Jasonic Reviews The Incredibles

*Dramatic narrator voice* In a world where every Fantastic Four movie is a stinker, leave it to Pixar to make a proper movie about a superhero family in the form of The Incredibles. And there's no denying that it truly is incredible!

Yes, I know that's cliche as could be, though there is real truth to it. By the time the movie was released, Pixar had already started out with a consistently good track record with the likes of the Toy Story films, Monsters Inc., and Finding Nemo that there was literally no telling where they would go next. By the time the film was being made, brand new technology to animate realistic-looking humans -- the likes of which most, if not all Pixar films, only had as background characters up to that point -- had been created as a means of upping the look of humans as they were to be the primary focus of this film. And, on top of that, the superhero film genre was still very much unpopular that the studio could just do whatever they want to create their own superhero-centric film without the pressure to live up to popular superhero trends in movies (if there were any) besides what the X-Men and Spider-Man movies had to offer. Throw a little family dynamic and James Bond-inspired settings and music into the mix, and you have what I consider to be one of the coolest Pixars from my childhood, The Incredibles.

***INCREDIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD*** (actually, no, just thought I'd type that for fun)

The setup and overall plot is rather fascinating compared to most superhero movies of this day and age. In the movie, we follow Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible (voiced by Craig T. Nelson) as he, along with other "Supers" of his day and age, are sued for collateral damage and other injuries inflicted on civilians in their crime fighting efforts. As a result, he and his family of Supers consisting of Helen/Elastigirl (voiced by Holly Hunter), Violet (voiced by Sarah Vowell), Dash (voiced by Spencer Fox), and Jack-Jack (voiced by two different babies whose names I can't recall) are forced by the government into a relocation program, moving on a regular basis and hiding their powers as they do so. 15 years after the program's enactment, Bob faces a mid-life crisis, longing to relive the glory days as his Super persona and working with his best friend, Lucius Best/Frozone (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson) as a secret vigilante on the side. Things finally start to brighten up when Mr. Incredible is recruited by a mysterious client to find and take down a rogue robot known as the Omnidroid as it supposedly threatens the remote island of Nomanisan. Eventually, Bob discovers it's all a plot orchestrated by a supervillain named Syndrome (voiced by Jason Lee), his former biggest fan formerly known as "Buddy" whom he rejected assistance from years ago and is now a maniacal, tech savvy monster out to kill him. Only when the rest of the family gets involved do the Supers face permanent extinction when Syndrome threatens to take over for them himself.

As stated before, this flick stands out from every other superhero film in recent memory for having such a unique and interesting storyline with themes to complete it. It's not relatable in the sense that everyone wants to be greater than they are, but rather it shows that everyone (especially adults going through midlife crises) longs to relive the glory days when they feel they were at the top of their game and that really shows in Mr. Incredible's arc throughout. Though the film is called The Incredibles, the film primarily focuses on him and his journey; symbolically, the first third of the film post-prologue is largely drained of color to reflect how drained of fun and excitement Bob's world is in having to deal with difficult clients in his insurance company job as opposed to stopping crime as a Super like he wants. It's mostly about him trying to get his life back together for more selfish reasons, initially before realizing that his family truly is his greatest treasure. For that matter, the family dynamics are some of the most notable parts of the whole thing. Each family member behaves like their respective role in the family without coming off as one-dimensional or stereotypical (i.e.: Dash behaves like a hyperactive 10-year-old just as I was when the film came out) and their superpower also equates with their familial role and who they are -- such as Violet being a self-conscious teenager who often wants to disappear due to her insecurities. The family, while not completely the focus, does have a lot of fun ways of playing off each other with their exchanges throughout as well as their working together more towards the end of the film and they're what makes the film shine through.

From a visual/technical perspective, this is still one of the most visually impressive and interesting technical feats in Pixar to this date. The humans, being the main focus, all have features that make them look real and identifiable as such; from realistic flowing hairs to noticeable facial scruff, having realistic human features was a big step up from Pixar's previous human supporting characters, which mostly looked subpar compared to the main characters which weren't human. Real as they might look from a visual standpoint, their designs are rather cartoony as if the film were meant to be hand drawn at first. Director, Brad Bird, often had a knack for designing humans with a more cartoony edge and his work really shows here -- just look at The Iron Giant humans and compare. Unironically, Brad Bird's character, Edna "E" Mode, whom he voiced in the film is a costume designer for the Supers has this sort of psychotic passion for designing super suits I would almost assume that she, in some way, represents his own inner passion for the amount of thought and care he puts into his character designs. As much as "E" doesn't like capes in her designs (as shown with her popular "No capes!" joke), I bet it's true that Bird is the same way about realistic character proportions.

The film is excellent in the audio department for a number of reasons mainly the music. Composed by Michael Giacchino, the score has a clear James Bond influence with the loud jazzy instruments accompanying the action scenes, which, in retrospect, creates a fitting fanfare for a whole family of supers. For one, it's different from the traditional dramatic horns we hear in most superhero movies (The Dark Knight, The Amazing Spider-Man, etc.) as it allows for both excitement for the family and others watching as well as dramatic tension for every time the heroes swoop into action. Second, it works for the time period in which the film appears to be set; though rather inconspicuous at first, upon closer inspection, it's clear that, based on the car models and suburban aesthetics among other things, the film is set in the 1960s back when James Bond was first starting out. Although to some this is rather unbelievable, even the 60s James Bond films, which were set in the time period even had futuristic high-tech machines and facilities that the villains operated in; that's what makes the James Bond influence very fitting. And, while the voice actors weren't the most noteworthy aspect, each does an great job of portraying their character/role with the Parr's voice actors sounding like a real family and some of the bigger names like Samuel L. Jackson and Jason Lee creating fun performances for their characters.

I may not have talked about the story much, but it's nice to see that the cliffhanger this left off on so many years ago is finally getting a payoff with the soon-to-be Incredibles 2 coming out in June, for which the announcement was the reason I decided to go ahead and review the first one near its 13th anniversary this month. For that matter, the film really lives up to its name with the deviation from the traditional superhero narrative, the portrayal of family and midlife crisis, the interesting visual looks and technical feats it achieved, the fantastic score, and great voice actors. This may even be one of the best Pixars apart from Toy Story and Finding Nemo even still to this day! That said, the film gets an A+ in my book and is definitely recommendable for families, moviegoers, animated and superhero movie nuts alike!

Thanks y'all for reading and I will see you in the next review!