The Incredibles (2004)

The Incredibles

Written & Directed by Brad Bird

Accompanying Short: Boundin’

Written & Directed by Bud Luckey

I saw Toy Story in theaters pretty soon after it opened in 1995. It would take another nine years to see my next Pixar film in a theater, with 2004’s The Incredibles. I remember taking my little brother to see this, and he, of course, loved it. I enjoyed it, but there was something that just felt off about it for me. Well, time heals a lot of wounds, and on this viewing, I found myself enjoying it more than I had recalled the first time.

A jackalope shows a shorn sheep how to bound

I DO remember that I didn’t (and still don’t) like the short attached to this film, Boundin’. I’ll be honest that I can’t quite put my finger on why I don’t like it. Perhaps it’s the desert setting (easily one of my least favorite biomes, as far as rating biomes goes). Perhaps it’s the character design (the central lamb is not cute at all). Perhaps it’s the music, with a down-home country twang that sounds like the soundtrack of my nightmares. It’s probable that it’s a combination of all three. Suffice it to say, Boundin’ does nothing for me, and I’d be fine with not seeing it again.

Dash, Violet, Bob, and Helen all have a different approach to this year’s Christmas card, none of which include Jack-Jack

Rewatching The Incredibles (and reading up about it afterwards), I was struck by the sheer brilliance of some of its components. I had never realized the connection between the roles of everyone in the family and their particular superpower: Bob is the strong man of the family (admittedly, that thinking has shifted now, but was relevant for the time, although his “midlife crisis” is portrayed very well), Helen gets pulled in every direction, Violet is an awkward, distant teenager who wants to disappear, Dash is a hyperactive child, and Jack Jack isn’t old enough to show off his personality (and he shows off a variety of powers near the end due to his “unrealized potential”, according to Writer/Director Brad Bird). It is a stroke of genius to match their powers with their roles, and it went completely over my head all those years ago.

Speaking of Brad Bird, he is the first “outside” director to work at Pixar, and the film definitely has a different look and feel from what has come before. Most notably, this is the first Pixar film to feature a cast that is all humans: there are no animals, bugs, toys, or monsters here. I think that’s a very overlooked fact most of the time…in computer animation, the more angular something is, the easier it is to animate. It’s no surprise to me that the first films from Pixar feature very few human characters, and that actually is a trend in Pixar: most of the films feature humans as supporting, not main, characters. Humans are just more difficult to animate, but Pixar handles it well here.

Helen (Mrs. Incredible) ‘s hair looks plastic, not wet

The animation quality overall, however, is a little more hit and miss. There are some things, such as how the camera moves (especially, but not limited to, the action scenes), that is breaktakingly amazing. Other aspects, however, don’t quite stand up. Hair seems to be a difficult feature to nail quite right. I’ve already mentioned Sulley’s hair in Monsters, Inc., and those problems continue here. Violet’s hair, in particular, seems unrealistic most of the time, and any time wet hair is shown it looks downright awful. I know that it’s still early in the computer animation timeline, but the advancement’s we’ve made since then make these issues stand out even more.

Me and my judgey face

Some other highlights of the film: I go back and forth on scores by Michael Giacchino, but this score generally isn’t bad. It doesn’t quite stand out as much as I’d like, and I tend to find that I like the score more on its own, separate from the film, than I do when they’re combined. Some of the visual design is amazing (Syndrome’s lava wall is beautiful if not completely nonsensical (how does anyone walk between those lava walls and not instantly die from the heat?)), but the pièce de résistance of the film is EDNA. MODE. She is so wonderfully hysterical that I would love to see more of her (one of my biggest fears of the sequel (AND DON’T TELL ME IF I’M RIGHT OR WRONG) is that there’s going to be TOO much of her in the film and too much of a good thing and all that (I’M LOOKING AT YOU, MATER AND OLAF)).

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this film on this viewing. I still think there are some issues, but I’m willing to overlook a bit of them due to the still-relative-newness of the medium. This made me excited for the sequel, but we’ve still got a bit before we’ll be back to visit the incredible Parr family.

SHORT GRADE: D+

FILM GRADE: B+