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A Review of "The Incredibles"
First off, this is Slashdot. You know, News for nerds, yadda yadda. So, let's start off with talking about the special effects, or more generally, Pixar showing off all that they have learned and accomplished.
The big hype in the animation sector has been the characters - real human people. Don't be fooled by the hype. Pixar has been doing humans as characters since "Toy Story". With the single exception of "A Bug's Life", human beings have featured as a major character in every Pixar film, and while the effect here is fantastic, it is evolutionary, not revolutionary. No, what stands out in terms of technical acheivement here is the movie's stunning use of light. Sure, "Finding Nemo" accomplished a lot here, but in that film, light was a tool to give depth to the water that surrounded the characters. Here in "The Incredibles" the light is a thing unto itself. Gorgeous shadows, warm red lava, sunlight against clouds, all of these things are breathtaking. The use of sunlight, especially in the jungle sequences, give objects a three dimensionality they have never possessed in a Pixar film before. It's clear that Pixar didn't have the chops prior to this film to do action sequences, because prior to this, the feeling of moving in a three dimensional space just wasn't there.
The movie itself is not just a breakthrough technically, it's a very different movie from previous Pixar productions. This is very intentional. All previous Pixar movies have been dreamed up primarily by John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton, Pixar veterans. So the story goes, these guys are looking back at Pixar history and while they see the series of wonderful made films that the rest of us have seen, apparently they also saw something else: an encroaching rut. There was a very real chance that Pixar could have become the next Disney in a very short time, making well produced and financially successful repeats of their earlier successes for years on end. They didn't want that to happen. And that takes fresh blood. Enter Brad Bird. Bird was an art student with Lasster, and had made one feature film five years ago - the sady underseen "Iron Giant". Brad Bird was challenged to make a different kind of movie, with complete creative control - he wrote and directed. This gamble paid off hugely.
This is not a kids movie. Seriously. Previous Pixar films have been consumate kids movies, movies so well made, and so funny that parents could enjoy them. And there are even a few adult gags the kids might not get. "The Incredibles" is a completely different tack. "The Incredibles" is an action movie, first and foremost, one of the best of the current crop of superhero films. Then it is a family film second, and a kids movie third, if at all.
To give you the basics: the world is full of superheros. The biggest are Mr. Incredible, super strong and invulnerable, Elastigirl, a Ms. Fantastic of sorts, and Frozone, a Silver Surfer/Iceman hybrid. Due to events that occur on Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl's wedding day, superheros wind up on the wrong end of - get this for deja vu - lawsuits. Lawsuits by the thousands. The government comes up with a relocation program, hiding the supers and pardoning them from actions performed in spandex, with the agreement that they hero no more.
Mr. Incredible becomes Bob Parr, an overweight insurance adjuster, with three kids. The symbolism is rampant. Once incredible, now he must suppress both his gifts and his insatiable need to help people, getting in trouble with his boss for actually helping their customers. From incredible, to just par. He's huge. He fills up the entirety of his cubical space, he fills up his entire car, he bends doorknobs, and cutting through his son's steak, he cuts through the table. He is too big for the small world that society wants to peg him in.
On the other hand, he's missing the one incredible part of his life - his family. His son Dash is tired of suppressing his lightning speed, and his teenage daughter Violet is tired of moving everytime the government needs to cover up her father's identity. When she can't hide behind her goth hair, she uses her powers to turn invisible. Managing the two of them and their third child, a normal baby named Jack Jack, Elastigirl is getting tired of being the only real parent.
Their marriage is strained, their kids are young and angry, his job is about to fall apart, and her patience is thin. It's a domestic situation primed to explode, and for the many of us out their who have seen couples divorce, we know exactly where it's going.
Except something happens.
And thereby hangs a tale. As you can see, this isn't some allegory about our lives from the point of view of a bug or a toy or a monster. It IS our lives. But with superpowers. Much like the also fabulous "Shaun of the Dead" the real story is a human one, but framed within spectacular events. The visuals are awesome, the special effects are fabulous, and the dialog not only funny but at times witty. I can bet that 90% of Slashdotters will see themselves on screen, most likely identifying with the daughter Violet or the villain Syndrome.
The performances are of course amazing. Pixar continues its talent of finding distinctive and expressive voices in the world of more traditional acting. Jason Lee as syndrome hints at his performance in "Dogma" and Craig T. Nelson shows us he can be so much more than just the coach from Coach. Holly Hunter shows her never ending flexibility (no pun intended), and newcomer Sarah Vowell as Violet (from National Public Radio's "This American Life") is quite delightful. And the only complaint about Samuell L. Jackson is that there isn't enough of him.
One sad difference between "The Incredibles" and Pixar's previous offerings is that it has a few minor niggles. Regardless of how you feel about Pixar's previous work, it was all carefully and consummately made. The movie's mixture of family interactions and superheros almost always works, but is slightly shakey with its villain Syndrome. He's got great lines, a good backstory, and a perfectly over the top performance from Jason Lee, but something just doesn't quite work, and that's the first time I've ever said that about a Pixar flick. But in the end it doesn't matter. So much works here, that the little stuff gets washed away.
Glad to see that Pixar is finally moving into something besides the little kids genre, I hope the same success that applies to Shiny Animated Kids's Charactors applies to this higher-age-range action film as well.
"I AM NOT A TRACER!"
"This food is problematic."
Pixar really does seem to know what they're doing. My 2 favorite lines are somewhat spoiler-ish so I'll keep them to myself, but they definitely have the whole 'market to kids, but the parents will enjoy it' routine down. I saw it with my 22-year old SO and was laughing as much as the annoying kids behind us (quit kickin' my chair!)
I know nothing
"Mr. Incredible becomes Bob Parr, an overweight insurance adjuster, with two kids."
:p
I would commit ritual suicide if that happened...he really is incredible
There are so many details in the movie it's insane. The scenes where they run through the jungle are amazing. Every single tree and plant is highly detailed even though it rushes past you in the blink of an eye. The humans are just right -- not realistic-looking, but realistic enough. Their hair and clothes are excellently textured, while their skin and faces are comic book-like. The mechanical robot they fight looks like it is made of real metal, not drawn. The lighting effects, as mentioned in the review, are perfect. The whole movie is an animation masterpiece.
I am dying to see this movie, but the one thing that sticks out to me: Isn't this the fantastic four, power-wise? You have a really strong brute, someone who can turn invisible and use force-fields, someone who is really stretchy, and instead of Johnny Flame, you you have the Flash. That doesn't really mean much for the enjoyability of the movie, but surely Marvel must have seen some sort of connection?
And absolutely LOVED it!
It's nice to see that Pixar is sticking to it's guns on having a great story/script BEFORE they start making a movie out of it. Too bad Eisner & Co. didn't get that clue and I think Pixar will be all the better for it now that they've told Disney to get lost.
As Steve Jobs would say, the movie is "insanely great"!
If "disco" means "I learn" in Latin, does "discothèque" mean "I learn technology"?
I have many reviews, but Erik's one one of the better ones. (His review, not the movie itself). I am looking forward to the movie, not just because it looks good and also because the "Sand Dogs" trailer appears with it in the U.S.(That would be the Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of The Sith)
Have you Meta Moderated t
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I was amazed at the rendering of long, wet hair. I dug up this cool paper on the subject.
With every movie, computer graphics takes another step. Antz had water, Lion King had computer-generated herds... Although we're really close, we'll get to a point where the animation no longer constrains the story.
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
I sure hope the highlight of the movie isn't MR. Incredible getting his belt buckled.
I just got back a little while ago from catching an 11am showing, and it was worth sitting in a theater full of annoying, noisy children to see this one on opening weekend (instead of waiting a couple weeks like I usually do).
The animation was spectacular, and there were quite a few laughs.
...was that the scene in the teaser trailer, of Mr. I attempting to buckle his belt, is not in the film.
Other than that, a pretty good movie, though perhaps not in the same league as Toy Story and A Bug's Life.
sounds really cool... it wont air here (israel) for another 3 weeks though... :(
I own a pump action golf ball cannon. I made it myself.
Ironically, Disney's solo "Chicken Little" looks to be pretty good (previewed at The Incredibles also).
Letter To Iran
It's precisely because of that sort of thing that the movie works. Rather than "Copy", though, it's more frequently called "tribute" and "satire" (the latter gaining them protection from lawsuits).
There's touches of Fantastic Four, X-Men, Superman, Spiderman, James Bond, Rankin and Bass HeatMiser and more. Just look for them and enjoy the cultural richness
:-)
I really enjoyed this movie, but it had a weird streak of Ayn Randism running through it. I actually rather liked that, but each time it caused to step back from the movie a little bit. There were a couple of lines thrown in like "And when everybody's super, then no one is," announced by the bad guy. Or when Dash is told by his parents that everyone is special, he retorts with "that's just a way of saying that nobody is."
This movie encouraged exceptionalism in a way that was striking for a kid's movie. It actively lobbied against the idea of everybody being unique in their own way, it argued in favor of there being Nietzchi-esque supermen among us who should be lifted up above the masses for the betterment of society.
Whether or not you like the message, it was kind of fun to see what I was expecting to be a kid's film making an arguement about philosophy. Fun stuff. Good movie.
--
RumorsDaily
While I enjoyed "The Incredibles" very much, I couldn't shake the impression that the movie storyline is just a bit too close to the storyline of the classic Alan Moore graphic novel. "Watchmen" also tell the story of superheroes whose activity was banned by law - thus ending the Golden Age - and they were given new identities by the government just like in the witness protection. Even the idea of portraying the Golden Age and the contemporary narrative in different graphic styles, reflecting differences in aestethics of contemporary graphic novel and 1930's comics is present here - in "Incredibles", we have contemporary CGI animations and hilarious spoofs of "retro" cartoons of the Golden Age.
I had the opportunity to ask Brad Bird directly about this similarity on "The Incredibles" junkt in Santa Monica. He said he has never read "Watchmen". I believe him, but... it's just too close.
Was Syndrome character design based off Akira or Vejita?
Akira Toriyama wants to sue for likeness!
Otomo Katsuhiro just wants you to go see Steam Boy.
The movie was able to jerk emotions out of me much more than expected. I come from a divorced family and there's lots of kids. I somehow had a weak spot for this and it shows when I watch it. Very Very VERY well made. Gotta love Pixar. Don't know what I think about Cars yet. Looks kinda goofy and stupid. But Incredibles' trailers didn't give anything away about the content of the movie either....
I got nothin'.
...and I have to agree with the comments so far. The movie is extraordinary, one of the best I've seen so far this year. It may be an even better superhero movie than Spiderman 2, and that's saying a lot.
The effects are there to help the story along, not to shine by themselves. At lots of times I completely forgot that it was CGI; it's not animation, not live acting, but something in which you can get utterly absorbed. A must-see for any self respecting film geek, Pixar fan, CGI fan, or all of the above.
No
hey,
do you guys all get the "dancing sheep" stuff before "the incredibles" either?
I like it.
There is a spark in every single flame bait point.
Ever since the early days, one thing that has annoyed me about Pixar is their strange love of over-saturated light. From their early TV commercials on they've had it. The one part of Toy Story I didn't like was that lighting (most often in sunset scenes, etc.), especially since I had just figured out that general problem in some 3D work I had been doing myself at that time and was very attuned to the look.
However... as the review pointed out, in this picture the lighting is just beautiful. The choices are great, and the look enhances without intruding. Basically it's moved up to being a strong supporting character
Psst... It's spelled ElastiGAL, not Elastigirl. You see that in the scene where he's flipping through the superheroes on Syndrome's computer.
Surely that was contracted out to someone else to make, just like the EQ2 movie.
Neither of them represent the games they are trying to sell, either. Not even close.
Maybe one of these days they'll make a CG movie on the D&D type genre though - it could be good. The trailers for these games always leave you wanting to see more - but then I guess that's the point; "for more, play the game!!"
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
I'd go see it just for the "Revenge of ths Sith" trailer!
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
My favorite line is when Syndrome (when he is just a boy) after Mr. Incredible telling him "Everyone is special," says "Which means no one is special."
My biggest issue with the movie was the modeling of the character's ears. It sounds small, but considering how well modeled the rest of the characters' facial features are, the lego-looking ears are really distracting.
And of course, my favorite thing about the movie was the RotS trailer...
Karma: Bizzare (mostly affected by varying internal caffeine levels.)
Yeah yeah, get us jealous already.
Does anyone know when it's coming out in Europe?
I've looked for it everywhere, but can only find the American date!
There were a couple of lines thrown in like "And when everybody's super, then no one is," announced by the bad guy.
Except for... Bicycle Repair Man!
Better than Shrek 2, in my opinion.
The Incredibles has less of the movie spoof scenes, but makes up for it with a more compelling story.
The pop culture references are mainly about 50s/60s era super-heroes, but you won't miss it once the story gets going.
Irene KHAAAAAAN!
Which point is an interesting philosphical problem in itself: the ethical question of what do you do with the gifted in the first place?
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Too bad the plot and storyline were shit.
The flaw with 3D animation these days isn't the graphics, it's the motion. The physics of certain motions are not accurate and this gives a very odd result on the screen. Once they fix this, it'll be much better.
One of my favorite parts of the movie (spoiler alert) is when Elastigirl is talking to her children while hiding from the bad guys in a cave and warning them:
"You know those Saturday morning cartoons you used to watch? Well the bad guys here are not like that. They will not exercize restraint just because you're children. They will kill you if they can."
Again, while I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, I have a sinking fear that Disney is going turn this into another franchise that they will milk for all its worth. Until it has none of the spark which makes this movie so enjoyable.
"I'm making perfect sense, you're just not keeping up."
I think there is something silly about the critics (and wanna be critics) finding funny faults with something that isn't "so believable" about movies like this.
You can suspend disbelief about the super strength, the elasticity, the super speed, and invisibilty of cartoon characters but you have a hard time with they straw-man villain of the story?
Hello?
It's called "EN-TER-TAIN-MENT" --say it with me.
Save that kind of criticism for Start Wars: Revenge of the Sith
I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
Undoubtedly the best Pixar movie yet. Sure, it has beautiful visuals and a great story, but there is something layered much deeper than hit right with me while I was watching it.
I think it's the message.
In public schools, kids who are incredibly intelligent and wish to progress forward in learning are discouraged to do so because it would be "unfair" and what have you. Because of that, they are sent down to the same classes as those who are, to put the bluntly, stupid(or just not as gifted).
It's the same thing in this movie, the unique(or "super") are sent down to live with those who they were once helping because they don't want it anymore.
Now MAYBE I'm just reading too much into something that isn't there, but it sounds like it is a metaphor for an ignorant populace that no longer wants to be helped by ones who can, which could be a metaphor for those who are creative and intelligent. Essentially, scientists and engineers(and the combinations of the two).
They all celebrate mediocrity and everyone being the same. It's a rather socialist point of view, and the Incredibles finally pull themselves out of their stuper and go back to helping mankind.
That's my view on it. Which is why I'm going to go see it again.
And again.
Many, many times over.
...the word "niggles"?
Seriously though, I caught the movie a couple nights ago and I was blown away. Pixar just gets better and better. The movie was just enough of a bold stroke away from what they've done previous.
If you are out to catch this film, be sure not to leave for the bathroom!
The phone number on the Mirage business card appeared to be a real 866 number - anyone get it?
If you listen to the callsign of the plane piloted by ElastiGirl at one point in the movie, you should catch a reference to The Empire Strikes Back.
probably because I was in a theatre with kids.
Evil Minion: Let's take a shot evertime we see people run.
Adult humor in a Pixar film, now that's comedy.
"It takes many nails to build a crib, but one screw to fill it."
I was just thinking about how great it would be if we could see marvel characters with the pixar treatment. They could keep their original costumes (cause they wouldn't be so ridiculous in a cartoon/cg movie) and super powers would be like they are in the comic books. Not to mention that the powers that the Incredibles had were biting off the Fantastic Four majorly.
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Another hidden gem in this movie is Wallace Shawn (Vizzini from The Princess Bride) as "Bob Parr's" boss in the insurance company. Fortunately, his role includes the lightning quick monologues that he's famous for.
I've got the_incredibles-tlr_m480.mov paused at 00:00:49, and the frame says ELASTIGIRL.
Blizzard does all of their animation in-house, and they are very well known for their high quality work. Their artists are obsessive with detail, and the standards for getting into one of their animation jobs are sky-high.
And represent the game they're trying to sell? That's a matter of opinion: they're trying to make the most exciting and visually pleasing movie possible using the source material, which they do, and do rather well. A video reflecting in-game gameplay would be best served by... recording in-game gameplay, maybe? It sure as hell wouldn't be as interesting to watch, that's for sure.
Yeah, but those who said that were both showing their negative sides. One moping over being called to the principal's office, and the other was a gloating powerist bigot.
Irene KHAAAAAAN!
It was an amzing movie. The visual effects, story, voices, everything!
And the soundtrack! How has nobody mentioned the soundtrack? It was fabulous.
This movie definately matched its title.
...has been posted to my journal, for what it's worth.
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
... is that he is truly a nerd. Small wonder that Michael has a problem with him. I felt the same way about it. Nevertheless, the best Pixar flick I've ever seen.
I went with some three year olds and it is a bit violent. Kind of like the other Brad Bird film The Iron Giant, everything is awesomely rendered, great story, but then things start blowing up. People really seem to get hurt in this one and it's made quite clear the bad guy really means to kill to family. It's not like most cartoons or toy story, where you know they can't really get hurt.
Especially when the invisble girl is being hunted by a guy with a machine gun...
Except the Incredibles don't rule: they SERVE.
The intelligent guy who wants to manipulate the world, he's the one who wants to "rule."
I think the point is much more "it's important to be yourself even if you're not 'normal'" instead of "use your talents to control the world".
And just to be devil's advocate: the young girl's powers DO go together. The theme is "she's hiding from the world and pushes people away." Like a lot of teenage girls. Much like the boy's powers are along the "bundle of energy" theme, and Elastigal is "stretched thin" as a mother.
A video reflecting in-game gameplay would be best served by... recording in-game gameplay, maybe? It sure as hell wouldn't be as interesting to watch, that's for sure.
Point taken, but having seen some rather beautiful screenshots from WoW it might actually be possible to pull off. This and still be a very useful marketing tool.
-- No matter how great your triumphs or how tragic your defeats, approximately one billion Chinese couldn't care less.
So, you mean about 20 men in black were used to make that trailer?
I really want to see Pixar do more stories of The Incredibles. But please, not so many that they become mediocre.
There was even what seemed to be a direct reference to "Watchmen" in the conversation with the tailor who made Mr. Incredible's costume: the fact that capes are dangerous. There's a brief scene in "Watchmen" in which they describe a bank-sponsored superhero getting shot after his cape was caught in a revolving door, and then in "The Incredibles" all those little scenes of superheros dying because their of their capes.
I'm surprised that no one has yet called out the voice performance by Brad Bird doing the fashionista Edna "E" Mode. Her lines, interactions with Mr/Mrs I, and her demonstration of the dangers of capes were, IMHO, the funniest lines in the movie.
Steve doesn't even have time to fail lately. He is the head of a computer company that is in the midst of revolutionizing the music industry, making great computers(IMHO), with soaring stock values, and record profits. He is also the majority share holder of Pixar, the company most likely to unseat Disney as the the next media monolith. "The Incredibles" was about the smartest thing that Pixar could do to jump out of the path of the rut they were about to step into. It will be a success, so will their next film. Then they are done with Disney and on their own. Suddenly all the work will PAY OFF bigtime. Steve has managed to tie each of his personal investments together into one huge monster in sheep's clothing. He sold NeXT to Apple, became Apple's CEO, then used the NeXT OS to create Mac OS X, then sold lots of OS X Macs to Pixar to make movies for Disney. Then he sells the music from the movies on iTMS. Bill Gates better watch out.
Why doesn't anything interesting happen when I have mod points?
The movie is really clever in how it visually references other films. Particullary good was a portion of the film which is a shot-by-shot remake of the Rocket bike chase in Return of the Jedi. It also spoofs You Only Live Twice in some really humorous ways too. In short, good movie for film nerds.
Did anyone else notice that Syndrome looked a lot like Freakazoid? Brought back good memories
I haven't seen the movie, I'm just discussing the philosophical points brought up in the parent post.
Personally, I find the "everybody's unique and equally 'special'" motto annoying. First, it's obvious that everyone is different in some way. Second, everyone isn't special... I hate to put it this way--it sounds mean--but there are people in this world whose lives are just plain, regular lives that have no significance to the world at large. Of course, I think that every person knows some people who consider them special, and they are to those people. Most people eventually get married, which means that someone found them interesting and caring enough to marry; chances are at least someone you work with considers you to be intelligent, creative, or useful in some way.
But there will always be some people, who, just by the relative amount of attention they receive, are considered to be "above the rest". Celebrities--famous mathemeticians and scientists, (in)famous politicians, and athletes--are considered "more special" than others.
It depends on your point of view whether it is right to say that everyone is that special. Like I said, to someone, they are. But telling people that encourages people to do dumb stuff, like decide that they aren't going to try hard in high school since they're certainly good enough at some sport to go pro.
Just my $0.02. Actually just $0.01, since I'm not using my Karma Bonus ;-)
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Anyone else notice the "cigarette burns" in the upper right corner were green "Incredible" logos? They're hard to catch.. Can anyone else confirm this?
I didn't catch it all, but, when IncrediBoy first showed up, didn't Mr. Incredible call him Brodie before remembering his real name was Buddy? A nod to Kevin Smith, perhaps?
Look closely at the links before clicking: they use hollywood video's site to redirect to a nude pic of a guy spreading his ...well, it's not goatse, but you probably don't want to see it.
Yoda and Old Ben had to go underground.
Heck, the Samurai were real-life superheroes who were outlawed by their government.
This is not a new theme.
Education is the silver bullet.
Let the nerd-dom begin.
;-)
I've seen it three times, so far.
I'm its Biggest Fan!
The two things that I've paid more attention to than when I first saw it: in Boundin' when the snow falls, the rattlesnake freezes. Cute. And the goldfish in the background when Edna talks to Helen were absolutely amazing.
Education is the silver bullet.
yes i really like the seemingly objectivist streak in the movie. (or at least i was happy to interpret it as objectivist)
to me it echoed the current state of "progressive" culturalism where the successful are punished and are supposed to be ashamed of their talent and success. they have to give to charity to make up for the sins of their success. even though they create most of the jobs and most of the wealth in society and even though they hand over half of their earnings to the government to support the less talented, the less driven, and the less fortunate, they are criticized. much like the incredibles who had to hide their gifts when laws were passed against them. in schools our society often concerns itself with the underachievers who don't even want to be in school instead of helping students who are actually motivated to succeed.
i know the movie probably doesn't completely work as an objectivist metaphor, but i appreciated even the half nod in that direction.
unfortunately i don't really know anything about nietzche so i can't comment on that.
I liked that the nostrils were a little stylized. They really had the look of stop motion puppets. I also liked the subsurface scattering on the skin - gave it a much richer look.
What bugged me was that their costumes looked a little too much like WB's Freakazoid, and the main villain had a really strong WB look as well.
Fortunately for me and thousands of others, the Sith trailer wasn't in front of the Incredibles last Friday where I live. Hooray!!
Fool me once - like with Phantom Menace - and it's shame on you. Fool me twice (and quite successfully, sadly) and it's shame on me.
Honestly. Is anybody going to enjoy the spectacle of George Lucas' latest sacrilegious dangling turd finally plummeting into the toilet?
And the Incredibles: 'tis simply the best theatre movie I've seen in the last two years. WOOHOO!!!
I know Pixar always likes to put John Ratzenberger in their films as well as the beat up Toyota pickup from Toy Story.
Ratzenberger did the voice of the Underminer villain, but where is the Toyota?
And what this review failed to mention, was the detail of the hair. I thought it was incredible, excuse the pun. It was very well done, unlike any I've seen before, however, there is still some room for improvement.
I thought the movie was well done, but I didn't get the full pleasure I should have from watching it. I was sitting near someone who must have needed a root canal... so everytime everyone else was laughing I was bracing for another 20 seconds of smelling SHIT. It pretty much ruined the experience for me.
I fear I've been scarred for life.
You're nothing; like me.
I'm fairly certain the character Syndrome was modeled (at least appearancewise) after Heat Miser, from the classic "The Year Without A Santa Claus" claymation movie. Pretty amusing when you notice it...
Am I the only one who is getting tired of the whole "the fans are the real problem!" whining?
As amazing and fun as the animation and humour were, I was never able shake off the creepy elitism underneath it all as I was watching it.
when the plane got shot down, and Elastigirl and the kids landed in the water, I seem to recall that there were no water droplets on their faces while they were floating around in the ocean. I'm struck by this only because it would seem like water droplets on a face would be an easier problem than some of the others that they tackled for this movie (and succeeded, IMHO).
Tierce
Who sponsors your feelings?
I haven't seen the movie yet, although I plan to this week, but would one of you, any of you, PLEASE say something negative about this movie? Anything. Seeing dozens (nay, hundreds) of Slashdotters all agreeing with each other all at the same time is disconcerting at best, and frankly is scaring the hell out of me.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
a lesbian complained that Chasing Amy made it sound as those homosexuality were just a choice and that a lesbian just needed a "deep dicking" to be converted.
Kevin Smith pointed out that the Jason Lee character said that because his character is so WRONG about everything. Kevin Smith was making a point that such a line of reasoning is WRONG.
"Syndrome" said that because the idea is WRONG. If were were coming out of Mr Incredible's mouth then it might possibly be construed that Pixar was trying to convince people that were the way things are.
What made you think that the villian in the movie was the one to pay attention to for some kind of moral lesson? Pixar had Syndrome say those lines because he's the bad guy and HE'S WRONG. Dash says it because he's young and ignorant. And he later finds out he was WRONG. His entire family has special abilities that make them unique.
All the Incredibles are unique in their own special way. The heros are like that because that is the CORRECT moral lesson Pixar was putting out there.
Seriously. I can't think of any movie where every character good and bad speaks only moral truths that the audience is supposed to take as correct. This like every other movie ever made has characters which have incorrect world views which are then demonstrated to be wrong by events of the film.
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Did it bug anyone else that the red headed kids name was syndrome?
Since when?
"It's clear that Pixar didn't have the chops prior to this film to do action sequences, because prior to this, the feeling of moving in a three dimensional space just wasn't there."
I don't see how you can make that argument. Video games, which have long been focused solely on action, and are far behind the quality seen in this film, have been doing action quite successfully for a long time now. If anything, action is MORE suited to poorer quality graphics, because everything whizzes by so fast you don't have time to notice any details. For the stylized cartoonish animation that Pixar does, the technological enhancements really aren't that noticeable anymore. I think Pixar is reaching a point of diminishing returns here... which isn't bad, it's just to say that things are just about as good as they are going to get doing this sort of cartoon animation.
"Previous Pixar films have been consummate kids movies, movies so well made, and so funny that parents could enjoy them. And there are even a few adult gags the kids might not get. "The Incredibles" is a completely different tack. "The Incredibles" is an action movie, first and foremost, one of the best of the current crop of superhero films. Then it is a family film second, and a kids movie third, if at all."
I mostly agree with this. While I think that this movie would be very entertaining to children, they weren't it's focus. The movie was told from the perspective of the parents, with the children being the supporting characters. A lot of the issues that the parents deal with will fly over the heads of the children, which is ironic in a sense, as you see the same thing happening to the child characters in the movie. Still, it should be made clear that this movie doesn't really go any further than that, and most likely couldn't and remain a kid's movie. Non of the adult characters are really faced with any complex situations or moral dilemmas. There's a firm line between good and evil. Things go down a rather predictable path. Things are spelled out mostly and little left to our intuition. So don't go to the movie expecting anything like that. The ADD kids will have their attention kept by the action, and the ADD adults will have their attention kept by their identification with the adult characters and jokes (ya and the action too =P).
The movie's mixture of family interactions and superheros almost always works, but is slightly shakey with its villain Syndrome. He's got great lines, a good backstory, and a perfectly over the top performance from Jason Lee, but something just doesn't quite work, and that's the first time I've ever said that about a Pixar flick. But in the end it doesn't matter. So much works here, that the little stuff gets washed away.
OK to discuss this I'm going to have to throw out a few spoilers here, so you should probably stop reading here. I think his character worked quite well... for a kids movie. He was a two dimensional villain, [SPOILER] which was somewhat disappointing given that they had taken the time to make him be a childhood fan of Mr. Incredible. It almost looked like they were leading up to a sympathetic villain, but then decided they wanted a very firm line between good and evil in this movie. If perhaps they had made Mr. Incredible more at fault for Syndrome's turn to evil, and have Syndrome struggle a bit more instead of being totally evil, he could have been made into a more interesting character. It would also have been nice to show a change in Mr. Incredible, from a young man who didn't really like children or understand them, to a father. They could have made Syndrome's attack on the city not be a totally evil move, but rather have his intention to be to put on a show and be a hero (with the attitude of collateral damage being just "breaking a few eggs"), and the machine goes out of control. Take out his serial killing of heroes, and he might be able to be a villain you could have s
You forgot Star Wars, notably "Return Of The Jedi". I'll let movie viewers draw their own parallels between the Jungle scene in "The Incredibles" and the Forest scene in "ROTJ".
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Ayn Rand is in the movie. Accent, silly cigarette holder, polemics, and all.
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Anonymous Kev
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Okay, I've seen it twice already, and (damn!) have to go again with my wife tonight. I simply can not believe the talent and insight that Pixar brings to the medium.
GEEK ALERT
So, the thing that really stands out for me is the slight "involuntary" movement of the eyes when Mr. Incredible is listenting to his wife. It's about half-way through the film.
It's subtle. He's looking at her. Then, there's the smallest of movements of his eyes when she speaks...and he's looking at her. Seriously, he's watching her speak.
It's just so lifelike...a tiny, delicate detail... that it absolutely blows my mind. I got a cool chill when I noticed it, like the first time I saw 'Al' the toy collector, sleeping on the couch in Toy Story 2. So very "real", extremely cool.
And as for the preview for Cars, hey, I liked it! My son will probably enjoy it, he really digs that stuff!
I was not let down. I keep waiting for the first Pixar flop or let-down... and I'm still waiting. To be honest, the car movie doesn't look all that interesting to me, but I'm perfectly willing to give it a chance.
:-)
I enjoyed how they portrayed the mothers domestic use of her powers. Elastigirl makes the best use of her powers through the movie I think, in many various ways. A superfamily trying to be normal... perhaps not the most original premise, but very well executed and hilarious nonetheless.
You can tell when someone makes excellent characters... you want to see more of them. You wish there was a longer movie, or a sequal, or something. And at the end of this movie, I was very much wanting to see Incredibles 2.
But... I am glad to say that there's a good chance we'll never see that. Pixar is very good about creating a new world with every movie... Toy Story 2 was a mandate from Disney, not a Pixar choice. And there's no real need to revisit the Incredibles... their story is done. I just loved the story, the world, and the delivery... impeccable.
I'm a Pixar fanboy, I admit.
"I will trust Google to 'do no evil' until the founders no longer run it." Hello Alphabet.
OMG the hair
I was sporting wood for the majority of the picture
I really enjoyed this movie, but it had a weird streak of Ayn Randism running through it. I actually rather liked that, but each time it caused to step back from the movie a little bit. There were a couple of lines thrown in like "And when everybody's super, then no one is," announced by the bad guy. Or when Dash is told by his parents that everyone is special, he retorts with "that's just a way of saying that nobody is."
Is that Ayn Rand, or is that simple logic? It reminds me of a pet peeve I have over people saying "It's all good". Well, then it's all bad, too, because you're just saying it's all the damn same!
Bart: "Nothing you say can upset us. We're the MTV generation."
Lisa: "We feel neither highs nor lows."
Homer: "Really? What's it like?"
Lisa [shrugging]: "Ehh."
So a buddy of mine comes into town yesterday, and we're going to see Team America... We knew of the Incredibles, but we've both been wanting to catch Team America, and this was the 1st opportunity we'd hade to get together in awhile, so Team America it is.
We get to the theatre for the 3:05 show, and I'm 1st in line, so I say "One for the 3:05 Team America show", and the ticket girl responds "Oh! That started at 3:00" (the time it currently was). "But", she says,"The previews run till like 3:04, so you've got time to get to the theatre".
"Ok". I think. "Kinda odd for the website to be off 5 minutes, as far as movie times to go, but whatever. We're here in time anyway", and we run down to the theatre she tells us (#17), and walk into the darkness of the theatre.
This thing was packed! Tons of kids and parents, and barely a seat to sit in. As we walk in, the only ones laughing really are the kids, and they're laughing at this animated pink "goat", or something, who's lampooning it up with some Monsters Inc. looking wooly thing.
We finally find some seats, and sit down, and so we're watching this animated pink thing, and it's not ending. We thought we'd walked into some previews, and this preview just keeps going, and granted, we weren't paying real close attention, as we thought these were just previews to the Team America movie, but after about 5 minutes or so, we're seriously wondering what it is we're watching, and whether we're in the right theatre.
Finally we made a decision to step back outta the theatre and re-assess the ricket/movie situation, only to find out that the girl had sold us tickets to the Incredibles, not Team America. Rather than go argue it out with the ticket girl, we just found the Team America theatre and wandered in just as the movie was starting (phew!).
So the new movie's evidently so popular that theatres are just assuming that's what you're there to see! 8)
Outta curiosity, for those of you that did go see the Incredibles, what the hell was that stuff that I saw? A preview for something else, or the beginning of the Incredibles? Any idea from my desription?
I really hope it was just previews, as it did not impress me whatsoever. Like I said, it was mainly little kids laughing at this pink thing, unlike in the Team America theatre, which was primarily adults anyway.
And Team America? It was a great movie! Perhaps not as good as the South Park movie IMHO, but it was pretty damn good nonetheless (even with some of the dialogue being taken almost verbatim from various South Park episodes!).
"Cause I'm a dick! And dicks fuck pussys. But some people aren't pussys or dicks, they're just assholes. But you know... Sometimes dicks fuck assholes too! And sometimes pussys get so fulla shit that they become assholes themselves!"
Bahahaha... Some classic lines in that movie, there are! 8)
If you were thinking about bringing an infant or toddler, please don't.
This isn't "Finding Nemo" - it has people getting killed. It shows parental fear & inability to protect children. Scarey stuff for a four or five year old.
I saw (and thoroughly enjoyed) the film yesterday, but it was partly spoiled by screaming babies. If you're the couple at the Colo Springs showing with four kids under five, that allowed the one baby to cry continuously - please don't do that to a theater again. Next time someone might say something awkward to you. Like "hey man, go be a dad".
And next time, don't assume that because something's animated it's great for kids.
Did anyone feel like playing City of Heroes from this movie?
I posted my brief review and comments on my AQFL Web Site.
And guys, see it on DLP format if you can!
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Speaking of powers, "Frozone" is not a "Silver Surfer/Iceman hybrid." He's exactly like Iceman, except that he moves by skiing instead of just standing there and letting the ice propel him.
The fact that all the characters are totally cliched lets you think about all the times you read the old comics and never thought about things they might have to deal with, as well as ways of using their powers together that comic book writers don't think about. (And for that matter, how did Iceman get the ice to propel him along anyway?)
They're not the Fantastic Four, though - not exactly.
Fantastic Four and Incredibles analogs:
The Invisible Woman - Violet
Mr. Fantastic - Elastigirl
Thing - Mr. Incredible
The Torch - arguably nobody
nobody - Dash
So there's one character that doesn't match up. Does Marvel even have a super-fast-and-nothing-else character? They did have a character that looked exactly like Cyclops, with exactly the same power, but he was a very, very minor character. He didn't even have speaking lines.
One thing that I'd like to add is that while all the characters were very well made, they were also slightly stylized, and there weren't a lot of colors or shading effects in any individual character.
Someone could easily make this into a rather inexpensive to make cartoon.
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I'm suprised no one mentioned the boy Violet has a crush on. Black turtleneck, jeans... someone we know ?
I was hoping there was a movie in the past, but IMDb shows one for 2005!
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Interesting, to me anyway. I can't think of any other Pixar movies where they've had on-screen deaths. I think it's good. People die. Why pretend otherwise, just because it is a kids' movie (was this a kids' movie?)?
I actually like how they don't end up giving away whole segments of the movie in the trailers by doing this. It seems like all too often I see a trailer and then watch the film and feel like I've already seen the film before.
Marvel does indeed have a fairly prominent super-speed character: Quicksilver - son of Magneto, former member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, The Avengers and X-Factor.
They also have "The Whizzer" but I won't try to describe him any further since there are too many versions of him in alternate realities.
If you'll excuse me, I need to crawl back under my rock.
THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
The best part about Syndrome was that as soon as you saw him with that cape, all the flashbacks from Edna became so much more funny!
She was a total MILF! When she was in spandex, her butt looked great.
..how the movie is about all of us who (at least the good ones) were DotCom Superheroes in the days past and now have to put up with boring classic desk job to keep the family going. And how one possible way back to glory is to sign up with some Evil.
There was a bit towards the end that left me confused; two older guys said something to each other like 'Now THATS oldschool!' or something along those lines. One of them vaguely looked like that Gerry guy from Gerrys Game (the chess playing short), but I'm not sure if it was supposed to be him or not? Anyone know what I'm talking about?
Very interesting. So in the theaters we have The Incredibles preaching the Nietzchien idea that the superior among us will have noble motives, and on TV we have Enterprise with the Brent Spiner trilogy of stories dealing with survivors of the Eugenics Wars, where the idea is that the superior will try to dominate the weak. One show says the superiors will help us, and another show says the superiors will try to destroy us.
Heh, fun times for geeks and philosophy majors.
DT
Is this thing on? Hello?
"Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick! Everybody knows that a burrow owl lives in a hole in the ground! Why the hell do you think they call it a burrow owl, anyway?!"
This is exactly the attitude i am talking about.
Anyone with wealth automatically exploited society to get it. Its not possible that someone actually earned their money. Not only that, but in order to keep everyone equal we must keep people from becoming rich. This is why socialism is dangerous and this is why the Soviet Union failed so spectacularly. This line of thinking actually does lead to equality, but it leads to everyone being equally poor. Those with skill and drive and talent are forced into mediocrity or at the very least are left without an incentive to perform. The author of the parent post implies that inequality is a bad thing. He fails to recognize that people really are not equal. He cannot see that some people work harder or are more talented and that is why they are successful.
The goal should be to raise everyone's standard of living, not to destroy those who are successful. Of the vast increase in the well being of hundreds of millions of people that has occurred in the 200 year course of the industrial revolution to date, virtually none of it can be attributed to the direct redistribution of resources from rich to poor. The potential for improving the lives of poor people through redistribution is nothing compared to the apparently limitless potential of increasing production. Anyone interested in learning more about this line of thinking should read The Industrial Revolution - Past and Future, a paper by Nobel Prize winning economist Robert Lucas.
The "divine rule of kings" concept was definitely here. The guy who wanted to everyone to have superpowers, the one guy favoring equality? Yea, he's a villian with genocidal tendencies. Syndrome (the villian) mouthed those words so that we would disagree with them- when the very concept of science, the core ability of delivering power and equality to everyone is villianized, I can't respect the philosophy.
It did argue in favor of Nietzchian thought, and it argued against both democracy and science.
The lawsuits shutting down superheroes is something that we aren't supposed to think too well of. The message is that the genetically gifted are talented enough to use their gifts in ways that the common man is simply not competent to judge- that complaining is not the role of the nonexceptional, because he doesn't really understand. Because the untalented are not as worthwhile as people.
There are no good guy scientists in the entire film. The closest "good guy" is the clothing designer, who is excused for her obvious genius by being comically short, unattractive, and highly eccentric. We wouldn't want anyone to get the idea that smart people can fill any normal roles, after all.
I enjoyed the movie a lot, but the message really dissappointed me. It's the same kind of philosophical trash we always get out of Hollywood, except not even hidden as well as normal. Pixar can do better.
My wife and I saw this movie, We have to admit it is the first movie in a while we want the DVD too. My wife not being a computer person by any means was very impressed with the lighting and shadows. Not only that but the writing and characters were wonderful! The movie was mostly non-stop action or comedy, we were hoping for more when it ended. This was not your typical predictable hollywood movie. I felt it raises the bar dramatically for the next release of animated movies.
Microsoft aggravates my tourettes syndrome.
OK - bottom line.
Will my girls (aged 7, 5 who loved Toy Story, Nemo etc) like it or am I about to waste $15?
Something to watch out for if you're pining to catch the Star Wars 3 trailer -- go see the movie at a big theater.
For everyone who's never worked at a theater, the studios actually mail out the teaser trailers to the theaters and tell them which films they need to be attached to. Sometimes the films come with trailers already attached to the start of the film, but generally they are by the same studio that made that film (which is probably the case with Cars -- it was the last trailer right before the movie starts).
In any case, there is a limited number of teasers that the studios can/want to/will mail out, and if you go to the six-plex, you might miss it. I did.
The dilemma:
:)
Hero has impression that someone needs help.
Hero takes actions to provide help.
These actions have side effects (cars destroyed, buildings knocked down).
Hero is sued for these damages.
Hero hires lawyers to defend self in court.
Hero loses in court.
Now what is a hero to do?
Defy the courts (assuming he/she loses the lawsuit) and become a "criminal" in the eyes of the law?
Or pack-up and stop being a super hero.
Mr. Incredible quits. As do all the superheros in that world. Those are no superheros in my book. Justice does not end with a judge's decision. Judges decide over laws that we as a nation have enacted through our legislative representatives. If we don't like the way the law is interpreted, it is our duty as citizens to see that such laws are changed.
Anyway, I enjoyed the movie. Go see it.
I agree with everyone who was impressed by the technical side of the movie. The lighting effects were outstanding and everything stone or metallic looked stunningly realistic. Leaves and trees didn't have that same realism, but I'm not sure if it was an intentional design decision. I wasn't at all impressed with the story or the jokes, which were totally corny and paint by numbers. I'm no comic book fan, so that probably didn't help things, but I prefer plot twists and gags that aren't obvious from a million miles away. I don't think I laughed more than a handful of times the entire movie. There was nothing that stood out as particularly new or clever. the whole thing was just the same old corny action movie under a really pretty skin.
I was actually really excited by the Cars teaser. I think the animation really fit the subject (the animated cars looked great, in my opinion), and based on Pixar's prior teasers, I don't expect this teaser actually gives more than the merest glimpse of what to expect - it certainly didn't reveal any story.
Indeed, MacNN on Friday (apparently crediting USA Today for the info) gave a very brief synopsis that indicates that Cars will not really revolve around racing (though it seems pretty obvious there will be some racing).
MILD SPOILER ALERT - here is the synopsis they gave:
"The movie centers on speed-obsessed race car Lightning McQueen, who gets lost on his way to the track. He lands in Radiator Springs, a downtrodden town off fabled Route 66 that has been bypassed by the interstate. There, he learns about what really matters from the cars of the 1950s and '60s."
-andrew
What bothered me was the implication that being exceptional is effortless. The super-powered people in the movie are all born "super." In reality, if you want to be a concert violinist, sure, having the optimal genome for a violinist is great, but you're also going to need to practice a heck of a lot. I don't want to make a spoiler, but the scene with the baby near the end clearly seems to show that the writer considers hard work and practice to be irrelevant.
I'm not that familiar with Nietzsche, but from a brief perusal of the Wikipedia article, it seems like he thought that the superman was in some sense above questions of right and wrong, and that certainly wasn't the message of the movie at all. Mr. Incredible feels a crushingly strong sense of moral obligation stemming from his powers.
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It least, that's not how I remember Watchmen. The government passed an anti-masked-vigilente act and forced super heroes to no longer hide their identities, or face stiff prison terms. Most super heroes retired without revealing their identity (the governemt didn't care as long as they stopped being vigilentes). Only a few (three to be precise) were protected by the goverment, and only then because they were working for the government.
Dude, if you're going to give away vital information about the movie, you should put a spoiler warning somewhere. Gets the red costume halfway through the movie, indeed.
The movie tells us how a societal standard of enforced mediocrity is the one menace that a superhero can't overcome.
Mr. Incredible could save us from runaway trains, mad bombers, and evil scientists, but he couldn't do a thing when Stella Liebeck pulled her Buick out of the McDonald's drive-through with a cup of hot coffee between her legs. The world had moved on. We didn't celebrate heroes anymore: we celebrated victims.
Well I've seen the movie so do we like the MPAA this week?
There was also Slyde, who I think was a fairly short-lived foe of Spider-Man. He didn't have the physical characteristics of Quicksilver, The Whizzer or DC's The Flash, but he wore a costume covered by an almost frictionless polymer that let him achieve super speeds.
Jesus. I could have used those brain cells for calculus notes.
The Incredibles is the first superhero movie that I have seen where the super powers were 'just right'. Usually powers are given that are so great that the either the hero 'forgets' to use them at a critical moment (which annoys me to no end... "you know, if he remembered that he could see through walls he would have caught the bad guy an hour ago") or arbitrary reasons have to be invented to prevent them from being used ("oh, the pseudoultramicroneutroniatron field is stopping your super powers again? guess we have to do things the hard way"). In this movie each individual power was not enough to overcome every obstacle, and every power was used to its fullest to overcome each obstacle, singly or via teamwork. As I walked out of the movie I remarked to a friend that I did not notice a single time in the movie where a power was stupidly forgotten or otherwise kept out of the action.
The Flash? Quicksilver?
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And now that I think of it, there was also Whirlwind, a.k.a. The Human Top. His power was basically super-speed, but he also posessed superhuman balance. He used these two powers in conjunction to whirl around really fast, typically while holding onto an opponent or while throwing very sharp things at them.
There was also a member of the Marauders, enemies of the X-Men and the Morlocks, who had the same abilities, but I can't recall his name now. I tried to black out most of those X-Men years.
Small nitpick. Frozone movement was a dead ringer for speed skating, not skiing. I'd be willing to bet the animators studied speed skaters to get his movements down. Even his costume was a colorful version of the type worn by speed skaters.
That's the point, the movie tells us that they *SHOULD* be above right and wrong by virtue of their power. As an example, note that the movie tells us that it is their moral right to be above mortal law, by mocking society when it attempts to hold them accountable for vigilante action (the lawsuits portrayed are always frivolous- a suicide suing because he was injured by Mr. Incredible in his attempt to kill himself, his face a picture of smugness and anger). Or a roomful of defendants whose lives had just been saved, but suffered severe whiplash in the process.
At no point was there a trial where a hero acting without full information makes a poor call, or a tough "do you save X or Y" call, the sort of thing that a touch of realism would have added.
While all the heroes ARE moral, that's the point. WHY are they all moral? There's no supervillian in sight, because they *are* Nietzchean supermen. If it were Marvel or DC, then we would see people with powers as bad guys and good guys. No such luck here. The supermen are above morality, but they dodge that point by making them all very moral people so that the question is deliberately avoided.
Oh, and the "effortless" thing you mentioned was addressed, but not the way you wanted it to be. All the GOOD GUYS are born super. The writers don't just consider hard word and practice to be irrelevant: they are the marks of a power hungry commoner striving to immitate their betters. The only character in the movie with burning motivation was Syndrome, the genocidal villian. He was the only one in the *entire* film who got where he was using anything except luck. The fact that a common man who had worked his entire life at a goal could be defeated by a superbaby who was mildly upset was simply more ubermensch philosophy.
The Flash is DC, not Marvel
I thought the implication was pretty clear: they were all faking their injuries.
The supermen are above morality, but they dodge that point by making them all very moral people
I can't understand what you're saying here.
The only character in the movie with burning motivation was Syndrome, the genocidal villian. He was the only one in the *entire* film who got where he was using anything except luck. The fact that a common man who had worked his entire life at a goal could be defeated by a superbaby who was mildly upset was simply more ubermensch philosophy.
Interesting point, but Syndrome started out good. He only turned bad because Mr. Incredible rejected him. I also don't think it's reasonable to generalize from a single example like this. There aren't any other super-villains in the movie, except Underminer (the Mole Man ripoff), who appears for all of five seconds.
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I thought The Incredibles was a pretty stupid looking movie from the trailer. Then it turned out to be great.
The Iron Giant was a great movie as well, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.
See here. :(
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
I'll bite. The baby (Jack-Jack) burst into flames when being carted away by the villian. (Flames, then metal?, then turned into some kind of demon-baby...)
Get off my lawn.
In reference to the philiosophical aspects, my most memorable line was in the cave scene where the Elastigirl says "Your identity is your most valued possession. Protect it." In this time of identity theft, credit card scams to record our lives, and massive govermental disregard for privacy, I pray that the kids (and adults) heard that one.
Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. -- Susan Ertz
That was great.
Seriously, I don't think I've seen parenthood taken from the parents' perspective in a kids' movie before. The story is a true fantasy--obviously fantasy but true in Tolkien's sense. It's got eucastrophe too.
Consequences ensue.
I thought Saw was a good alternative for the kiddies... lots of satire.
Did anyone else notice that after the short film, under "Special Thanks" in the credits, Steve Jobs was the first name in the list? Seriously.... look again.......
Don't go see Polar Express first. I happened to go to a sneak, and Express was a wild ride, and computer effects, well, get ready.
Anyone seen my jagged little pill?
Where's the .torrent???
I saw this on Friday, and I was very pleasantly surprised by how good it was. I was expecting good, but this was a really great, very fun and funny film to watch. I have liked much of Pixar's work in the past (although Finding Nemo kind of bored me), but this film was a very different creature in many ways. ;)
And...how to put this tactfully...I'm waiting for the "adult" Elascigirl footage to show up on the web
One thing I noticed about this movie: there were no ads for cars, etc beforehand (once the lights dimmed, anyhow), and there were no MPAA "piracy is hurting the small guys" ads.
I'm not sure if these are usual added by the theatre or the film company - the MPAA probably is from those before the theatre at any rate... but I'm wondering why this movie was special enough to be adless.
Perhaps a good movie on behalf of pixar and their affiliates, or just a random event? Perhaps other theatres still had ads. Did anyone else see the movie and have preceding advertisements?
The short little teaser films Pixar releases are called "character tests." The animators get to practice with the characters, see how they move, talk etc. The story doesn't even need to be ready. If they look good enough, they are often trotted around to help raise cash.
From Futurama "Less than Hero" episode
Leela: Are you crazy?? We have to keep our secret identities secret.
Fry: From everybody?
Leela: Especially from everybody.
Fry: Give several reasons why.
Leela: For one, superheroes cause a lot of collateral damage, and we don't wanna get our butts sued.
Or how about the The Tick "Tick vs Justice"
The Tick discovers a cache of mass destruction weapons but found the evidence cannot be used in court?
Tick: Since when do you need a warrant to take a nuclear bomb, Anthrax, and very strong rope out of the trunk of a villain?
Did anyone spot any cameos of (or references to) other Pixar characters in this film?
Toy Story had books with the names of Pixar shorts.
Bug's Life had the Pizza Planet truck, and Woody appeared in an "outtake".
Toy Story 2 had a Bug's Life calendar, a Bug's Life storybook, and a small appearance by Heimlich.
Monsters Inc. had Nemo and Jessie toys.
Finding Nemo had a Buzz toy in the dentist's office, the mermaid from Knick Knack on the front of a boat in the fishtank, and Mike appeared during the end credits.
I didn't spot any cameos or references in The Incredibles, nor have I heard about any - does this film break with tradition?
Syndrome violates rules 1, 6, 13, 17, 27, 58, 60, 70, 74, 84, and 96. And he's supposed to be intelligent.
[SPOILERS]
The baby also turns into steel or something equally heavy. No doubt, he has control over his molecular makeup, and he is able to change it at will. I seem to recall a Marvel (villian) that could change his skin density.
What luck for rulers, that men do not think. - Adolph Hitler
He also vibrated :D
It hadn't occurred to me that any of those guys would be faking their injuries, actually.
"I can't understand what you're saying here."
Ok, assume that a story has angels coming down from heaven and taking control of the world. They do everything right, and they are perfectly good and proper. They also wield supernatural power that is irresistible by mortals.
Now, are we obeying the angels because we have no choice? Or is it because they always make the correct moral decision?
The lack of demons to balance the story skips this hard question.
That's what this movie has.
"Syndrome started out good. He only turned bad because Mr. Incredible rejected him"
When he showed up in the car, that was merely annoying. When he had rocket boots that let him fly, he ended up in a scene that got many people injured. The antiscience message starts early.
It's also debateable that he was really good ever, or if he just wanted to be seens that way.
"There aren't any other super-villains"
The only enemies we see:
1- Bomb Voyage, who seems to be a regular guy who bombs things.
2- Syndrome, point of discussion.
3- "The Underminer: I am beneath you all, but nothing is beneath me!" Damn that was funny. Anyway, he seems to be tech based as well. But, he was mostly put there as comic relief, so I don't even know if he counts.
In a few other moments, we see other references to the rest of their universe, but I hesitate to use those, as they seemed to be there for comedic purposes and nothing else.
The reason I think the philosophy shines through:
1- All "supers" are good: there is no Magneto.
2- No "nonsupers" act nonsuper: there is no Batman.
3- Syndrome goes off on I think two occasions about how "just because you have powers doesn't mean you are fit for it / are the only ones who can do it", once early in the movie. This is never refuted, it just echoes empty as a bag guy / impetulant child giving his monologue.
4- Syndrome's master plan is entirely democratic and libertarian in nature: he plans massive distribution of his godlike technology. His zero point energy rings seem like a bad thing for everyone to have, but is it? Wouldn't a seventeenth century nobleman think the concept of cars and cellular phones in the hands of the masses mad? (not to mention weaponry falling out of the careful control of those clearly selected by God)
5- Syndrome's plan to elevate humanity to the level of the supers is clearly portrayed as mad. This would go along with the idea of only the select few being naturally fit to wield the powers (for everyone else it is "unnatural").
[MINOR SPOILER]
(yes, still... go watch the damned movie already! Its good!)
The only villain I can think of with that type of ability is Carl "Crusher" Creed, aka: Absorbing Man. He (and his ball and chain) could turn into whatever he touched, so if he touched a brick wall he could take on brick like toughness, etc. Jack Jack is a little different in that he can (apparently) change into anything at will. As far as superheroes go, that would be an extremely powerful ability... probably too powerful for the sake of storylines, unless he has a serious weakness (ala Superman).
I keep seeing that one mentioned. I'm surprised no one else thought the underground compound and its visuals was reminiscent of scenes from Star Wars scenes on the spaceships and Death Star.
Speaking of powers, "Frozone" is not a "Silver Surfer/Iceman hybrid." He's exactly like Iceman, except that he moves by skiing instead of just standing there and letting the ice propel him.
It was cheaper to use self-propulsion; less animation. As Zorak said, "Actually, nobody moves much in a Hanna-Barbera cartoon." Or something like that.
Not sure if I agree with the argument, but I was just at that part of an Evening With Kevin Smith when I came to this comment.
Very weird.
If I live long enough to see Lasseter banging his shoe as a meeting of Disney stockholders, shouting "We will bury you!" I think that'd be enough.
One thing I think Pixar has yet to perfect is speech. If you watch closely when the characters are talking, some of their lip movements seem stiff, or too simplified for what they're pronouncing. I think part of it might be under use of the tongue, or lack of depth on the lips... it's really hard to say. I know its a really difficult thing to pull off flawlessly, but I did notice it a couple times (like when Violet calls her brother a "little insect", it sounds like it was said through clenched teeth, but the character onscreen opens her jaw wide for the E). I wonder if Pixar ever records video of the actors pronouncing their lines at the recording studio... it might be handy in better matching the characters lips to the actors accents. Anyone know?
Either way though, its just a little nitpicking. Overall the movie was fabulous. I enjoyed it a lot!
I agree with you, to a certain degree. The wheelchair story, though, is a bit extreme.
One of the things I think you don't see about kids is that they will always try to push the boundaries. You probably did, I did, and the kids I deal with today do as well. In other words, kids will always try to be unsafe.
As an example, when I was a kid back in the mid-70s, skateboards were popular. I had a skateboard like many of the other kids. It was about 18" long and about five inches wide. I'll tell you, standing up on this skateboard was an accomplishment. But I got pretty good--I could ride around the playground and not fall down too often. Some other kids weren't so talented and there were plenty of sprained arms as well as skinned-elbows and such.
But as the hospital visits for broken arms and such increased, the skateboard companies made bigger and wider skateboards. These were much easier to stand on and ride around on without falling off. I remember the first time I saw one, I thought "My God! You could hold a dance one one of those things!" But it was a "safer" skateboard. This is a good thing, right?
Nope. Kids started trying to jump them. Kids started trying to ride them down staircase bannisters. They started doing all of these tricks on them. And they got hurt--but they got hurt worse than they ever would have gotten hurt by the skateboards of my day. We never would have considered the stunts that kids do today on our skateboards. Heck, just being able to stay upright on them was challenge enough! Yes, I sprained both my wrists learning to skateboard. Of course, a friend of my nephew managed to lose a bunch of teeth and did a real number on his nose when he fell off his skateboard while going down a railing. And yes--he was wearing a helmet.
So if you go all out to create this safe environment for kids where they won't get hurt, they will work to find ways around this safe environment. Some of these may lead to a greater risk of injury than the original environment would have been.
So you don't want to create an environment where kids will not get hurt. What you want to create, instead, is an environment where kids will get hurt, but not so severely that they will end up in a wheelchair.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure I see that nowadays. The threat of litigation--if my kid breaks his arm, it must be the school's fault--forces schools try to create environments where you can't get hurt. What they can't make safe, they will rule out (ie, no skateboards).
The wife & I took my three-going-on-thirty year old to see it opening night. Mind you, my daughter is very well-behaved in movies and has recently sat quietly through (and enjoyed) Finding Nemo, Shrek 2, Shark Tale, and every IMAX science/nature film at our local theater. Additionally, much to my constant concern, she tends to have "no fear" in almost every aspect of her life - heights, noises, surprises, acrobatics, insects, nothing seems to faze her. She also typically understands and deals with the occasional dark scene in a film. The first scene of Finding Nemo, where Nemo's mother and siblings are devoured by the barracuda, the fight scenes in Shrek/Shrek 2, the darker adult-oriented content of Shark Tale were all no issue.
That said, she was very upset by The Incredibles. She did not like some of the content early on, simply averting her eyes. By the climactic battle scene in the end, she was almost in tears - she quickly begged my wife to take her home. We left the theater and she told us, "That was a bad movie. I didn't like it, it was too scary." She futher elaborated on the specific scenes and characters she disliked (and why), but enumerating those in this post would make it a spoiler!
If Ebert & Roper claimed it was not a kids movie, I would tend to agree with them. The grim material such as on-screen deaths, rotting corpses, and torture are far too dark for young children. Additionally, due to the advances in special effects, the fight scenes have been much more intense than previous animated features. Finally, there are far too many "jump-out-from-behind-you-in-a-dark-corridor" type scenes; regular movie-going adults expect that sort of thing, but to children it can be a very novel, very real, and very startling concept.
I don't wish to cast about generalizations and dispersions, but this film is probably best targeted at teens and adults. Children under 10 (IMHO) will most likely be frightened by parts, but, of course, use your best judgement as a parent.
Now, all that negativity aside, my wife and I loved the film - and intend to purchase the DVD when released. Perhaps our daughter will watch it with us again in several more years -- and maybe even enjoy it!
"Adventure? Excitement? A Jedi craves not these things."
Somehow I find it hard not to notice that 'Pixars' sounds uncannily like 'Pig's arse' - I don't really feel comfortable just swallowing something that comes out of, er, ...
Anyway, let's talk about something else, say, sheep breeding in Mongolia, shall we?
So after reading a few posts I thought about this a bit more. Check out how wondefully the super powers match the "typical" family structure:
*SEMI-SPOILER*
Father - Super Strength
Mother - Super Elasticity
Daughter - Invisibility/Sheild
Son - Super Speed
Baby - Evil Incarnate
The father figure's supportive role represented by his strength. The Mother's ability to jugle kids, house duties, etc represented by elasticity. The Daughter's low self-image represented by her ability to disappear and/or shield herself. The Son's "ADD"/hyperactivity represented by superspeed. Finally the baby's ability to suddenly turn to nearly anything at the flip of a switch representative of well.. I suppose exactly that (though I've never really had to deal with a baby).
I'm not concious enough to look further, but those just popped out at me.
That's why I said "arguably nobody." The baby had other powers. Notice I said "nobody" for one listing but arguably for another? Yeah.
Anyone who had seen the movie would have thought of the baby when seeing my comment. No spoiler was needed.
Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
I just wanted to say I agree with you, you never know what will scare a child, especially the un-expected. For instance, when I was like 7 HBO was on (this was back when getting old movies like Ghostbusters and Bluesbrothers was a big deal.. to watch them on TV for the first time in your living room) and during the "fly-over" sequence before the umm.. HBO deathstar explosion... they had the bluesbrothers pop up from the top of the screen.. to be funny.. it was the first time it came on TV.. It scared the shit out of me. I didn't sleep for a week. I ran away and my Mom didn't know why... and I even cried I think.. it's not the gore and the violence but the shocks that freak a kid out.
There is a rage in me to defy the order of the stars, despite their pretty patterns.
Crap, I wish I had posted as an AC...
There's also a scene toward the end of the movie where one character is holding a large sphere while laying on the ground. The character then flips over with the sphere on his back in the classic pose of "Atlas holding the earth"
Atlas shrugged?
And if they refuse to go check the reels for code name to find out which theater is showing the new Star Wars trailer: well, then you are just a huge friggin dork for asking them to check in the first place.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
The problem with The Polar Express is that it's trying to imitate the painting style of the original children's book. It had these rich goache and pastel illustrations that reminded me of Norman Rockwell and other "photorealistic" paintings.
It was a valiant attempt to imitate Chris Van Allsburg's style, but it falls short. A pity, actually.
You're not the only one that noticed that. For everyone else, watch for Mirage's business card and look for the number! Probably a clever bit of marketing at the other end of the number ... if we can read it!!!
I swear by MacOS X. Although I use to swear *at* MacOS 9...
When somthing gets too real it gets judged by a different part of the brain, whereas a comic gets judged by the same part of the brain that understands writing and maps, a photo of a person gets looked at by a different part of the brain (or those synapses make a pattern that eventually gets a response from the complex and random flood of chemicals we call our brain)
It will be a feat to try and step over this point, make something so realistic that it is not flawed enough to sound alarm bells... but this requires more work making things look less real in a way that makes them look more real. (i.e. less perfect)
For now, less realistic things make you feel more comfortable, and this is a seperate but similar issue as to why in the future we will choose human looking robots or obviously man made robots.
I will see this movie tonight damn it.
#hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
Ayn Rand had accusations of her work being white supremecist and hyper capitalist. Ms. Rand may have had such feelings in her, but this movie is really only talking about a "lite" version of Objectisvism. "Be all that you can be"
Mild spoilers follow but I'm wary to cut out as much as irrelevant as possible...
This is not a story that you could really tell unless you use superheroics or some other form of "artificial" divide between superior and inferior. Nothing in the movie suggests that the divide applies to any aspect such as race or gender or culture. And there would definitely be cries of race baiting or gender discrimination in a more conventional story.
ElastiGirl seems to have a strong sense of guilt and shame about being exceptional. She is embarassed to talk to Edna as ElastiGirl. Her expression is much more about forgetting the past and just trying to fit in to the expectations of the "normals".
Mr. Incredible has a much more frustrated sense. He see's the normals (he actually uses derogatory terms like "mediocrity" to describe them) as holding him back. This boils up repeatedly in little arguments from the graduation attendance to the sports arguments and finally boils after an incident where his boss demands mediocrity from him.
Syndrome is the worst result. His attitude is that he didn't have the gifts and that those with them "owed" him in some way. His first appearances in the movie especially were about him demanding extra compensation. Later in the movie, you learn in a very subtle computer montage that he's been getting his power this way by beta testing on the supers with very grisley results.
By the end of the movie, Syndrome's point of view is the one seen to be most incorrect, but neither of the hero points of view is resolved as being "correct", but both of them appear to have come significantly closer to each other's point of view. Other people are normal, that's not a bad thing but with greater gifts come greater responsibility. The happy finish line result seems to describe this "happy compromise" better than words could.
I think a real Ayn Rand Objectivist would not enjoy the compromise at the end, but it is a far deeper and more controversial subject than I ever expected to see in a children's action film.
The reviewer made a comment that most Slashdotters would identify with Violet or Syndrome. In my case, though, I identified most with Mr. Incredible. I'm 47, a father of two (11 and 9), and I'm married to a nice lady who resembles Helen Parr (without the flexible limbs). I really loved how the movie showed Bob's middle-aged angst; I went through the same anxiety about aging, being out of shape, and self-doubt. However, like Bob (and perhaps inspired in part by the movie's trailers), I've started exercising again and getting back into some activities I enjoyed 20 years ago. I feel a lot better about myself now, much like our older and wiser super-hero, Mr. Incredible.
I also thought one of the understated gems of the movie was Wallace Shawn's character, Bob's insurance company boss. Did anyone else notice the irony that the guy who worked so hard to keep people from making successful claims would now have to submit his own insurance claims? Even better, he probably gets his coverage from his own heartless company. We never see what eventually happens to him, but we can only hope he gains greater insight and sympathy for his customers as a result. (Of course, then his company with fire him, too.)
I thought The Incredibles was a great movie on every level: story, characters, action, humor, and animation. As soon as the DVD comes out it will be a permanent addition to my collection.
TLR
A man no more knows his destiny than a tea leaf knows the history of the East India Company
It's clear that Pixar didn't have the chops prior to this film to do action sequences, because prior to this, the feeling of moving in a three dimensional space just wasn't there.
It's clear that Pixar didn't have the chops prior to this film to do action sequences, because prior to this, the feeling of moving in a three dimensional space just wasn't there.
You mean like those action sequences in Toy Story, Toy Story 2, A Bug's Life, Monster's Inc, and Finding Nemo?
"and cutting through his son's steak, he cuts through the table" = he cuts through the plate, not the table.
Elastigirl doesn't appear to be getting tired with the mom routine - she seems to be LOVING it completely.
And I think you might have put a couple spoilers in there... not sure.
M@
Krispy Cream is people
for the many of us out their who have seen couples divorce
"there"
was how the bad guys actually died when they smashed their flying gyroscopes into trees and mountains.
Sure, nothing is shown, (except for the bigass explosion) but you know that no human can survive that. Also, they shot real bullets, not some whackyass lasers like in SW.
Compare that to the piece of crap Spawn (sorry to bring it up for anyone who managed to repress it) where I don't think anyone dies...
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
I have to add that... well... I want that island. I have wanted that island my whole life. And it's not on Ebay. AAAARRGGGHHH!
I think the actor they chose to play the cyclops-alike was pretty rotten.
(Ducks, runs!)
~D
This sig has been enciphered with a one-time pad. It could say almost anything.
Don't forget the great nod to the speeder bike chase scene in the forests of Endor scene they nailed in there too while Dash is running through the forest.
Proof that everyone is special:
1. Make a list of everyone that is clearly special, and everyone else who isn't special.
2. The first person on the "not special" list is clearly special by being the "First Non-Special". He'll get interviews, appearances, etc as the "First Normal". This makes him special. Move him to the special list.
3. Repeat step two until the normal list is empty.
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
Honestly, I think the "not safe for kids" depends on the kid in particular. Objectively, I'd rate The Incredibles as slightly less "unsafe" than Star Wars (the original New Hope, none of the prequel crap). If you think your tyke can't handle Stormtroopers shooting at people or TIE fighters crashing into canyon walls, take them to see Spongebob Squarepants instead.
My four-year-old had no problem with The Incredibles, though he got fidgety during the "boring" scenes where people were talking to each other. But then, he's used to seeing gunfights and explosions from my Batman: The Animated Series DVDs, and that skeletons are what you're supposed to find in dark caves while searching for pirate treasure...
--R.J.
Electric-Escape.net
It didn't come from a cartoon. It came from a comic book. The cartoon was later, and they just kept it the same.
Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
At the risk of incurring spoilers...
Can someone explain to me what is the significance/plot point of "kronos"? As far as I can tell, Mr. Incredible sees it in the cave, then later uses it as a password. But why was it in the cave to begin with?
Seems like a loose end in the plot, which annoys me, because I think Pixar is better than that.
--R.J.
Electric-Escape.net
I have to disagree that it's not for young children. But I define my 7 year-old as a young child and he LOVED it, wasn't scared a bit and thinks it's his new favorite movie (passing up Nemo and Peter Pan). I wouldn't take a 3-4 year old to see it probably... but just cause I wouldn't take a 3-4 year old to MOST movies... even Nemo (Attention span, etc).
This was a GREAT movie and I think it did a good job of having action and super-hero stuff for the kids (ok admittedly it's more the boys market)... while the relational stuff the Moms and Dads will be nodding to themselves over.
Obviously you have to know your kid, but I found this WAY more appropriate than the original Shrek was for the kids it was marketted to (because of that I haven't seen Shrek 2 yet so I'll reserve judgement on it).
CharlesP
wordtrip.com
I went sunday afternoon and half the theater was families, and the only brat squawking during the movie was some sort of babe-in-arms.
And the reviewer was right, this movie is about US, not kids. Anyone who works in a cubicle will have a hard time not crying in abject misery or superlative joy at different points.
O~ Him that studies revenge keeps his own wounds green. -- Francis Bacon
The Volcano Lair was straight out of James Bond.
Even reminded me of the Parody Casino Royal.
Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
Wow, you missed the whole threaad of weakness that Mr. Incredable suffers after his capture. How he nearly killed Mirage on the island. The whole reason why he tells his wife to stay back at the end and how no matter how strong he is, he isn't strong enough (in the moral way) to cope with the loss of his family.
Crikey, all this is turning into is a whole lot of people overreading their own issues into a film and totally getting it wrong.
As for people being "heros" who are not supermen, the guy working at an insurance agency who actually helps customers as oppose to being a toady to the greedy bos (hey all that matters is shareholder value) is as much a hero as any of the supers. Missed that mesage did you?
If more "normal" people in real life would help out and do what they can this society would be 10 times better. It seems like most people (I dont know about yourself and other posters) are waiting for some kind of superman to make everything better.
Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
The boss did more then demand mediocrity from him. He frigging pretty much did everything thazt would be directly against ever fiber of a heros being. Even a normal person can stop a mugging.
Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
"Crikey, all this is turning into is a whole lot of people overreading their own issues into a film and totally getting it wrong."
hey cool a personal attack yay
"As for people being "heros" who are not supermen, the guy working at an insurance agency who actually helps customers as oppose to being a toady to the greedy bos (hey all that matters is shareholder value) is as much a hero as any of the supers. Missed that mesage did you?"
Did you even see the movie? That only guy I saw helping customers as opposed to being a toady to the greedy boss was Mr. Incredible himself (at his day job), who eventually punched the boss through a series of walls in a fit of anger- a fit of anger that is morally justified, the movie implies, by Mr. Incredible's perfection.
Was it a normal, unpowered guy making the right choices? No. The implication is that NO ONE ELSE can see through the bosses greed, or deal with it, except the ubermensch that are the supers.
The superheroes in the movie are portrayed as simply superior by right of birth, and this doesn't change that at all, it reinforces my statement. It's a case of him wanting to help people and being prevented, in this case by a Napoleonic and dour character. The image of him tapping his foot and controlling the situation was supposed to strike us as ridiculous on several levels, morally (and no, I didn't miss it, it was bashing me on the head) the "screw the customers" guy was obviously villanous, visually (Mr. Incredible is huge and submissive, our Napoleon is tiny and dominant, a juxtaposition of what our mammilian senses expect), and philosophically (Mr. Incredible is inherently fit and just, whereas the boss is shortsighted and greedy).
Did you not notice in that scene that he punches the guy through walls, a moment we are supposed to be thrilled about, good smiting evil? Except that this was a helpless nitwit who was nearly killed by Hulk-style strength. The moral message that approves of this kind of action is pretty depressing as well. Might makes right, and as proof we are given a case where "might" and "right" are previously associated (in Mr. Incredible). This is propaganda-level logic.
"It seems like most people are waiting for some kind of superman to make everything better."
I totally agree with this. It would seem that largely we are simply built to follow authority, or at respect it, or be jealous of it- but true independence seems rare. I think this hurts us at many levels. On average, we all seem to want some grand poo-bah to look up to.
^ John