The Incredibles!

I really wasn’t looking forward to seeing this one. There were a few cute things in the trailer, like Samuel L. Jackson’s character, Frozone, frantically looking for his ‘supersuit’ and his wife’s cagey replies to his urgent questions, but the idea of a super hero at mid-life didn’t seem like much to build on.

Pixar has proven itself a hit-maker for Disney, so it was no surprise that it was a good movie. It was surprising, though, just how good it was and on how many levels.

The obvious thing to mention first is the animation, which blew me away. I’d thought it would be impossible to do that after Shrek and Finding Nemo. The people are physical charicatures, but the story was so good I forgot I was watching a cartoon.

The Incredibles is a story of super heroes living in a society as quick to file law suits as our own. Because super heroes are considered public utilities, the government is responsible for defending them. After having defended them one too many times the superheroes are told by the government that they must cease and desist all super saving activities and go into the witness protection program.

The physical aspects of The Incredibles was, well, real. Except for the over the top abilities of the super heroes, everything falls and bounces and breaks as it would in reality. Not only that, but the psychological make-up of the super heroes is real, too. People are happy, and sad, and self-doubting in just the right measures, which might be the most amazing thing about this movie.

Since the children were born after Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl went into the witness protection program and are denied public use of their super powers, they only know of their parent’s super hero past from stories. Of course, as children of super heroes, they have super talents of their own, but are told not to ever exercise them. So when Elastigirl finds herself in an airplane with her two kids; guided missiles in hot pursuit, she calls upon her daughter for help.

I would have thought that a girl with repressed super powers would jump at the chance at using them, but had discounted the fact that she’d been told all her life not to because she would endanger the family. She began by protesting that she was never supposed to use her powers but her mother, Elastigirl, made it clear that she either use her unique gift or they might all die. So, when called upon to protect them, Elastigirl’s daughter, doing her best, couldn’t pull it off.

There is a message here for those of us who would repress the talents of our children: that we should encourage our kids to blossom, and do great things if it is within them. Maybe we just want our kids to be humble, or we’re resentful that we didn’t get the opportunity that they might have to be a rockstar or a doctor. Let them be who they are.

The nemesis of our super hero family was created by Mr. Incredible himself. As a boy, Syndrome, wishes to be just like his hero, Mr. Incredible. He is president of the Mr. Incredible fan club and tracks ever move Mr. Incredible makes. Knowing he has no ‘natural’ super powers he invents shoes that make it possible for him to fly. He is an enthusiastic pre-teen boy who wishes only to help his hero, but is told to go home, that Mr. Incredible works alone.

Mr. Incredible had handled this all wrong. Of course, the boy had gotten in the way, and a super villain had escaped, but he should have encouraged the boy’s ingenuity. He was obviously smart, but having been rejected, his worship turned to resentment, and in the end, could have been the downfall of Mr. Incredible and his family.

But of course, The Incredibles learn to work together as a team, allowing one talent to complement another in order to save them all from destruction.

As a side note to the movie itself, which was brilliantly executed, I was interested in the fact that it was given a PG rating. I’m not sure an animated Disney movie has ever been given a PG rating. I’m sure PG was the proper rating, but with a few well done edits, it could have been brought into the area of a G. Was this due to a power struggle between the heads of Pixar and Disney? And, if that was the case, who won? Would The Incredibles have been less were it to have been made into a G rated movie?

The Incredibles might be a little much for a three year old, but for everyone else, this is a great movie.