Movie Review: The Incredibles

8/10

It's common knowledge that Pixar have yet to make anything less than a great movie.

So there's no question that The Incredibles is brilliant. But where in the pantheon of Pixar's greatest hits does it come? Well, for those of you that read the review I wrote some time ago, Cars is by far and away the least awesome of their work, suffering from a strange "inanimate objects as people" aesthetic that didn't work as well as Toy Story beause in the end a car with a face is still just a car. A toy has a major connection with childhood and all of them are lovable. I just couldn't work out what a Car has in the way of a sympathetic connection with the audience.

The weakest link in Toy Story were the real humans, just much worse in terms of animation and characterisation than their "inanimate" counterparts. The Incredibles benefits greatly from the jump in technology. As a result, the facial and body animation, while cartoon in nature are a lot better than the early CGI of Toy Story.

What Pixar always excel at is a great story with a message that isn't quite as obviously thrust down the audience's throat as most Disneyfied fare. Our tale here is about a superhero who had to give it up and go into hiding following a damages suit that costs the government millions in compensation. We find Mr Incredible far from saving the world stuck in an insurance firm.

This is, for the adults, by far and away the best part of the movie as genuine pathos and sadness is communicated by the family's actions and most importantly their computerised "performances" are pitch perfect.

It's genuinely funny, too. In the first section when Mr Incredible's temper gets the better of him and he takes it out on his car it's hard to resist laughing out loud and why the hell should you anyway? Sure it's a kids film in theory, but my goodness there's more to it than that. Plus it has Holly Hunter in it. How many kids films has she been in. It's ok to laugh.. go on.

For me the film loses a bit when the characters decide to don their suits and fight evil for real, but its never dull and actually never anything less than great fun.

I don't need to tell you this again, but Pixar may well be the most consistent studio out there in terms of the sheer quality of its output - I suppose its easier to double check your work when your film takes years rather than weeks to shoot - so give anything with the brand on it a go.

So I said I'd explain where it places in the Pixar "oeuvre"... it's better than Cars and probably better than Monsters Inc too. It's slightly less wonderful than Ratatouille and Toy Story 1 & 2 though. I have to say I anticipate WALL:E stealing Toy Story 2's place at the top of the pile. It's on my rental list though, so keep an Eye out for the review once I've seen it.

Yay for Pixar!

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