After the box office failure of his feature film debut, 1999’s The Iron Giant, writer/director Brad Bird was in a tough situation. On a budget of $70 million, the movie only made roughly about $23 million in the US, despite receiving tons of critical acclaim. Not able to find work after the film’s failure, Bird turned to his friend John Lasseter from Pixar with an idea he had been working on since the early 90s: a family of superheroes living amongst us in a world where superheroes were outlawed and how having superpowers can affect one’s life. Inspired by comics and spy capers of the 60s, Bird worked with Pixar to bring his vision to life, which turned out to be a major challenge for the studio. Despite the challenges presented for a film of this size and scale, The Incredibles would end up being the major success that Brad Bird needed.
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The film opens with interviews with three of the main protagonists: Mr. Incredible, voiced by Craig T. Nelson, Elastigirl, voiced by Holly Hunter, and Frozone, voiced by Samuel L. Jackson. They each share their feelings on how things are for superheroes: Mr. Incredible complaining about things going bad right after saving the day and wanting to settle down at some point, Frozone talking about not wanting to know another superhero’s secret identity if he got romantically involved, and Elastigirl wanting to keep fighting the good fight instead of leaving it to the men. We’re then treated to a sequence showcasing Mr. Incredible’s superhero prowess, where he stops bank robbers, saves a suicide jumper, and stops a monorail from crashing after part of the bridge is blown up, which leads up to him getting married to Elastigirl. Things seem to be going well….that is until the government decides to outlaw superheroes due to the numerous lawsuits brought against them. Cut to 15 years later, where Mr. Incredible, aka Bob Parr, is working a dead-end job at an insurance company, and Elastigirl, aka Helen Parr, is a stay-at-home mom raising their three kids, Violet, Dash, and Jack Jack. They go through all the normal family drama, but with the addition of them all having superpowers. Meanwhile, Bob, along with his reluctant friend Lucius (Frozone), go out to relive the “glory days” as vigilantes. Unfortunately for Bob, things go south when he gets fired after throwing his boss through several concrete walls when he unintentionally stops Bob from saving a guy getting mugged. Suddenly, an opportunity arises for Bob to become a superhero again when he’s asked by a mysterious woman named Mirage, voiced by Elizabeth Peña, to go to a far off island to find and detain an experimental robot. He manages to defeat the robot, and this starts a montage of Mr. Incredible getting back in shape all while keeping the illusion of going to work. He gets a new suit made by fashion designer Edna Mode, voiced by Brad Bird, and goes back to the island to face a new version of the same robot, only to be caught by the villainous Syndrome, voiced by Jason Lee, a former fan of Mr. Incredible’s. Once Helen finds out about what Bob’s been up to, she gets suits for herself and the kids from Edna and intends to go to the island to save Bob alone, only to have Violet and Dash stowaway while leaving Jack Jack with a babysitter. This leads to the family joining up to stop Syndrome from his plan of ultimately making being “super” meaningless.
Anyone who knows me will tell you that I hold a very special place in my heart for Pixar. One of the very first films I ever saw in the theater was 1995’s Toy Story, which captured my imagination as well as the imagination of so many others. I followed many of their other films, including A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc, and Finding Nemo when The Incredibles came along and blew my mind. As a teenager, I thought it was a ton of fun watching this superhero family fight bad guys alongside one other, taking on the giant robot, and just being awesome. Now as an adult, I see a lot of themes present in the film. These include what it means to be super, wanting to relive your past as you get older, how your perception of things can change in an instant, and how we always want to do the right thing despite the odds against us. The Parrs, as family, are instantly relatable despite having superpowers and all. Dads can relate to having to work a dead-end job that you hate just to support your family, kids can relate to the problems that Violet and Dash go through, and moms can relate to how Helen tries to maintain control of the family when things get out of hand. Syndrome, as a villain, is also somewhat relatable, in that many of us have idolized some sort of larger than life figure, only to be disappointed when they’re not the sort of person we thought they were.
This is a very personal film that touches on a lot of meaningful topics, but that doesn’t take away from the fun of the movie. While it does take place in modern times, it has a very 50s-60s feel about it, from the design of the environment (cars, houses, offices, etc) to the score by Michael Giacchino, which perfectly captures the feel of a 60s spy caper. In a way, the movie almost feels like a Mission: Impossible movie, which is interesting considering how Brad Bird would go on to helm 2011’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. The Incredibles is yet another wonderful entry in Pixar’s library. I’m sure that many of you reading this review have already seen it, at least more than once, but for those of you who never got around to it or haven’t seen it in quite some time, this is definitely one worth watching.
