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Movie: The Incredibles
Starring Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter
Written and Directed By Brad Bird (Pixar-Disney)
Reviewed by Rusty Pipes
The Incredibles is simply incred... er, amazing. This is not just due to the ever increasing quality of Pixar's animation; the story line here is firing on all cylinders too.
Bob Parr is Mr. Incredible, a super strong nigh-invulnerable hero voiced by Craig Nelson, who now works for an insurance company because superheroes were getting too many liability suits because of their inevitable collateral damage. His wife Helen, voiced sweetly with a slight Texan drawl by Holly Hunter, is ElastiGirl and they have settled down in the burbs with three kids. Of course the two older ones are chompin' at the bit to show what they've got, but their parents have demanded that they keep their talents hidden. Bob hates his job and eventually loses it and then a mysterious woman invites him to work on new missions in secret. A secret he keeps from Helen too. Of course his working alone gets him captured by an evil genius named Syndrome, voiced with arch relish by Jason Lee, and his family has to come to the rescue.
Other vocal talents include Samuel Jackson as Frezone, and Writer-Director Brad Bird gets in a wonderful performance as Edna, the superhero costume designer. That's just icing on the cake, Bird excels at everything else too. He's been involved in animated series like the Simpsons and already had achieved great stature in the industry as the guy who made the delightful Iron Giant. Here he stands even taller.
The Incredibles could have easily been just another excuse to make action figures but in fact is a great adventure that manages to have a lot of heart in spite of the fact that it's basically another comic book. The funny thing is that Syndrome's plot in this movie involves the launch of a big rocket which is nearly identical to the evil genius's plot in Sky Captain and The World Of Tomorrow; however, here I was hugely entertained. Sky Captain was unbelievable, whereas this movie is simply incredible. There, I said it!
The Skinny:
Did I enjoy the movie: It was indeed incredible, and great fun.
Would I go to see it again: Keep my identity a secret if you see me there.
© 2005 - Rusty Pipes