies. Younger kids may have trouble sitting still long enough for the entire movie. There were a few times in the movie when the pace slowed down a bit. That didn’t bother me, but I did notice some of the younger kids in the movie getting restless during those parts. I really do think that this isn’t a movie for younger children. Parents shouldn’t assume that it will be cute and have cuddly looking characters in it just because it is an animated movie. There were some more adult issues in this movie, including Helen’s fear that Bob was having an affair. I have thought that other animated movies, like the Shrek movies, aren’t for younger children as well.
There was a lot going on throughout the movie. There was action in several scenes, including some explosions. There were confrontations between some of the characters that including fighting. There was violence in the movie. It wasn’t excessive or gory or anything, but there was more than there usually is in an animated movie. Parents should keep that in mind when deciding if they are going to take their young children to this movie. The movie started off with a lot of action, and then slowed down for a while to show Bob and Helen’s lives as a normal couple. I wasn’t bothered by those scenes because they did add to the development of the characters and help to show why Bob was willing to run off to be a hero again. The movie had a fast pace most of the time, though it did slow down in a few places. I wasn’t bored by anything that happened in the movie. Those things made the characters seem more real, like when Helen and Bob were arguing over which exit to take at one point. There were times when there wasn’t any kind of action or fighting going on which might bore some viewers.
Pixar has gained a reputation for making wonderful, very successful, computer animated movies. There were a lot of similarities between the previous movies they made, though they were unique in some way. The Toy Story movies, Monsters, Inc., and Finding Nemo were really buddy movies that the characters had to go on some kind of adventure. There was a bit of an adventure in A Bug's Life as well, though it didn’t seem to be as much of a buddy movie to me since there was really just the one main character. It has been a while since I last watched that one, so I may be remembering wrong. There was silly humor in those movies as well. Pixar did take a risk with The Incredibles since it doesn’t stick to the same formula. Bob was the main character. Helen and the kids were around a lot as well, but Bob was really the main character. His friend Lucius was in a few scenes, but he wasn’t involved enough to make this a buddy movie. There were funny things throughout the movie, but the movie wasn’t as funny as some of the others.
There have been several superhero movies made, especially over the last few years. The X-Men and Spider-Man movies were both very successful and some of my favorites. The Incredibles is the first animated superhero movie to come out. The fact that the movie was animated did allow for more freedom in what the characters could do. Effects can be used, though that does get very expensive and some times looks too fake. The movie also showed what might happen to superheroes who are forced into retirement. Peter was conflicted about his life as a super hero in Spider-Man 2, but that was different from being forced into retirement. Like Peter, Bob and Helen had normal problems that make it easier to relate to them. The superheroes in the movie did have secret identities, which is standard for that type of character. The villain, Syndrome, reminded me more of some of the villains from the older James Bond movies instead of a superhero villain. He had this huge compound that was very much like some of the secret lairs of villains in the Bond movies. There was also something a bit different about Syndrome, but I don’t want to say too much about that.
The animation was absolutely beautiful throughout the movie. Pixar has a reputation for wonderful animation, and they continue to raise the bar in each new movie. I have always thought the animation has been beautiful in Pixar movies and I wonder what else they could possibly improve. Then the next movie comes out and I’m amazed all over again. They have managed to improve on what they accomplished with hair in Monster’s Inc. The hair of the characters moved realistically with them. There were different shades in the hair for some characters. In some scenes, Violet’s hair looked shinny and even seemed to change shades depending on how the light hit it. Wet hair was also shown very realistically. Much of the movie took place on a jungle island that was full of lush foliage and even had water falls. The jungle looked amazing and very life like. In a few scenes I had to remind myself that the island was created with computer animation. The main characters in the movie were people instead of animals or some kind of monster. The people looked really good and so much better than the people did in the first Toy Story movie. I did notice one minor little goof later in the movie. Briefly in one scene, Helen was shown with two different colored eyes.
I have liked animated movies since I was a child. I have several in my DVD collection, and will continue to add more. Pixar has consistently crafted amazing movies that are among my favorites. There are some things in the movie that aren’t completely original, but they have come up with unique and interesting ideas. There has been a bit of a rivalry between Pixar and DreamWorks animation since Shrek was released. I do enjoy the Shrek movies as well, but I feel that Pixar’s movies are so much better. The movies released by DreamWorks don’t seem to be as original. There were unique ideas in both Shrek movies, but overall, they were buddy movies, and even spoofed other animated movies. DreamWorks has released two computer animated movies this year, Shrek 2 and Shark Tale. I did like them, but was disappointed by both in some way. Shark Tale disappointed me the most. It doesn’t come close to what Pixar created with The Incredibles. The animation has been wonderful in the DreamWorks movies as well. I have just liked the Pixar movies more. I did like that the movie didn’t use crude or gross humor to get laughs like the Shrek movies have done. The Incredibles is the best of the animated movies that have been released so far in 2004.
There was an animated short that played before the movie started. The short was different from some others Pixar has made over the years, but it was entertaining. I thought it was cute. The animation in it was every bit as wonderful as what was in The Incredibles movie itself.
The voices matched the characters perfectly. Craig T. Nelson provided the voice for Bob, and he was believable in the different situations that Bob ended up in. He was able to convey the emotions that the character was feeling without going over board. One thing that kept me from liking Shark Tale more was because Will Smith was just so obnoxious in the way he did the voice for Oscar, the main character. Oscar got on my nerves throughout most of the movie. Bob didn’t annoy me once. Nelson has been in several movies, including Poltergeist, and the tv show Coach. I thought Holly Hunter did the voice for Helen well. Samuel L. Jackson was really good as Lucius. He didn’t get too many scenes, but he had some of the funniest lines in the movie. Wallace Shawn had a small part as Bob’s boss. John Ratzenburger has done a voice in every Pixar movie. His parts have been smaller in the last few though. He had a tiny part near the end of this movie. I recognized Mirage’s voice, but I couldn’t figure out who it was. I had to look it up to find out that Elizabeth Pena did that voice. Brad Bird, the writer and director of the movie, provided the voice for Edna Mode. She designed costumes for superheroes. She had a very small part in the movie as well, but her scenes were very funny. There was just something about that character that made me laugh. She did get some good lines too. Jason Lee was fine as Syndrome without going over the top with the character.
CHARACTERS
Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible - He was a famous superhero that enjoyed helping people. He stopped to rescue a cat and catch criminals on the way to his wedding. He worked for an insurance company once he had to stop being Mr. Incredible. He missed being a superhero though. He did love his wife and family, but he wasn’t happy with his life. He had the chance to work as a superhero again, though after fifteen years he was out of shape. He was still very strong though.
Helen Parr/Elastigirl - She was Bob’s wife. She had enjoyed being a superhero as well. She wanted to keep that part of their life in the past and told her kids not to use their powers. She did use her ability to stretch around the house at times. She loved her husband, and was worried she was losing him when she noticed a few things. She was a good mother who tried to protect her children.
Violet - Helen and Bob’s oldest child. She had the power to make herself invisible and to create force fields. She was very shy and tended to hide behind her hair a lot.
Dash - Violet’s little brother. He was very fast and energetic. He didn’t like having to act normal. He wanted to participate in sports, but Helen wouldn’t let him.
Jack Jack - He was the baby of the family. He wasn’t showing any special abilities.
Lucius/Frozone - He was a friend to Bob and Helen. He could freeze things.
Edna Mode - She designed costumes for superheroes. Once superheroes were forced into hiding, she worked as a regular fashion designer, though she still did costumes at times. She had very specific ideas for her creations, including no capes. She was unique.
Syndrome - He was the villain. He had some issues that caused him to decide to become a villain.
Mirage - Woman that recruited Bob to return to super hero work.
Voice Talent
Brad Bird - Edna Mode Spencer Fox - Dash Parr Holly Hunter - Helen Parr/Elastigirl Samuel L. Jackson - Lucius/Frozone Jason Lee - Syndrome Craig T. Nelson - Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible Elizabeth Pena - Mirage John Ratzenberger - Underminer Wallace Shawn - Gilbert Huph Sarah Vowell - Violet Parr
The Incredibles was released on November 5, 2004. The movie was rated PG. There were a few things in the movie that could be disturbing for younger children. Brad Bird wrote and directed the movie. He was also responsible for the animated movie The Iron Giant.
I loved The Incredibles. It is easily the best animated movie to come out this year. It is one of the best movies I’ve seen this year. People who like animated movies shouldn’t wait to go see this one. People who like movies that feature superheroes may also like this movie. I will definitely be adding this movie to my DVD collection once it is released in that format.
Bob Parr and his wife Helen used to be among the world's greatest crime fighters, saving lives and battling evil on a daily basis. Fifteen years later...More at HotMovieSale.com
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