The Incredibles Discussion/Reviews

[cindagirl3]

I loved it it's got to be one of my favorites.

cindagirl3

[MadonnasManOne]

Wow, I don't know where I was during the discussion of this film (was I even a member, yet?). At any rate, this is my favorite Disney/Pixar film, and I never grow tired of watching it!

The animation, story, humor, and heart of this film is perfect!


Edit: I see that I wasn't a member of Ultimate Disney, at the time. However, I do remember I discovered UD several months before I decided to join in on the discussions.

[JEANYLASER]

i want to see the incrediblesII. I can't wait for this sequel of the best movie.

i give this incredibles a perfect 10.
violet and dash are my favorates

[Luke]

After the topic merge, this post has become irrelevant. Enjoy the discussion!

Maybe irrelevant now, but extremely helpful in making the merge happen. Thanks!

[mr jinx]

My Review

As good as this film is, I will resist the urge to lazily refer to it at any point in this review as "incredible." Brad Bird, director of the under- appreciated The Iron Giant, makes his Pixar debut directing this film (Next up for Brad is next summer's Ratatouille). The Incredibles is everything that a Fantastic Four movie should have been. This film masterfully presents a super family with internal and external conflict that is able to pull together in the end. Opening in November of 2004, The Incredibles earned the largest opening weekend and second largest total ($261 million) for any Pixar film.

The Incredibles opens during a golden age for Superfolk. Mr. Incredible (perfectly voiced by Coach Craig Nelson) is in his heyday. In the first few minutes he manages to stop a high speed chase, ditch Buddy, the annoying wannabe sidekick, foil Bomb Voyager the French bomber, and rescue a man falling from a sky-scraper. Unfortunately, that man he saved did not want to be saved. The man sues, and a flurry of lawsuits against "supers" follows, and superheroes are forced into retirement.

The story picks up fifteen years later. Mr. Incredible is now living the mundane life of an insurance claims agent. He has settled down with Elastigirl, and has a couple of superpowered kids (Dash and Violet). He and his buddy Frozone (Samuel Jackson on ice skates) long for the glory days and sneak out to fight crime at night. But when the mysterious Syndrome's scheme kicks in, the world will finally need the whole Incredible family to save the day.

The humor in this film is clever and truly funny. The superhero genre is parodied though still respected. Throughout the film, we are shown the perils of capes (the cause of several superheroes demise) and taught the term monologuing (when the villain goes off on a long speech revealing all of his plans rather than just offing the good guy). Also hilarious is the Q like character Edna Mode, a little gadget maker voiced by Bird himself. Another of this film's highlights is its score. The jazzy sleek music gives The Incredibles a retro spy feel that fits perfectly with the onscreen action (not to knock Randy Newman, a Pixar standby, but his style would not have really fit in here).

It is great how the heroes' powers compliment one another and fit the particular character. Mr. Incredible is super strong and nearly invulnerable, mom (Elastigirl) is always stretching, the young hyper Dash is super fast, and Violet, the adolescent girl wants to blend in and can turn invisible, and the baby Jack-Jack still has limitless potential.

I must mention that while possibly homages, there are a number of elements in this film the appear to be blatant rip-offs. I mentioned the Fantastic Four above, it' no coincidence they come to mind when watching this film. The Incredibles family is also pretty much four members. The dad and the Thing are both super strong. Elastigirl and Mr. Fantastic are both stretchy. Violet and The Invisible Woman can both turn invisible and can both create force fields. The only missing Fantastic is the human torch (homaged by Jack-Jack), replaced by a Flash clone in Dash. The Underminer, a villain that appears in the end of the feature is strikingly similar to the Fantastic Four's enemy Mole Man. Frozone slides on ice slides just like the X-men's Iceman. The Omnidorid's tentacles are quite reminiscent of those used by Doc Ock. Even the name Elastigirl (Helen Parr) was coined years ago by the Doom Patrol's Rita Farr. All of these "inspirations" would bother me a lot except that the execution of the film is so perfect that I can overlook these details. The Incredibles is so much better than the Fantastic Four movie that followed it, and even the acclaimed X-Men films never made use of the ice slides that Frozone makes look so "cool". Brad Bird should be given freedom to use any element of any superhero he wants in a much longed for sequel to The Incredibles. If it is not obvious, I love this movie. It is as near to perfect as a film can be and gets an A+.

[Disney Duster]

I can't believe "The Incredibles" let the topic of suicide in. Absolutely inappropriate for a movie they know a lot of kids are going to want to see and that a lot of unwitting parents will take their kids to see. PG might have been the best rating, but there's no way I'd ever let a kid of mine under 8 see it. Maybe not even under 10. Maybe not even under 13, in which case, PG-13 would be okay for it. Or Pixar could just work a little harder to think of something else to make Super Heroes lose their jobs. Like Super Heroes being so reckless, getting buildings destroyed, etc. But seriously, I don't want my kid to think about the idea they can kill themselves. Ever.

[BrandonH]

The Incredibles deals with some hard truths, and it doesn't sugarcoat things or talk down to the audience. Suicides and attempted suicides do happen in real life, and I'm sure that most 10-year olds are aware of the concept. If you don't want your kids to see the movie yet, that's your prerogative as a parent. However, I'd say the material in The Incredibles calls for guidance and not avoidance of the movie.

[Kyle]

I can't believe "The Incredibles" let the topic of suicide in. Absolutely inappropriate for a movie they know a lot of kids are going to want to see and that a lot of unwitting parents will take their kids to see. PG might have been the best rating, but there's no way I'd ever let a kid of mine under 8 see it. Maybe not even under 10. Maybe not even under 13, in which case, PG-13 would be okay for it. Or Pixar could just work a little harder to think of something else to make Super Heroes lose their jobs. Like Super Heroes being so reckless, getting buildings destroyed, etc. But seriously, I don't want my kid to think about the idea they can kill themselves. Ever.

overprotective much? no offense, but its totally healthy to talk about suicide. would you rather your kids think they were invincible? their not that incredible. as far as I'm concerned as soon as a kid understands the concept of death, talk of suicide is perfectly fine. obviously you don't want them to think of it as an option when life gets tough, but to ignore it completely doesn't sound good either.

[Disney Duster]

BrandonH, drugs are a part of life too and I still don't want my little kids seeing big kids get f*cked up.

Kyle, my kids not knowing about the idea to kill themselves will not make them think they can never die, they will already know that from many Walt Disney movies that are appropriate. But the idea that a person would want to end their life, and can, is not okay for a kid to know if they can not know it.

[rs_milo_whatever]

Actually I think that's the whole idea of PG; parental guidance. And I mean if you don't think your kids watching it you have your reasons and you know
better. But that's the way the rating system should work; now it's a bit too prudent, hardly any movies are ever G now, and I think it's kind of like
patronizing children, I remember watching PG movies when I was so much younger that i would expect a PG-13 rating of them if they were released
today. I guess what I'm trying to say is that ratings are a bit too overprotective.

[Disney's Divinity]

I don't think it's a big deal at all, considering the "suicide attempt" went by in passing. It was more for comedy than, "Hey, kids, you can kill yourself if life gets too hard!"

I, personally, wouldn't find it harmful to show my kids this movie at all. People make bad choices all the time--suicide being one of them--and there's no avoiding that. I mean, we can pretend there are no murderors or drug addicts in the world, but that doesn't change the fact that they do exist. And it's better to grow up knowing what the right decisions are rather than ignoring the fact that there are bad decisions. You can't know what's right without knowing what's wrong.

But, then, every parent/individual has different ideas about what's appropriate for children and how innocent they are.

[Disney Duster]

You all have good points, but here's the thing:

They could have easily not had the suicide. They could have easily had the super heros put out of work because they always destroyed things or caused unintended damage. They could have thought of something better. And still kept it PG.

You know, it was rated PG for action violence. It didn't say anything about being rated so for suicide.

Also, I already said, I know we can't pretend that certain things aren't out there, but there is a reason we don't tell our kids about how sex works, or even say the word sex, until they're ready, and we don't explain suicide, or mention it to them until they're ready.

Looney Toons featured jokes about suicide. They would usually would hold a gun to their head or something. But it was never an attempted suicide botched, and they never really talked about it, just made the gesture. But more importantly, back then cartoons, specially Loony Toons like those, were actually intended for adults. This was before Cartoon Network ran 'em. Then of course there's the cartoon violence that we have become aware of and most cartoons made today try to keep out, because of those kids who hurt themselves or other kids, or killed themselves and other kids, thinking they'd survive, or it was nothing, like it was with those toons.

[magicalwands]

Looney Toons featured jokes about suicide. They would usually would hold a gun to their head or something. But it was never an attempted suicide botched, and they never really talked about it, just made the gesture.

It is ironic really, but I just wanted to repeat what my Bible teacher told me about this which had me thinking: "Kids watching those cartoons (Looney Tunes) will think they can jump off a cliff, just go to the hospital, and be just fine. Or they will think a bandage to patch it up will be alright." It is so true that really, there is nothing you can do to protect your kids. You, as the parent, will just have to TEACH them and watch carefully everything they watch...it is your job. That is why you are there in the first place! I think sometimes parents can be a little too protective, but really, it's just a worry in the mind because we underestimate kids.

Obviously, if your kid watches The Incredibles and wants to end their life, something is wrong. I think it is perfectly fine for kids to think about suicide for awhile that it exists and then with time they get over it and will be not a problem anymore. I really wouldn't want to wait for my children to grow up when they're 13, and THEN tell them every bad thing about the world. There are too many things to shield them from that you just can't defend all of it off for them.

So don't worry too much Disney Duster, it isn't a big deal. You're just being human and loving them so much that you are afraid for them. Just back off a bit, they will be okay.

[Disney Duster]

Yes, I will have to teach them, and watch things with them, but how am I supposed to know the Pixar that made films about toys, cute bugs, cuddly furry monsters and fish is gonna put suicide into their new film about super heroes, something kids pretend by running around in capes? Why would a parent think The Incredibles would contain suicide? Thinking deeply about it for a long time may lead to "action violence...oh, suicide!", but that would not cross a parent's mind before they watch the film, I'm sure. So I would go in and the suicide attempt would happen and I would hope it went over my kids heads, but I would be mad that the film pulled that on me without my knowledge. It could say "rated PG for action violence and reference to suicide." Or, you know, replace the suicide with something else, like I suggested.

I never said they would want to kill themselves if they saw the Incredibles. But it would give them the idea, just let them know about the idea, just put it in their heads, so then if they were very sad, and it seemed nothing was going right or would ever go right, they might think of the idea.

As for "underestimating kids", I'm been depressed before and thought about the topic at hand. I don't want that for my kids. Even if my kids "can take it", I don't want them to "take it".

And I wouldn't wait until they were one age to explain everything! You explain things to them as it is appropriate. When they're in middle school, you explain puberty. When they're in high school, you explain safe sex. I know they'll hear about suicide by, say, 11, but I don't want them knowing about it when they're 4 or 5!

By the way...I don't have kids myself, I'm just saying if I had kids, and am thinking of all the kids out there.

[nachonaco]

Frankly, I'm glad that The Incredibles mentioned the topic of suicide. Things should not be hidden from children. There are people who do drugs. There are people who shoot people. There are people who save people from bad people. There are people who denounce drugs.

I saw The Incredibles when I was 15, so my view is probably not quite warranted here. Though I do not have children of my own yet, I consider myself to be very maternal. I would not mind my child seeing a movie like this. If anything, the fact that Mr. Incredible saved Mr. Sansweet from killing himself would be a great lesson to my kids. Help people. Do good in life.

Honestly, I was more disturbed by the plane scene, especially after 9/11. How they got that greenlit I don't know. But I'm not complaining about that. Kids do need to see it. It just amazes me that that got past Disney S&P.

The man in question wasn't even on screen for more than a minute and a half. If your children take their values from that itty bitty bit of background information in a 2-hour-long movie filled with family values and the importance of being a team, then your family needs counseling. Not saying it to be rude, but when you look at the bigger picture of all that's offered in The Incredibles, the rescue really isn't that big of a deal. They could have shown him actually killing himself. But no. He got saved.

[Fflewduur]

I know they'll hear about suicide by, say, 11, but I don't want them knowing about it when they're 4 or 5!

By the way...I don't have kids myself, I'm just saying if I had kids, and am thinking of all the kids out there.

It's a PG-rated film. Parents are responsible for what their kids watch. We kicked the satellite to the curb because we couldn't watch family-friendly programming without family-unfriendly commercials---I have no interest in explaining to my kids why Jack Bauer is always sticking a gun in someone's face. But there are folks who have no problem with buying Grand Theft Auto for their 10-year-olds.

I'd much rather have the right and the responsibility to determine what my kids watch than suffer through bland and inoffensive "entertainment" prescribed by any standards & practices committee; the <i>world</i> isn't governed by S&P, so the responsibility is ultimately mine anyway.

[D82]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-pNRaN7_WQ[/youtube]