Uneasy mixture

The Incredibles
(written & directed by Brad Bird; 2004)

The world has turned on the superheroes, a flurry of litigation forcing them into an unwilling retirement. The superstrong & supersized former Mr Incredible (voiced by Craig T Nelson) now squashes himself into a tiny cubicle in an insurance office, his contribution to society reduced to giving old ladies the key to cutting through red tape to claim their pay-outs. His wife, the former Elastigirl (voiced by Holly Hunter), now uses her elastic limbs only to keep the kids from fighting under the dining table. Unsurprisingly, both they and the kids get the chance to don skin-tight costumes and save the world one more time before the credits roll. Along the way, there are messages aplenty about individuals and their place in society and the dangers of repressing talent.

This is old-style cartooning, with no attempt at realism in the puppet-like facial features; nevertheless, between voices & script there's enough personality to lend a real sense of jeopardy to the action sequences. The backdrops, from cityscape to Bond-style superlair, are gorgeous -- distractingly so, I kept wishing for some time off from the relentless action of the second half just to admire them.

It's been touted as an animated film for both children & grown-ups, but The Incredibles sometimes seems an uneasy mixture of material aimed at entirely different audiences. The superheroes-struggling-to-adjust-to-everyday-life scenes at the start were by far the most interesting to me as an adult: by the time the suits were on and the action-adventure had kicked in, I fear I was beginning to look at my watch. On the other hand, the action-lite first half might well turn off younger kids, and many of the action scenes felt a touch bloodthirsty for the U rating.

28 November 2004