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The Incredibles Dir: Brad Bird PG Now Screening Pixar: surely the day will come when they stop caring, follow Disney's lead and start churning out shite. And admit it: you were worried when 'Finding Nemo' was impressive but still a lot less funny and a whole lot closer to schmaltz than 'Monsters Inc' or 'Toy Story' were. So what do they do then? They turn around, get Brad 'The Iron Giant' Bird in to write and direct and give us 'The Incredibles'. It shouldn't be that much of a surprise - after all, Bird's also enjoyed a long tenure as director and animation supervisor for 'The Simpsons' - but 'The Incredibles' is laugh-out-loud funny, action packed and gorgeous to look at. What's particularly impressive it that it could so easily have fallen flat, since it's based upon a theme that's a little shopworn in these post-modern days. After all, the notion of the unwelcome superhero has been well-exploited in comics ('The Watchmen'), movies ('Mystery Men') and animated series ('The Tick'). 'The Incredibles' however, takes the idea and runs with it in a style all its own. Mr Incredible (voiced by Craig T Nelson) and Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) are superheroes forced by the government to give up the crime fighting life because of spiraling costs (the final straw coming when Mr Incredible is sued for millions for saving an unwilling suicide) and are relocated to civilian life. Now living as Bob and Helen Parr they have a house in suburbia with their three children, who naturally also have powers but are under instructions to keep them hidden. Bob is frustrated by his life working in an insurance company, forsaking the glamorous world of fighting for justice for a life of petty bureaucracy, secretly keeping his hand in with "bowling nights" with his friend Lucius Best (Samuel L Jackson), aka Frozone. After losing his job, Bob receives a mysterious invitation to recapture his glory days and return to the heroing - but is who is this mysterious Mirage (Elizabeth Pena) working for? The voice acting is great across the board: Bird's turn as Edith Head-like superhero clothes designer Edna E Mode is a particular highlight, while Jason Lee hits the right note as the excitable Syndrome. However, it's the snappy dialogue and flawless animation that will draw you in - and at around two hours, there's little point even pretending that this is for kids. This is a film for grownups who still remember when they wanted to be superheroes, and as such is one of those rare films that's actually as good as the hype machine would like you to believe.  |
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