Speaking To All Demographics

As much as Pixar’s own boundless filmography includes animated features that directly appeal their own time towards the main target audience of children, by implementing a simple point-by-point story structure that’s easy to understand and characters that are ultimately fun and relatable, their real asset is creating films that appeal to all audiences. By no means does the predictable plot of many of these features stagnate the experience, but it’s the purposefully written moments that creditably stand-out than the stories themselves. This is most evident in their most recent ventures of Inside Out and Coco which delicately weave emotional story-telling with contextual themes that both child and parent can inherently be engrossed by. However, if there’s one stand-out Pixar feature to be mentioned that not only appeals to all the family by amalgamating ‘adult’ motifs with a kid-friendly premise, but also interweaving a group of super-powered people that are more likeable than a certain other superhero group (*cough Fantastic Four *cough), it’s Brad Bird’s The Incredibles. From memory and nostalgia, it’s an animation that still upholds to today’s wild-animated pieces. But how does it compare against it’s Pixar brothers and sisters?…

Fifteen years-ago, superheroes paraded the streets of Metroville, performing great acts of heroism and inspiring many to follow their examples as heroes. But when a lawsuit is placed against Mr.Incredible by a discontent victim, disputes and accusations emerge to political and social outcry; forcing the government to retire/hide the ‘Supers’ in witness protection programmes so they could lead normal, anonymous lives. Now living mundane suburban father, Bob Parr (formally Mr.Incredible) lives with his wife Helen (formally Elastigirl) and three children, Violet, Dash and Jack-Jack. Growing more and more tired of the life that he lives as a family-man and as an insurance agent, Bob yearns for the good old days; the times when he could proudly saves innocents from villainous acts. As chance would have it however, he is soon approached by a shadowy government agency for a top-secret assignment that requires his powers. However, Bob soon learns that all is not what is seems and discovers that it will take a super-family effort to rescue the world from total destruction…

While there’s plenty of different referential mixtures moulded into many of the aspects of the of plot and the aspects of the characters, with the Incredibles family-dynamic cheekily resembling X-Men and bettering the filmic iterations of Fantastic Four, what’s clearly paramount to perceive with Brad Bird’s animated feature is how it seamlessly subsumes its influences into something that is distinctive yet enjoyable to behold. Indeed, from the outset of the premise primarily focusing on Mr.Incredible’s rise and fall as an acclaimed hero, which is discretely edited in a 1940’s-esque news report montage that coalesces with the films attemptive angular and timely art-style, to the way in which the story progresses into superhero-family outing that is purely formulaic, there are a lot elements that older audiences will spot as an innuendo to something else but will be inordinately enchanted by the films innocently comical yet self-aware screenplay which, in return, distinguishes itself from a lot of other preceding Pixar entries. One of the biggest reasons as to to why The Incredibles sticks-out as one of the only few Pixar films feels original and audience members (my age) still reminisce-over, is down to its ability in creating a screenplay that caters to both older and younger audiences. Yes, at face-value it’s purely a kid-orientated film that possesses superhero tropes and a classical story-structure that indulges the younger audiences in having humour, action and an ending that is predictable and joyous. However, after re-watching the film in preparation for the sequel coming to the cinemas in the coming days, it’s hard to ignore the films ability to exhibit snaps and quips that are appropriately funny in this day-and-age of the superhero cinematic-Renaissance. Whether it’s the minute moment of Mr and Mrs Incredible bickering at each other about Dash’s 5th Grade graduation and his love for sports, or the niche-gag that is initially brought-up by Frozone about second-rate super-villains tempted in making the mistake of “monologuing” and is slyly followed-up later by Syndrome who exclaims, “you almost got me monologuing”, it’s these moments and many more, especially the scenes including the character of Edna Mode, that noticeably stand-out than the actions sequences and inherently creates a sincere reliability that lesser animated-pieces can only try to emulate themselves. One thing that this animated feature does harbour, is a common cliché seen in a plethora of Pixar films – a curiously irredeemable, but tragically complex, villain who is portrayed to be the ‘good’ guy in the first act, but inevitably becomes the central antagonist to the loveable superheroic bunch. In the same mould as AUTO in Wall-E, Charles Muntz from Up and both Stinky Pete and Lotso in both respective Toy Story sequels, Syndrome is an antagonist that seamlessly rises as a villain in consequence for his lost fan-boy devotion for Mr.Incredible earlier in his life and it ultimately works considering his motives are ironically redeemable; as he exclaims, “I’ll sell my inventions so that everyone can be Superheroes. Everyone can be Super!” Though it’s a shame that Syndrome’s manner in executing these motives involves destruction of a city, he’s villain non-the-less that was designed from cliché’s of the comic-genre and makes sense to be portrayed as one-dimensional villain that the younger demographic can clearly understand.

As it is with every Pixar film that comes to grace the silver-screen every few years or so, the animation, and the attention to detail, that the said proclaimed animated studio utilise in their projects is exquisite and Bird’s The Incredibles remains to this day to be an example of this exceptional CG craftsmanship. Besides the fact that it’s been ten and more years since its cinematic inception, the animation is, at times, gasp-inducing when the action sequences pop onto the screen; dazzling our perspective with flashy effects of light and detail that border along the lines of verisimilitude. With age however, comes the unavoidable specs of subtly crude details that do look aged. While the subtlety of the street-scapes and lavish jungles provide a nice contrast to the eye, illuminating a colourful spectrum that’s a rarity to find in most CG animations of today, it’s hard to ignore the lapses of specific aspects of background buildings and characters that don’t necessarily correspond the sheen and texture of cars or characters who are given realistic body and facial expressions.

Mentioned before, it can’t be denied that anyone can find thrills, laughter and action in Bird’s The Incredibles and the most significant aspect as to why so many diverse audiences relate to said film, is down to the characters and their respective actions. Whether it’s the tiny and bespectacled Edna Mode buoyantly droning on about her superhero costumes to either Mr or Mrs. Incredible or the much remembered moment of Frozone looking for his super-suit whilst arguing with his wife, each and every-single character within this film feel appropriate to the make-up it and never once become a distraction from a plot that is plain and simple to being and end with. Even Bob’s demanding boss, Gilbert Huph, voice-acted by the all knowing Wallace Shawn, who although receives limited screen time, remains to be a figure-head of the film that audiences will remember since the role in question illuminates a familiarity to older audiences watching. As we have a large cast of voice-actors that all equally perform as well as each other, what it boils down to in relation to the films characterisation is how everyone is likeable; all charming in their own distinctive way that mirrors emotions and personalities of different viewing audiences.

To say that Brad Bird’s The Incredibles is definitively Pixar’s most accomplished animated piece of film they’ve done would be naive of me the judge, considering there are many great works that the said studio have done that many audiences have been touched by and the fact that animation in itself has gradually evolved in ways that are more imaginative and engaging to perceive. Yet, what is clearly distinguishable to identify of this 2004 animated-feature is its inherently likeable stylisation that seamlessly relates with all members of the family. The intricate writing of the character dialogue and action combined with the slick animation techniques that somewhat hold-up fourteen years later show how relevant The Incredibles is today despite what Pixar have come to release in recent years. There’s no hiding the fact that I love superheroes, as it’s something that I naturally grew-up with, and there are many super-heroic related characters and stories that I adore. Bird’s film is certainly one of those and a day won’t pass me when I will never forget the time when me and my family eagerly and happily sat down to watch The Incredibles on DVD in Spring evening after work and school…

On that note, it’s time for me to end this week’s Film Review. As always everyone, thank you for reading my latest Retrospective Film Review of Brad Bird’s The Incredibles and I hope you’ve all enjoyed the read! 😉 If anyone has an opinion on either the film or the review itself, you’re more than welcome to drop a comment down below. For next week, I will either bring you all a Film Review in the form of Leave No Trace or an anime review of a show called Megalo Box. Once again, thank you for taking the time to read my latest Blog Post and I hope you’re all having a nice week! Adieu!! 😎💪💥

★★★★★ – Alex Rabbitte