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Poor, poor Michael Eisner... ok, you can't feel THAT sorry for someone who's that loaded. Still you gotta think that right now, he's looking at the totals for 'The Incredibles' and thinking 'I should have become a farmer'. But enough about his plight. He's got till 2006 to mope. What... you HAVEN'T seen 'The Incredibles'? You don't know why anyone would watch a 'kids' cartoon, and what's with the 'PG' rating? Welcome to the 21st century, and this is NOT your father's cartoon.
The beauty of Pixar is they create wonderful animated stories that play to a HUGE audience. Animation in this country is still suffering from the Disney-fication of the medium. It's ONLY for kids and dancing animals, it's not seen as a medium for story-telling in general. Don't get me wrong, Disney is VERY well-done... well, USUALLY well-done work... but unfortunately 70 some-odd years of safe, family-friendly fare has led the general public to think 'toons are just for kids; warm, fuzzy, lots of dancing animals. AAAAGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Flash-forward to now... and 'The Incredibles'. And let me start by saying THIS IS RATED PG FOR A REASON. Possible adultery, quite a bit of violence, this is a film NOT meant for little kids. If your child can handle 'Star Wars', go for it. If they CAN'T, don't go here. 'But why, it's a cartoon!!!!!' Remember, I said it's a MEDIUM... animation is like TV, books, radio; it's a format to transmit information and entertainment, the CONTENT CAN BE ANYTHING... and if you snag stuff from Japan, man can that content be messed-up! But that's another story entirely.
So what's the deal? Sure, it's 'PG'. Cool, no screamed kids, get them out of the freaking theater. Ok, so you got a bunch of superheroes in the real world. Whatever. Ah... slow down folks, this is where Brad Bird and his writing come in. Come on, think of what your parents are like, think of every annoying story you hear at work when someone is freaking out about their kids... think of the whackiness in your own home and your kids. Yeah, you're getting the shakes, aren't you? Now imagine if you and your family had superpowers.
Yeah, it's a messy moment, isn't it? Add on the harsh realities of being a superhero forced into retirement at a crappy job, raising a family... it all gets frighteningly REAL. That is what makes the story so powerful. We ALL KNOW HOW THEY FEEL. No, we didn't leap tall buildings, but we remember having so many ideals and dreams and thinking 'Hey, we can do great things'... and then the real world gangsta-slaps you into oblivion. You don't know what to do from there.
The drama is heart wrenching, but the funny stuff is over-the-top in 'The Incredibles'. Something as simple as an argument at the dinner table is hysterical as four meta-humans (to borrow a phrase from DC) are screaming at the table. Eek!
And I'm not even talking about the amazing, fanciful, Bond-esque sets, the retro-sound trek, and Edina the costume designer who's hysterical! This could easily be a mish-mash of styles that has all the creativity of 'Bulletproof Monk'. However with Bird's fun script and the voice talents of Craig T. Nelson, Helen Hunt, Samuel L. Jackson, et al, the movie has a life and spark that is magical.
So go see this. No this isn't for the kiddies... it's for YOU... the harried parent, the burned out office worker... a little reminder of magic.