The Incredibles (2004)
There is really nothing too incredible
about "The Incredibles." Its most cool feature is
how it looks but, in the world of animated cartoons,
the visual look of the film is only good for about
five minutes of awe. And while the film has a decent
script, decent characters and a fun sense of humor,
it never really fires on all cylinders. Granted, it's
a very good, amusing and pleasant divergence, and
a great family film, but it also could have been much,
much more.
The script enjoys poking fun at
the superhero genre, with particular emphasis put
on the characters' special abilities and their appearance
and attire, But this has been done somewhat before.
Even the most recent "Spider-Man" film took the time
to parody the costume, the abilities and the appearance
of its hero. And while the story remains interesting,
it also seems done before as well. The film's plot
involves a creative child who wants to be a superhero
being spurned by our protagonist and growing up to
be a villain bent on wiping superheros off the face
of the Earth. I can't cite a specific example of a
hero's once biggest fan becoming their biggest foe
(I'm not that into heroes and comics) but I'm sure
its been done to death. It certainly doesn't seen
fresh here.
The characters are cute but they
just aren't particularly new either. With powers that
we've seen before, it often seems they are a parody
of heroic superpowers but this is really only explored
fully in the protagonist, Mr. Incredible, whose Herculean
strength is quite a problem to keep in check. But
the other powers here, elasticism, super speed, invisibility
and freezing powers all seem pretty typical but untapped
as true comic sources. Granted, Mrs. Incredible (AKA
Elastic Girl) uses her power creatively in the film
but it really isn't funny. Then again, nothing in
this film is particularly funny. I laughed maybe three
times watching it.
The voice characterizations here
can be incredibly entertaining as easily as they can
be annoying. Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter are
perfect in their roles. It's really nice to see Nelson
make full use of his voice for the protagonist in
a role that probably would have gone to someone like
Patrick Warburton if Nelson hadn't stepped in. Hunter
is particularly an inspired choice. Her voice is perfect
even though it is easily recognizable. It fits in
with the character and provides just the right amount
of fun as it does motherly whine.
It's too bad the same can't be said
for Jason Lee and Samuel L. Jackson in their roles.
Jackson sounds like he doesn't care at all and Lee
cares so much that his scenery chewing performance
becomes so annoying that it sets a new low for voice
work by an established actor. You just want to slap
him. When you're voicing am animated villain and your
performance can be called "over-the-top" you know
you've really done an incredibly poor job. (For what
its worth, the best voice work here is done by Wallace
Shawn and the animators have a wonderful time making
him look like William H. Macy).
I just wasn't blown away by "The
Incredibles." sure, the story is decent, the characters
are okay, the animation is cool but forgettable. There's
just nothing to root for here. There's no songs to
make us have any emotions here and the characters
and story give us very little to care about. Some
of the action scenes are inspired for a cartoon, moving
the genre ahead another notch, but overall this is
a film that is anything but incredible. I guess "The
Typicals" wouldn't have worked for a title though.
Note:
In English with one character who
speaks French with subtitles in one scene.
Writer/director Brad Bird also voiced
the character of Edna Mode.
John Ratzenberger, who has done
a voice in every Pixar film, voices the "Underminer."
The longest CG animated film to
date (115 minutes) and the first Pixar film to be
rated other than G (PG).
The initial theatrical run had the
short Pixar animated film "Boundin" attached at the
beginning. An extended limerick, this short is quite
possibly the worst cartoon I have ever seen.
Viewed in Austin in November 2004.
