The Incredibles

I happened to catch part of the Incredibles on TV the other day and that made me realize two things: I hadn’t watched the film in quite a while and I really, really enjoy the movie. So, whilst out running errands today, I bought a copy and watched it again.

It was everything I remembered and with the special features, a bit more. The short ‘Jack-Jack Attacks’ is almost worth buying the DVD on its own. It details what actually happened between the babysitter’s frantic calls to Helen.

Anyhow, one thing that I really like about the movie is that both Bob and Helen (Mr. Incredible and Elasti-Girl, respectively) are extremely good at what they do. They were professional super heroes and as such can think on their feet as well as beat the snot out of people.

All too often in comedies, heroes (and dads, especially) are presented as blundering incompetents who win either by sheer luck or the intercession of another person. This is what I refer to as the ‘Hong-Kong Fooie Effect.’ This is when the hero is basically clueless and a long-suffering companion actually does all the work, but allows the hero to take the credit.

Pixar, instead, gave us two extremely capable, strong characters that complement each other very well.

My one complaint about the film is that I wish Violet had different powers. Force fields and invisibility are fine, but they’re rather passive. They’re very ‘old-school’ powers for a female character. Men were the powerhouses and women played the support role. Yes, the Incredibles mimic the Fantastic Four, but I never liked Sue’s power for those reasons.

Personally, I would have given Violet a much more aggressive power, but that’s just me.

Still, I love the film and will probably watch it a couple more times in the coming weeks. Kudos to Pixar for yet another fantastic film.

Cheers,
-Jason