The Incredibles (2004)

Written and Directed by Brad Bird

Tagline: “Save the day!”

High Concept: A family of undercover superheroes are forced into action.

Primary cast (Voices):

Craig T. Nelson             -           Bob Parr/Mister Incredible
Holly Hunter                 -           Helen Parr/Elastigirl
Samuel L. Jackson         -           Frozone
Jason Lee                    -           Buddy Pine/Syndrome
Dominique Louis           -           Bomb Voyage
Teddy Newton              -           Newsreel Narrator
Wallace Shawn             -           Gilbert Huph
Spencer Fox                 -           Dashiell “Dash” Parr
Sarah Vowel                 -           Violet Parr
Elizabeth Peña             -           Mirage
John Ratzenberger        -           The Underminer
Brad Bird                     -           Edna Mode

The Reviews:

Jonathan: There are really only two kinds of cartoons; those written and drawn for specific people to enjoy and those written for people in general. Of the first type we have most Saturday morning cartoons (aimed at children) and the R and X rated cartoons (aimed at… well, somewhat older children). Of the second sort we have Looney Tunes, Rocky and Bullwinkle and George of the Jungle. (Yes I’m aware of leaving out many other examples of each). Pixar’s films definitely belong to the second category.

            With each Pixar release we get better graphics and, so far at least, stories that are as good as or better than the last. And that brings us to The Incredibles. Like Pixar’s earlier offerings this is a cartoon that doesn’t rely on slapstick, gross-out jokes or potty humor to keep its audience riveted. Instead they “cheat” by giving us a good story with three-dimensional characters combined with their usual high-quality graphics. Haven’t these guys ever heard of the lowest common denominator? Hopefully not!

            Many of the heroes of “Municiberg” will seem like carbon copies of favorite heroes from the Golden and Silver age of comics and this is intentional. There is a danger sign with the Captain Marvel (Shazam!) style lightning bolt in Bob Parr’s cubicle, and his new car has the old Superman emblem on the hood. And the final scene with the appearance of The Underminer is an obvious homage to cover of the first Fantastic Four comic book. The powers of the characters are hardly original, for that matter, but the familiarity in this case works. We know what to expect, so the super daring do doesn’t get in the way of the plot.

            I’d love to see a sequel, although with Pixar’s split from Disney, I’m not sure if that would happen and if it did it could be Disney, not Pixar doing it. Worse, I live in fear of a cheesy cartoon based on this movie. However, until Syndrome’s Saturday morning revenge, I’ll continue to love this movie.

On the “Smoking Rocks Whale Scale” this is a Whole Pod of pilot whales.