On 'The Incredibles'

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“I’m only a man in a silly red sheet

Digging for kryptonite on this one way street

Only a man in a funny red sheet

Looking for special things inside of me”

~ ‘Superman (It’s Not Easy)’, by John Ondrasik

from the Five For Fighting album “America Town”, 2000

Pixar Movie Studios boasts the impressive distinction of having huge cinema box-office success with each and every one of its 11 feature length films so far.  Virtually any film studio would be envious of even their most modest success, that being 1995’s Toy Story, which according to BoxOfficeMojo.com took over a staggering $361 million worldwide at the box office.  Even more impressive is their critical acclaim: only one of their films rates below 91% on RottenTomatoes.com (that website being an amalgamated percentage score of a large number of critical reviews across a range of media).  Personally, I have yet to dislike a Pixar film.  Some are more favourites than others, but for mine their Magnum Opus is The Incredibles (2004)*.

Directed by Brad Bird, The Incredibles tells the story of a family of superheroes, in hiding for many years following the legislated prohibition of “superheroics” following damaging lawsuits from the public at large.  Mr Incredible, Bob Parr (voiced by Craig T Nelson) suffers something of a mid-life crisis whilst working in a drab cube farm for a stingy insurance company.  He is an intensely decent man and doesn’t need much encouragement to resume his crime-fighting activities once an opportunity presents itself.  Nothing is what it seems, however: he is soon embroiled in a plot to destroy not only him but all superheroes.  His family is very quickly also in danger and Mr Incredible discovers that the threat they all face may be one of his own making...

There’s a lot to like about The Incredibles.   The voice actors are perfectly cast, as they are in all of Pixar’s films, and its retro orchestral jazz score echoes the very best of John Barry.   Being something of a comic and movie geek, I adore its clever nods to its forebears in The Fantastic Four, Superman, Doom Patrol, James Bond, and The Thunderbirds, to name a very, very few .  I love the film’s Googie–inspired production design, which owes a huge debt to Pixar’s near-fanatical pre-production artwork efforts.  These guys are seriously art obsessed; they have stores of literally hundreds of thousands of pieces of artwork generated in every medium imaginable, for the creation of each and every one of their films.  I also adore the writing, with some serious themes infused with lighter, comedic moments.  Where Pixar gets it most right, however, is in their absolute devotion to character and dedication above all else, to story.

Why do I love The Incredibles so much?  What elevates it passed it’s Pixar brethren?

Firstly, I love the note-perfect characters.  Possibly the most intriguing and well rounded character in the film (a film positively brimming with well rounded characters) is Mrs Incredible herself, Helen Parr AKA ElastiGirl, voiced by Holly Hunter.  When you get passed the lame sounding name (positively de rigueur in comic book tradition), she is a strong female character in an industry that often suffers a dearth of such things.  Indeed while Pixar have been criticised for not having a female character in a lead role (a deficiency to be remedied in their upcoming 13th feature film, Brave), Pixar’s storytellers have never shied away from portraying strong women: Jeneane Garofalo’s Colette in Ratatouille, Joan Cusack’s Jesse in Toy Story 2 & 3, even Elissa Knight’s EVE from Wall*E.  Helen gets plenty of screen time, a genuine character arc, and more than one moment to shine.  It could be argued that Helen and Bob really share the lead as the mother and father of the eponymous family.

Not without her flaws, Helen is sometimes short-tempered with her children and shares several misunderstandings with her husband.  She is, however, like many mothers, the glue that binds the family together.  She provides for them, nurtures them, she protects them fiercely, even in the face of potential harm.  She is frequently shown fighting the villains of the piece alongside her husband, and if you’ll indulge my comic-book loving side, she is completely confident in the use of her abilities.  She displays creativity in the use of her (otherwise pretty feeble) power of being able to stretch herself unnaturally, even using her powers to their limits, causing her some discomfort.  One knows she is a force to be reckoned with from the very first time we see her in the movie, when she brashly states: “Settle down, are you kidding? I'm at the top of my game! I'm right up there with the big dogs! Girls, come on. Leave the saving of the world to the men? I don't think so.” Gold.

My absolute favourite element of the movie is its thematic examination of what it means to be special.  The late comedian/political & social commentator George Carlin spoke once** about children and he reflected:

“There are no losers anymore.  Everyone’s a winner, no matter what the sport or competition, everybody wins.  Everybody wins, everybody gets a trophy, no-one is a loser.  No child these days ever gets to hear those all-important character-building words ‘You lost, Bobby!’”

And later:

“Of course Bobby’s parents can’t understand why he can’t hold a job, in school he was always on the honour role.  Well, what they don’t understand of course, is that in today’s schools, everyone is on the honour roll.”

The young son of the Incredible family, Dash Parr, has a conversation with his mother early in the film, which progresses later into a debate between Bob and Helen about whether or not Dash should be allowed to participate in school sports, given that Dash’s speed-based powers would make him so far and above anyone else that he couldn’t really lose.  Should they let him be the best he can be or not allow him to live up to his full potential in order to fit in?  When Dash says “But Dad always said our powers were nothing to be ashamed of, our powers made us special!” Helen replies “Everyone is special, Dash.”  He quickly retorts “Which is another way of saying nobody is.” More gold!

This is mirrored later in the film by the main villain Syndrome’s grand plan to install himself as a new hero, after ‘defeating’ a threat of his own making, and then selling his hi-tech gadgets and weapons to all and sundry.  Then, he says, “When everyone is special... no-one will be”.  His own damaged ego rails the thought of anyone truly standing out in a positive and noble manner.  That’s some pretty strong writing there.

I’ll leave you with an amusing anecdote from the making of the film.  Sometimes, during the process of animation, the computer technicians need to dub temporary voices into the footage prior to the professional voice actors recording their parts.  Oscar nominated and Emmy award winning actress Lily Tomlin was initially cast to lend her voice to the hilarious Edna Mode (the creator of the Parr family’s amazing super-suits).  When Tomlin arrived at Pixar to record her part, she first listened to the voice initially dubbed by director Brad Bird. She then promptly quit, reportedly saying “What do you need me for? You got it already.”  Amazingly classy.  Bird’s voice remains in the movie.

Next time you see a Pixar movie released, you can bet I’ll be there very close to opening night.  No matter how ridiculously expensive cinema prices get, you can be guaranteed that it’ll be worth it.  I for one will be expecting an incredible experience.

* The Incredibles made over $631 million at the worldwide cinema box office to date, and maintains a RottenTomatoes.com score of an extraordinary 97%.  It was nominated for 4 Academy Awards and won 2 of those, won a BAFTA Award, was nominated for a Golden Globe and a Grammy, and was nominated and won many, many more awards in almost every conceivable category.

** It can be found here, but its strong profanity means it’s not for children or the faint of heart.