The Incredibles

By: The Dweeb

March 2005

DVD Features Video: 2.35:1 Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, French  Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Disc One Feature Film Filmmakers’ Audio Commentaries Disc Two “Jack-Jack Attack” — Jack-Jack Challenges Kari The Babysitter In An Exclusive, All-New Animated Short he Academy Award(R) Nominated Pixar Animation Studios Short Film “Boundin.’” “Incredi-Blunders” Bloopers And Outtakes Deleted Scenes And Alternate Opening Top Secret Files On All The Supers Behind-The-Scenes “Making Of” THE INCREDIBLES Theatrical release: 11/05/2004 DVD released on 3/15/2005 by Disney/ Buena Vista Running time of 115  minutes Starring: Spencer Fox, Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson, Jason Lee, Craig T. Nelson, Elizabeth Pena, Wallace Shawn, Sarah Vowell Director: Brad Bird Plot: Bob Parr and his wife Helen used to be among the world’s greatest crime fighters, saving lives and battling evil on a daily basis. Fifteen years later, they have been forced to adopt civilian identities and retreat to the suburbs where they live “normal” lives with their three kids, Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack. Itching to get back into action, Bob gets his chance when a mysterious communication summons him to a remote island for a top secret assignment. He soon discovers that it will take a super family effort to rescue the world from total destruction.

Pixar really must have something magical going on behind the scenes, as they just keep cranking out better and better movies. Each film starting from Toy Story all the way up to now just keeps turning it up a notch. Where does this all stop I wonder? As usual, I enjoyed every minute of this film. The beauty lies in the details, and The Incredibles is a rich tapestry in both visual eye candy and story line. Plus its delightful and hilarious the whole way through.

A lot of mediocre films usually have a problem melding the two worlds perfectly. Sometimes it’s the visual aspect outgunning the writing, the reason for seeing the film in the first place, or vice versa (see the latest Star Wars installments). The writing staff came up with a fairly standard plot line, but made the characters and dialogue so rich and endearing, its such a hoot. The range of emotions these pixels express on screen is astounding, so life like. And I dare say these digital actors are doing a better job than some human counter parts.

Pixar took on one of the hardest things to do in CGI animation and do a feature involving humans. Even though they are caricatures of people, they still nailed it with all the expressions and movements that made it seem so alive. A lot of times you see a CGI human they tend to be sort of stiff looking, but not in here. Maybe its the animated hair, another impossible hurdle that they solved even when the hair is wet. Pay attention to all the tiny movements within the bigger ones, its all in the details.

It was so much fun to watch Bob Parr, AKA Mr. Incredible, (Voiced by Craig T. Nelson) and family in action as The Incredibles. I was grinning from beginning to end, with a lot of laughs in between. I haven’t been this entertained in a long time. I would have a hard time picking a favorite scene that stands out, but the Edna (voiced by Director Brad Bird) character was the best. I wish she could have been in the film longer, she was so eccentric and hilarious! “Supermodels. Hah! Nothing “super” about them - spoiled, stupid little stick figures with poofy lips who think only about themselves. Feh! I used to design for GODS!”

Naturally a film coming from a purely digital world translates well onto the DVD format. The picture is crystal clear, bright and vibrantly colored. The accompanying sound also lays down a wonderful mix for your listening pleasure. The second disc included with the set has enough extras to keep one occupied, but thankfully it isn’t a complete overkill. The Jack Jack short was good, it feels like a deleted scene and wasn’t very long. I wish it were, because it was really funny and cute. The other short, Boundin, that ran before the film in the theatre is also on here. It’s OK I think, a nice little ditty but some of the others in the past were much better.

The rest of the features document the film creation process and are quite lengthy, from the writing to the rendering process we get to see a lot of it in abbreviated form. The deleted scenes and alternate opening isn’t really what they are, since they never made it past the storyboard so there is no film per se. But they include those as well just for good measure. The bloopers, well, I don’t consider them bloopers at all. The ones specifically made in Toy Story, now those were bloopers they should have done something like that. Last but not least the other cool feature to spend a lot of time on is the hero database. Here you can read and hear clips from the all the super heroes referenced in the movie. Pretty cool, and funny!

One again, Pixar and Disney have delivered another knock out home run film and DVD. You can’t go wrong here, this is a fun ride for the whole family.

Reviewer’s Opinion: BUY IT!!