re:mote voices

Title: The Incredibles
Cast: Craig T Nelson, Brad Bird, Holly Hunter, Samuel L Jackson, Jason Lee
Director: Brad Bird

The Incredibles is the latest film from the Pixar animation studio. And from some of the mixed reviews it has already been receiving it is fair to say The Incredibles is something of a departure from films like Toy Story, Monsters Inc., and Finding Nemo. The main reason is that in may ways the material is more mature, and to a degree with that holds less appeal for the younger audience.

Like a variety of comics in recent years The Incredibles goes for more of a “post-super-hero” scenario than is traditional in cinema; Powers and Love Fights being two particular examples that come to mind. Mr. Incredible is a prominent superhero, and in a scene reminiscent of Spider-Man 2, during an incident he is forced to stop a train to prevent disaster. However the result is litigation rather than adulation, and this is only first of many anti-superhero cases. This forces superhero to retire and enter a scheme similar to witness protection. Years pass and Mr. Incredible is now working in an insurance office, with his wife Elasti Girl at home looking after their 3 kids. But this is no life for a superhero! Then a mysterious woman approaches Mr. Incredible with a proposition that seems to be too good to be true. And of course, it is, events gathering a pace of their own.

With The Incredibles there is a solid chunk of what isn’t particularly action. Domestic squabbles and the grind of office life. Which is the kind of material that seems to be putting people off. However for many of us this is real life kind of stuff, which we can relate to, and with the twist of knowing who the characters are we can find some humour in this material. Apart from that there is plenty of big superhero action, which more than gives any live action, “serious” superhero film a run for it’s money. At times with the gadgets and espionage we have a kind of balance between a Fantastic Four and Bond paradigm; the Bond idea seemingly acknowledged to a degree by the soundtrack.

There is little to The Incredibles which is entirely original – being extensively influenced by years of superhero comics. But with that there is an affectionate knowingness which should provide some sniggers for those particularly familiar with the genre – which certainly earned me some funny looks. Though that shouldn’t put anyone off.

Of course coming from Pixar The Incredibles is state of the art animation. With this being the second film by Brad Bird, who previously gave us The Iron Giant, and was involved with the Simpsons for a number of years.