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After creating the last great traditionally animated film of the 20th century, The Iron Giant, filmmaker Brad Bird joined top-drawer studio Pixar to create this exciting, completely entertaining computer-animated film. Bird gives us a family of "supers," a brood of five with special powers desperately trying to fit in with the 9-to-5 suburban lifestyle. Of course, in a more innocent world, Bob and Helen Parr were superheroes, Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl. But blasted lawsuits and public disapproval forced them and other supers to go incognito, making it even tougher for their school-age kids, the shy Violet and the aptly named Dash. When a stranger named Mirage (voiced by Elizabeth Pena) secretly recruits Bob for a potential mission, the old glory days spin in his head, even if his body is a bit too plump for his old super suit. Bird has his cake and eats it, too. He and the Pixar wizards send up superhero and James Bond movies while delivering a thrilling, supercool action movie that rivals Spider-Man 2 for 2004's best onscreen thrills. While it's just as funny as the previous Pixar films, The Incredibles has a far wider-ranging emotional palette (it's Pixar's first PG film). Bird takes several jabs, including some juicy commentary on domestic life ("It's not graduation, he's moving from the fourth to fifth grade!"). The animated Parrs look and act a bit like the actors portraying them, Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter. Samuel L. Jackson and Jason Lee also have a grand old time as, respectively, superhero Frozone and bad guy Syndrome. Nearly stealing the show is Bird himself, voicing the eccentric designer of superhero outfits ("No capes!"), Edna Mode. Nominated for four Oscars, The Incredibles won for Best Animated Film and, in an unprecedented win for non-live-action films, Sound Editing. The Presentation
This two-disc set is (shall we say it?), incredible. The digital-to-digital transfer pops off the screen and the 5.1 Dolby sound will knock the socks off most systems. But like any superhero, it has an Achilles heel. This marks the first Pixar release that doesn't include both the widescreen and full-screen versions in the same DVD set, which was a great bargaining chip for those cinephiles who still want a full-frame presentation for other family members. With a 2.39:1 widescreen ratio (that's big black bars, folks, à la Dr. Zhivago), a few more viewers may decide to go with the full-frame presentation. Fortunately, Pixar reformats their full-frame presentation so the action remains in frame. The Extras
The most-repeated segments will be the two animated shorts. Newly created for this DVD is the hilarious "Jack-Jack Attack," filling the gap in the film during which the Parr baby is left with the talkative babysitter, Kari. "Boundin'," which played in front of the film theatrically, was created by Pixar character designer Bud Luckey. This easygoing take on a dancing sheep gets better with multiple viewings (be sure to watch the featurette on the short).  |
Brad Bird still sounds like a bit of an outsider in his commentary track, recorded before the movie opened. Pixar captain John Lasseter brought him in to shake things up, to make sure the wildly successful studio would not get complacent. And while Bird is certainly likable, he does not exude Lasseter's teddy-bear persona. As one animator states, "He's like strong coffee; I happen to like strong coffee." Besides a resilient stance to be the best, Bird threw in an amazing number of challenges, most of which go unnoticed unless you delve into the 70 minutes of making-of features plus two commentary tracks (Bird with producer John Walker, the other from a dozen animators). We hear about the numerous sets, why you go to "the Spaniards" if you're dealing with animation physics, costume problems (there's a reason why previous Pixar films dealt with single- or uncostumed characters), and horror stories about all that animated hair. Bird's commentary throws out too many names of the! ! animators even after he warns himself not to do so, but it's a lively enough time. The animator commentary is of greatest interest to those interested in the occupation. There is a 30-minute segment on deleted scenes with temporary vocals and crude drawings, including a new opening (thankfully dropped). The "secret files" contain a "lost" animated short from the superheroes' glory days. This fake cartoon (Frozone and Mr. Incredible are teamed with a pink bunny) wears thin, but play it with the commentary track by the two superheroes and it's another sharp comedy sketch. There are also NSA "files" on the other superheroes alluded to in the film with dossiers and curiously fun sound bits. "Vowellet" is the only footage about the well-known cast (there aren't even any obligatory shots of the cast recording their lines). Author/cast member Sarah Vowell (NPR's This American Life) talks about her first foray into movie voice-overs--daughter Violet--and the unlikelihood of her being a superhero. The feature is unlike anything we've seen on a Disney or Pixar DVD extra, but who else would consider Abe Lincoln an action figure? --Doug Thomas More Incredibles at Amazon.ca 
The Incredibles Toy Store | 
CD Soundtrack | 
The Art of The Incredibles Book | 
Game Boy Advance | 
On VHS | 
The Essential Guide Book |
The Pixar Feature Films - Toy Story, 1995
- A Bug's Life, 1998
- Toy Story 2, 1999
| - Monsters, Inc., 2001
- Finding Nemo, 2003
- The Incredibles, 2004
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| Also from Filmmaker Brad Bird 
The Iron Giant (Writer/Director) | 
"Family Dog" on Amazing Stories (Writer/Director) | 
Batteries Not Included (Cowriter) | 
The Simpsons (Director/Consultant) | 
King of the Hill (Consultant) | 
The Critic (Consultant) |
| ACTORS: | Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson, Jason Lee, Craig T. Nelson |
| CATEGORY: | DVD |
| THEATRICAL RELEASE DATE: | 05 November, 2004 |
| MANUFACTURER: | Walt Disney Home Entertainment |
| MPAA RATING: | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) |
| FEATURES: | Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC |
| TYPE: | Animated, Bright, Cartoons & Animation, Children's Video, Children's/Family, Color, Comic-Book Superhero Film, Computer Animation, Eccentric Families, English, Excellent For Children, Family-Oriented Adventure, Fanciful, Fantasy, Feature Film Family, Frantic, Goofy, Heroic Mission, Humorous, Light |
| MEDIA: | DVD |
| MPN: | D39841D |
| # OF MEDIA: | 2 |
| UPC: | 786936279979 |
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The Incredibles (Full Screen 2-Disc Collector's Edition) reviews by customers
 REALLY read the lousy reviews...
To understand why there are lousy reviews for this film, you have to read a few of them. For one thing, anyone that has chronic spelling problems may not be suited to review a movie with a sense of humor. Some of the material might be a little too much for their intellects. For another, the complaints that this isn't exactly a children's film come from the reviewers that must have missed the fact that it is rated PG not G. Big difference, don't you think? Finally, I would like these same boors to name me one 'wholesome' Disney picture that did NOT contain any frightening images. From the evil queen in the first Disney classic asking the huntsman to bring back Snow White's heart in a box, to Nemo and Marlin barely escaping their respective undersea terrors there are scary life lessons in all Disney films. Nothing my children had seen prepared them for the horrors they saw on the news on September 11th. This stuff pales by comparison. For the record, I am replacing my children's copy of The Incredibles as it is scratched from wear.
Worth Every Penny
Anybody who enjoys Pixar movies will enjoy this one. It has everything... action, suspense, comedy and a good story. I love the whole retro look of everything in the movie, it's great. The movie would not be complete without "Edna" the clothing designer. The character inter-action is outstanding. This is one of my all-time favorites from the Pixar files.
Lee
"Things Exploding, People Hugging"
"Things exploding, people hugging." That's what composer Michael Ciacchino said the score was about for "The Incredibles". Director Brad Bird echoed that, saying it was aimed at being a balance of the mundane and the fantastic. It did a fantastic job at that.
This was the first Pixar picture I watched, and I can see why people rave about their animation. I thoroughly enjoyed the story. I will admit that I found it interesting the similarity between the foursome and the Fantastic Four (one stretches, one is super-strong, and one is invisible with force fields in both quartets). I also think it stretched reality a little -- I can imagine the son of a superman type inheriting super-speed, but there is no explanation why a super strong parent and an elastic parent could produce a daughter who turns invisible and throws force fields. Likewise, if superheroes were out-lawed, what could keep evil supers from running wild? But when did facts stand in the way of a good story?
The story was very entertaining. It dealt with adult themes in a way that children wouldn't be bored or question something inappropriate. The writing was great to show human people who just happened to have powers. It made a great jab at bureauracy being no better than criminals.
Also, I enjoyed the James Bond-ish music. The characters were great as well.
Spoiler alert!!! The rest of this review may ruin some surprises -- read at your own risk! Also, some of this is my opinion of life in general.
The villain, Syndrome, when he was younger, had wanted to be the sidekick for Mr. Incredible, who told him to get lost, that he could handle things on his own. So Syndrome's plan was to sell superpowers to everyone, and commented "When everybody is super, nobody is super." Actually, that is the reality. In a sense, each of us are super, so nobody is better than anyone else. (My thoughts here.)
There is a theme that we are not meant to go about it alone. If Mr. Incredible has decided to work with "Indrediboy", maybe there would never have been a Syndrome. In the end, Mr. Incredible learned he was meant to be part of a team, and that team was his family. We need to realize that this is true of us as well.
The alternate beginning drove home the family point. I think they did the better opening, but I wish they were able to do as the alternate beginning did, and have Helen tell some career woman who looked down on home mothers the fact that one is no less important than the other.
I enjoyed the extra features. I would have moved the Incrediblunders up on the menu, because a lot of them were shown in the making of the Incredibles. I was disappointed there was little shown about the voice-actors. I did find the "essay" by Sarah Vowell (who provided the voice for Violet) intersting, since Vowell and I share interest in the Garfield and McKinley administrations, though I think she would benefit from Toastmasters.
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