Incredibles, The (2004)

Hey guys! After another long spell away from writing, I'm suddenly inspired to write after seeing a shiny diamond appear next to my review on Police Academy! The film I'm going to review for you is an animated film from Pixar with a five star rating from me and it's called:

THE INCREDIBLES

***ACTORS***

Craig T. Nelson - The Skulls, All Over Again, The Huntress

Holly Hunter - Thirteen, Nine ...
...xXx: State of the Union, Coach Carter, Kill Bill: Vol. 2

Jason Lee (I) - Vanilla Sky, Stealing Harvard, Heartbreakers

Spencer Fox (II) - This actor hasn't been in any other films

Sarah Vowell - This actress hasn't been in any other films

Maeve Andrews - This actress hasn't been in any other films

Brad Bird (I) - Do the Bartman, The Iron Giant, Amazing Stories: Book Two
more

Hey guys! After another long spell away from writing, I'm suddenly inspired to write after seeing a shiny diamond appear next to my review on Police Academy! The film I'm going to review for you is an animated film from Pixar with a five star rating from me and it's called:

THE INCREDIBLES

***ACTORS***

Craig T. Nelson - The Skulls, All Over Again, The Huntress

Holly Hunter - Thirteen, Nine Lives, Moonlight Mile

Samuel L. Jackson - xXx: State of the Union, Coach Carter, Kill Bill: Vol. 2

Jason Lee (I) - Vanilla Sky, Stealing Harvard, Heartbreakers

Spencer Fox (II) - This actor hasn't been in any other films

Sarah Vowell - This actress hasn't been in any other films

Maeve Andrews - This actress hasn't been in any other films

Brad Bird (I) - Do the Bartman, The Iron Giant, Amazing Stories: Book Two

***CHARACTERS***

Robert (Bob) Parr/Mr. Incredible
Voiced by actor Craig T. Nelson. He's big, bulky and has super strength. Bob is all for saving the day and innocent lives. He loves being the centre of attention and being a hero, but sometimes, being a hero isn't all it's cracked up to be, as Bob's superstrength, often gets him into trouble and creates alot of rubble and mess.

Helen Parr/Elastigirl
Voiced by actress Holly Hunter. Helen is a brassy red head with a temper to match. Her power is that Helen can stretch herself to practically any length she likes. She take whatever shape she wants and still go back to looking normal.

Violet Parr
Voiced by actress Sarah Vowell. Violet is the oldest sibling out of the three. Out of all the family, Violet is the only one to have more than one power. Her first power is invisibility and her second power is to produce forcefields on command. She's got the invisibility thing down, but she doesn't have enough confidence in herself when it comes to producing a forcefield. In fact, Violet doesn't have much confidence in herself at all, especially when it comes to boys. She just wants to be normal, but is afraid her powers will make her look like a freak to the others.

Dashall Robert Parr
Voiced by actor Spencer Fox. Dash's special power is that he can run extremely fast, so fast in fact, that he can even run on water. He is the second oldest sibling in the family, but Dash is restless. He would like nothing better than to go and play sports and run on the track team, but his powers wouldn't give the other kids a fair advantage. A bit of a show-off, Dash is no stranger to trouble but like any other little boy, he gets scared too.

Jack-Jack Parr
Voiced by actor Maeve Andrews. The is the youngest sibling. He is in-fact a baby and the cutest one ever! Jack-Jack appears to be normal and have no powers at all. He's not even potty trained! This cute little baby however, does have some powers. He change himself into different elemnts like fire, metal and even a red version of the devil when he gets angry or upset! I still think he's cute though!

Buddy/Incrediboy/Syndrome
Voiced by actor Jason Lee. This is the bad guy in the movie. First he started off as Buddy, a little boy with Mr. Incredible as an idol, even naming himself Incrediboy as his faithful sidekick. But things don't turn out the way that Buddy would have liked and years later, Buddy has gone through a dramatic change to Syndrome, for the worst.

Edna Mode
Voiced by actor Brad Bird. (My favourite character) Possibly the most eccentric character of the whole bunch. She's high maintenance but very short in stature. The fact that she is short doesn't seem to make a difference to Edna as she makes up for it in personality. She's got one the size of an ocean! Edna gets irritated easily by her underlings, but loves a good challenge. Essentially, Edna designs and fixes up superheros with new super-suits. Her most common line would have to be "DARLING!!!!!"

Lucius Best/Frozone
Voiced by actor Samuel L Jackson. Frozone is not a member of the family but is a dear friend of Bob, (Mr. Incredible.) and the family. Frozone is the voice of reason for Bob but still can't resist helping out innocent people and protecting the greater good. Frozone has a special power too. He can produce ice pretty much on command, that is, if he's got some water to work with. He can even use the water that is in the air to make his power work! Cool!

***PLOT***

The film opens with some interviews of a couple of superheros!, specifically Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl and Frozone. Each shares their opinion on their own lives and discusses where they would like to go next. Mr. Incredible wants to settle down, have a family, Elastigirl wants to keep busting criminals and Frozone just seems to talk about women! All superheros have secret identies, one that can never be revealed.....

So on an average day, Mr. Incredible's driving along when he sees a car chase taking place. Deciding that he's got a bit of time to spare, he assists the police in aprehending the criminals and goes about doing some more hero work. But his heroics are interrupted by Buddy, his number 1 fan who has a severe obsession with Mr. Incredible, so much so, that he desperately wants to be his sidekick.....Incrediboy!

After quite bluntly saying that Buddy will never work with him or be his sidekick, Buddy takes the hint and leaves with his pride wounded. Mr. Incredible thinks no more of the situation and goes off to church to marry the love of his life.....Elastigirl no less!

But the life that he had pictured with Helen (Elastigirl) was not how things turned out. After Mr. Incredible saved a man's life, the man in question sued Mr. Incredible! Soon many more other people filled lawsuits against Mr. Incredible for his intervention in crime situations.

The hatred towards not just Mr. Incredible, but all other superheros mounted and the only option was for the government to introduce the superhero relocation programme. The superheros would have to give up using their powers and lead normal lives in exchange for their safety.

Many years later..........

Bob Parr (Mr. Incredible) has three children who are finding it difficult to control their powers, his wife Helen, a home and a job in insurance sales. But he's obviously bored with his life and someone picks up on that fact.

After sending a secret transmission to his home, the people trying to contact him say that they know who Mr. Incredible really is and they have a mission for him, that requires.....his expertise. Deciding that this is an opportunity to good to miss, Bob digs up his super suit and leaves for the mission....without telling Helen anything.

Bob meets up with the people who tried to contact him and they inform him of his mission. Destroy a robot on a remote island that's gone out of control and try not to get killed. But this is no ordinary robot, it learns how to beat it's opponent every second it fights an opponent. Bob willingly takes on the mission, but the robot he must fight has a lot more than meets the eye and Bob's employer most certainly has a hidden agenda concerning Mr. Incredible.

Who is Mr. Incredible's employer? What is so dangerous about this robot? Will Helen find out the truth? What happened to Buddy/Incrediboy all those years ago?

If you want to know, then watch the film! It's a laugh!

***MY PERSONAL OPINION***

Originally, I never wanted to go and see this film. The title just put me off straight away, The Incredibles but my friend rang me up one day and said she wanted to go to the cinema. We decided to go and see The Incredibles and I can honestly say that I thought it was good!

Of all the actors, I recgonised Samuel L Jackson's voice right away. I'd never heard of the lead actors/actresses before, but the voices seemed to suit the characters none the less. Because I don't know these actors/actresses, if I see them in another film, I'll immediately think back to this film, as the first film I remember them from.

The actors/actresses did a nice job filling their roles, but my favourite character was not one of the primary characters but Brad Bird (I) who played Edna E Mode. His voice was just so funny and was beautifully teamed with the design of the character. The character itself, was hilarious and made me smile, but the voice really made it for me!

I couldn't picture anyone else doing those voices for the characters, except for Helen/Elastigirl. She didn't seem all that remarkable to me and was possibly my least favourite voice for a character.

The music made me smile as well, it's more on the lines of the Mission Impossible movies and James Bond films which helped make the movie a success for me. If the music isn't right for a film, it puts me right off! The music was very memorable, so much so, that I can hum it myself in the car, whilst a very confused boyfriend sits next to me! lol.

As for the story itself, it posed an interesting question in my head. Superheros have a stereotype where people love them, because they save lives and do nothing but good. But in this film the reaction to a superhero turned the other way: What if people didn't want to be saved? What if people didn't want superheros around? Would they be able to lead normal lives? This film provided an interesting answer and just for that, I enjoyed the story in the film.

The animation from Pixar is again of top quality. With every film that they make, it would seem that they advance CGI technology all the time. But a Pixar animated film usually implies a film with lots of fluff, sugar, comedy and sweetness. This film is a little different in that, there are high points and low points in mood and emotion. There's guns, people flying through walls, smashing crashing, shouting etc. The Incredibles has a far darker tone than you might think, but in true Pixar tradition, it's still suitable for the kids to watch and have fun with.

Another funny little thing about this film was Brad Bird. I have already mentioned that he was the voice for the character of Edna Mode, but Brad is also the film's director! What a shock that was! Now knowing that, I can picture Brad to be a great director and a funny man and that was just listening to his voice! I've never heard of a director doing an animated film and decided to voice one of the parts himself!

Overall a fantastic film, not sugary sweet, not overdone, great characters, story, voices, music and director! You have to watch this!

As always, I turn to the critics to get a second, third and fourth opinion and I was stunned to see that nearly every single reviewer and critic loved this film! It's the best response I've ever seen!

"The rich collection of animated characters really lives on screen. Once again, Pixar raises the bar for computer-animation storytelling."
John Wirt, ADVOCATE (BATON ROUGE, LA)

"The sleek beauty, crafty wit, family warmth, and impeccable slapstick suffusing The Incredibles immediately vaults it to a new, higher level of entertainment."
Ken Tucker, NEW YORK MAGAZINE

"The action sequences here are so big and so effortless that you wonder why Jerry Bruckheimer and all his imitators can't muster up the ability to do things half as well."
Luke Y. Thompson, ANCHORAGE PRESS

***FUNNY QUOTES***

Here's an idea of what to expect in the movie in terms of funny bits!

LITTLE BOY: (After seeing an explosion) "THAT WAS TOTALLY WICKED!!"

HELEN: (On phone to Edna) "E? It's Helen Parr."
EDNA: "Who?"
HELEN: "You know.....Elastig--"
EDNA: "DARLING!!"
(Helen, startled and drops phone)

KARI: "Hi, this is Kari, sorry for freakin' out but your baby has *special needs*."

EDNA: (To Mr. Incredible) "My God, you've gotten fat!"

FROZONE: "The public is in danger!"
HIS WIFE: "My evening is in danger!"
FROZONE: "You tell me where my suit is, woman! We are talking about the greater good!"
HIS WIFE: "Greater good? I am your wife! I'm the greatest *good* you are ever gonna get! "

VIOLET: "The only normal one is Jack-Jack, and he's not even toilet trained! "

EDNA: "This is a hobo suit, darling. You can't be seen in!"

EDNA: "I cut it a little roomy for the free movement; the fabric is comfortable for sensitive skin; it can also withstand a temperature of over 1000 degrees. Completely bulletproof; and machine washable, darling. That's a new feature. "

***TECHIE BITS***

Title: The Incredibles
Certificate: U (Universal)
Running Time: 1 hour 55 minutes
Director: Brad Bird
Production Company: Pixar
Books: Unknown
Games: Yes
DVD/VHS: DVD so far
Price: £14.99
Where To Buy: HMV, Amazon, Ebay etc
Posters: Yes
Trailers: Several

There are plenty of DVD extras on the DVD edition of this film. I don't have a copy I've bought myself, so this review is about the film only, just to avoid confusion!

Happy trails kids!

Leila :) 

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