The INCREDIBLES. Saw them Sat. 11/13/04.

The Incredibles were just THAT! A friend said the word funny, but I found them to be far more than just funny, no offense to my friend. And I KNOW that I've seen this movie before. Yes, that's correct, I've seen the Incredibles before they ever came onto the big screen. Do I have super powers of premonition?? No, actually, I've just read alot of comics, seen a million movies, read a truck load of science fiction novels and short stories, and am a cartoon-a-holic from the time of the 60's. That's where I've seen them before! The Incredibles combined the high art of 3D, and superlative perspective animation with the lower-grade and flatter simple animations of other types of cartoon works and cell animation to create a very rich media experience, not to mention the rockin' sound of Dolby jets, splashes, footsteps, grunts, and yells. One of the best soundtrack mixes I've ever heard. What I found most amazing about the animation was the depth of the work, as when we plunged deep into the enemy stronghold on the island, through a waterfall, and a volcanic wall of fire. The realism of the surrealism just about killed me. 3D and 2D art's marriage has not found it's equal to date! Pixar has truly come into it's own as far as the bridging of the gap between realism and animation. Awesome!

But as for the depth of the story, I usually take a note down here on most films and begin to explain how it lacked emotional complexity, or it had hyper-realistic characters whose imaginations went way too far, or, and this is the worst to me, it falls short of having any redeeming value so far as the characters' morals and ethical lives are concerned. But I cannot say that about The Incredibles. Mr. truly stuggles with being "normal", but does it in such a way that integrity shines through. His office scene with the old woman is truly touching in a very funny kind of way, and even though it's high comedy, it's also something that we totally agree with and support. We cannot help but hate the boss and his bottom line. Corporate greed, while not the center stage for the whole of the story, comes through loud and clear as needing to be changed. It makes you believe there really are good people inside every organization, and that whistle blowing is a fine upstanding characteristic. Just the very idea that the Incredibles are brought down altogether by lawsuits is enough to put me both in stiches and head-nodding at the same time. I guess that means I could pull something in my neck if I'm not careful.

But what is the "big story" here? There's always the bad guy, yes, but if we go back to where the bad guy came from we can see it is from a type of envy, and a type of false worship. He was Mr. Incredible's "biggest fan" if you recall... oops, am I giving it away? His bitterness over rejection brings his struggle full circle to absolute hatred of all that is superior. He is filled with none other than self-loathing and self-centeredness at the same time. He sums up his entire philosophy in the speech he gives to the Incredibles in their captivity. He states, "Soon I'll make my machines and inventions available to EVERYONE! Then everyone can be super! Then 'no one' will be." His plan is to bring all the super people down, put himself in their place, not really being super himself, and attaining all that power,attention, and glory by way of his own intellect use it to put everyone on the same playing field as himself, which is to say, not super at all. What a great insight into the nature of evil itself. Someone at Pixar has been doing their character homework! Not to mention philosohical archeology.

Every character had complexity. What a great job with Violet, the teanager! Wow, she was perfect. So filled with trepidation over her identity, and doubt. So sweet in her coming-of-age in the need to be recognized by boys, and yet her inability to face them. Then her turning around and changing into a confident girl who can hold her own in a conversation. Very nicely done. They did the whole thing about Mr. Incredible getting ivolved with "the other woman" in a very subtle and kindly manner, so that the end result was that we can see trust overcome the doubt of what would normally be a very hard-to-accept set of circumstances. And all of that in the midst of the hilarity of the moments, and the non-stop action and story. It had to have been a tight team to pull this movie off.

Oh, and I wanted to mention that I could tell right away who Elastigirl was. I love Holly Hunter's voice. She is so sweet.

Good stuff. Go see.