Review of The Incredibles (2004) by James K — 28 Jul 2016

We've seen a family of superheroes before; a group of people with extraordinary abilities teaming up to take on a common threat. But what if the family of superheroes were an actual family? Enter 2004's "The Incredibles", an animated action movie that does a great job at capturing the heroics of said family. But that doesn't mean that there are problems with the film; we'll get to them later. Yet, the movie is handled very well in its execution of its subject matter. "The Incredibles" is an interesting depiction at superheroes that has a good premise and execution, yet it still falls short on the heroics.

The story involves a family of superheroes: the Parr's. Each of them have a heroic ability attached to them, i.e super strength, flexibility, etc. The head of the household, Bob, is a superhero under the name Mr. Incredible. Unfortunately, the government has put a ban on superheroes, as they see their "heroics" as an excuse to witness collateral damage to the city being done. In turn, the heroes must give up what they do- serving the public- and lead normal lives. Bob then gets a secret mission to regain his popularity, as well as bringing his self-esteem back. But what Bob uncovers, might not be super at all, and the villain's plan just might involve not only himself, but his family, too.

"The Incredibles" is a good movie on a number of things. First off, the art style used for the basis on the animation provided here, is really good. This comes from writer and director Brad Bird, who based the movie's style as a mix up between 1950's and 1960's design. The latter is taken into more account here. All of the characters and background designs look like something from an artistic comic book, and it definitely works to the film's advantage here. All the animators at Pixar really put in a lot of effort into making this movie look and sound good Plus, going back to the 1960s, the music by Michael Giacchino invokes a feeling of James Bond, as well as the spy genre itself. On top of this, the acting in this movie is great; from Craig T. Nelson as Mr. Incredible, to even Jason Lee as the villainous Syndrome, everyone delivers a great performance with every character provided in the movie. Plus, the action is executed very well, and have interesting payoffs, most notably, the 100 yard dash, where the son, Dash, is running at super fast speed. Overall, "The Incredibles" handles its production smoothly and efficiently, so that everyone can understand and grasp at what's going on.

With that said, there are some major problems with the film. For starters, the movie goes on for way too long. The pacing is, for lack of a better word, incredibly slow, and there is a lot of build up that one has to wait in order to finally pay off. Another downgrade to the film is while the family aspect isn't too bad, the main focus is mostly put on Bob/Mr. Incredible. While this isn't to bad, as it shows both the father and husband aspect, the majority of the family doesn't really come into play until the last third of the movie. This all comes back to the problem with the pacing; at almost two hours, the entire production could have been cut by some amount.

So, is "The Incredibles" a perfect movie? No. There are a vast majority of problems concerning the pacing and the focus from Mr. Incredible. Does the movie work as a superhero flick? Yes, yes it does. There are a lot of good ideas and concepts being presented surrounding the topic of superheroes and family. And, for the most part, it works. In conclusion, "The Incredibles" treats the superhero genre very well, and it could have been perfect, had it gotten more focus on the family. But, we'll just have to wait for...