Film Review: The Incredibles

**Spoilers**
If you have not yet seen this film, please go and do so before proceeding.

        Remember whenever Pixar actually was producing ground-breaking, unique movies? The Incredibles is the sixth film produced by the 3D animation studio responsible for stories such Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and UP and is one of my personal favorite movies of all time. This was a huge leap forward for the studio and it is a very ambitious story because, not only are people the main focus, but there are also fight scenes and sci-fi elements and explosions (lots and lots of explosions) to animate.

       Nobody can ever tell me that this was intended to be a kid's film. Just...just no. Did we even watch the same film? Much like The Hunchback of Notre Dame, this story touches on some very adult themes. More so even than it touches on anything for kids. Sure Dash struggles with being different from everyone else and Violet wants to work up the courage to talk to the cute boy at school, but that is not the focus of the story. Really, when you look at things, this story is about Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl (or Bob and Helen Parr) and their relationship both as superheroes and as parents. People always gush and squee over the couple of Carl and Ellie from the beginning of UP, but I really think that those famous two had their roots in this movie. Why? Well...let's talk about the story.




         In a world not so different from ours, there are a group of people called Supers. Much like the X-Men, these are children who are born with extraordinary and superhuman powers only, unlike in X-Men, the Supers are not feared or ostracized from society. Rather they form a community all of their own and work as a team to keep the world safe from the evils of the dregs of society. They are lauded by the government and supported by the police. Life is good. The movie opens with two famous Supers (Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl) getting married under their secret identities (Bob and Helen). They're young and in love and, hey, they're Supers...what's the worst thing that could happen?!

       Well we find out in a frankly hilarious news montage where Mr. Incredible is sued by a suicidal man for saving him from jumping to his doom. This event, of course, opens the floodgates for dozens of other lawsuits and finally things get so bad that the government initiates something called the Superhero Relocation Program where Supers are stripped of their identities, given jobs, and instructed to live quiet lives as ordinary civilians. This becomes the template that the rest of the film will build its narrative off of.

      I say that this is more a movie for older kids and adults, not because the action is too violent (it's not and it's very obviously animated...early days of CG animation, remember) but because the story is literally just about Mr. Incredible's mid-life crisis, except with the added twist that he is a Super gifted with extreme strength. Bob was never really able to fit in with a quiet civilian life the way his wife worked to assimilate due to the fact that he desperately just wanted to help people and he got dropped at an insurance agency that seemed more concerned about setting up obstacles for the customers than doing right by. By the time the story picks up with him again after the legal montage he is in his late forties, overweight, struggling at a dead-end bottom-of-the-ladder job that he hates, and he has three children who were also born with superpowers and who are struggling to fit in and not feel like freaks. He is tired, frustrated, and feels like nothing in his life is going right. Helen, on the other hand, is steadfastly trying to keep her family afloat and hidden from civilians and criminals alike, worried that Bob is tailspinning, and is having her own struggles. In short, basically think the Bailey family from It's A Wonderful Life, but with superpowers.

       The film is told almost exclusively through the POV's of the two parents, whether it be Bob struggling with his feelings of uselessness and trying to protect his family or Helen trying to support him and yet keep her own life going. They just feel very real. They argue and they fight and they even sometimes lie to each other (with terrible consequences) but in the end they have each other's backs.

          

         This story is also not afraid to go into some very dark places. Comics and superheroes have never been a medium that shies away from prejudice and cause-and-effect (just look at X-Men or Batman, to name two famous examples) but this is a Disney-endorsed movie containing torture, death, the threat of death to even children, a disappointed child who turns into a villain, and the very adult concepts of martial unfaithfulness and the parents grieving/preparing to sacrifice themselves for their kids. Not that children watching this movie will necessarily be oblivious to such things (goodness no) but they're definitely no themes that you normally see showcased in a children's movie. Especially not one under the name of ol' Uncle Walt.

        Take the moment when Syndrome sends off the missiles to take down the jet Helen and Violet and Dash are riding in. He shows absolutely no mercy to the fact that there are children on board, instead laughing and using it against Bob. For one terrible moment, we actually think that Bob's wife and children have died and the film lingers on that, letting us feel the depth of Bob's gut-wrenching guilt and grief. The movie totally goes there and doesn't gloss over. How about Helen's face when she pleads for the life of her children and then leaps towards them, shielding them with her own body? This is one of the films that I can say actually moves me to tears at places and...wow. I am amazed every time with just how intense, scary, and real the danger and action is.

        Helen even explains to her children at one point, using their memories of Saturday morning cartoons to illustrate. "Remember those bad guys on the cartoons you two used to watch on TV? Well these bad guys aren't like those guys. They won't exercise restraint or pity just because you're children. They will kill you if they get the chance. Do NOT give them that chance."

        But for all the dark, adult parts of this film, there is a lot of humor and heart to it as well. The Incredibles is a story that manages to be both a parody of the superhero genre and an excellent, serious story in its own right. Nowhere is this more obviously illustrated than in the character of Syndrome.

          Like all great supervillains, Syndrome has a very interesting back story. He starts off as a rather geeky, awkward kid who is a devoted member of the Mr. Incredible Fan Club named Buddy. He is so devoted, in fact, that he decides it is his destiny to become the Robin to Mr. Incredible's Batman and dubs himself Incrediboy. When he is rejected by his hero, though, Buddy's dreams are crushed and he resolves never again to hold anybody up as a hero because heroes only let you down in the end. Due to the fact that he is an untapped genius scorned, he becomes further obsessed with Mr. Incredible (only with the new goal of bringing him down) and fashions a new identity for himself as Syndrome, Mr. Incredible's nemesis. So Syndrome has a very solid back story and motivation (as well as being slightly insane...like all good supercriminals are) but much as he is a serious threat to Bob and Helen and their lives, Syndrome is also a very self-aware near-parody. (See gif about monologues above...)

        The whole film is like this. Edna Mode (one of the greatest characters ever invented, IMNSHO) makes frequent references to the famous superhero costumes in that she despises the hazards of capes and is always looking for a way to make that spandex both more breathable and machine-washable. There are countless visual gags involving superpowers scattered throughout the film and then we have the crowning glory joke of all jokes involving Frozone (Bob's best friend) and his wife who, come to think of it, we never see on screen and yet she is the character that, for most people, leaves a HUGE impact!

       I love that woman. 'Honey' is definitely someone I would like to see explored a bit more in a minisode or something about Frozone. C'mon, Pixar. You've given Mater how many features? Please could we have this one? Pretty please?

          The Incredibles themselves have a lot of funny scenes, most of which derive from classic everyday family situations that they go through...except with added challenge of superpowers or end-of-the-world missions. A sibling fight at dinner? Made worse by abuse of Quicksilver-like speed and force fields. (Come to think of it, Dash is probably based on The Flash.) A family vacation gone wrong? Try fighting off machine-gun armed forces in a dungeon. The road trip from Hell? Ha. Haha. I think we all know how that one is hilariously ridiculous.

This works because it humanizes this family of superhumans and helps us to relate to their story and characters. They are very real because they're people that we all have met and known (or even we are these people) and as a result we are more easily pulled into their world of supersuits, killer robots, and computer-generated icicles.

        Oh. And Jack Jack scares me. Sure he's cute and all now, but his powers seem to be based on emotion. Just imagine what'll happen whenever this morphing kid hits puberty! Now there's an idea for a sequel! Oh wait, I forgot, the movie already gave us one that PIXAR HASN'T CAPITALIZED ON YET DESPITE THE FACT THAT IT WOULD BE TWO-THOUSAND TIMES BETTER THAN CARS 2!!!!!!

           In my opinion this is one of the best films Pixar has ever produced. The characters are diverse, memorable, and a lot of fun; the story is fun, sad, touching, and both dark and light in places with a wonderful climax; it has a good message about family and loyalty; and the animation still holds up very well today, despite the fact that effects on humans in these type of films tend to show their age very quickly (just look at Andy from Toy Story). It is not a film for very young children as there is quite a bit of violence and adult themes, but it definitely is something that pretty much all ages can enjoy together. Clean, wholesome fun that isn't afraid to go to the dark places of both emotion and human nature while still keeping everything family-friendly and getting across a great moral without feeling preachy or sappy. The Incredibles is a SOLID 5/5.

What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently?

OUAT-Wonderland Review: Episode 13 "And They Lived..."

By Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz & Zack Estrin

**SPOILERS!**
If you have not watched this episode, please do so before continuing!

So our three trusty heroes infiltrated the villain's castle in an effort to foil his plot to become the most powerful sorcerer. Among their allies is the powerful sorceress who is not only the mother of our heroine's love interest, but she also taught the villain everything he knows and has spent the entire series as an inanimate object with magical powers--until the life of her son is threatened, then she comes free and decides to make her move on the villain... Too late, of course, to save her son's life, as the blackguard kills him--devastating the heroine and manipulating the heroes' most powerful ally into accomplishing his own ends... which he does... Ergo, without further ado...

Random Thoughts, Observations, and Best Scenes and Quotes:

-The episode starts off with a Character Resurface of Total Convenience: remember that one quick part, just before Amara appeared (out of freaking nowhere!), Alice was down in the dungeons and freed the Sultan and asked for his help? Well, apparently it took this long for the guy to get back up to the throne room... because he shows up after Jafar has done the spell and become über-powerful (because apparently that needed to happen), but before Jafar is about to stab Amara in the back so that only he will be the most powerful and there would be no other way for the good guys to win (because apparently that didn't need to happen... for the first time in OUAT history, folks!)

-"The way to show true power is through mercy!" Wow! This, from the man who originally said, "True power comes from fear"? Sounds like someone has put his time to good use in learning moral lessons instead of trying to amass ultimate power...

-Unfortunately, Jafar The Super-Powered Man-Child is in no mood to listen to any kind of rational thinking (Well, duh; why use your brain to figure out how to be an effective person when you can just use magic to get what you want?); he wants what he wants with the least amount of effort possible--so what does he use his newly-acquired mojo for? Two things: he unleashes magic mind-control to force the Sultan to say loving things to him as a father to his son-- the "only thing he's ever wanted"-- but when this does not satisfy him, he merely kills his father by magically drowning him. THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T JUST "HAVE" NICE PEOPLE, JAFAR!

-At least this little tiff gives Alice and Amara time to escape... and where do they go? Where everybody goes for healing, apparently....

-But then again, while the Rabbits are arguing and Percy is complaining about the state of his bloodstained carpet ("At least both sides match now! Who needs a scrapbook when we can use this carpet? 'Look, kids, this is where Alice almost died, and here's where Cyrus' spleen fell out...') Amara just uses her super-magic to heal him anyway... so what was the point of this? Why couldn't they just escape to the labyrinth and heal him there? Maybe I'm just picky because they're such annoying characters...

-Back in the Castle, Jafar is throwing his weight around again... This time, he's paranoid about anyone being more powerful (or even as powerful) as he is, so what does he do? Takes the Vorpal Blade and pins Jabberwocky up in his dungeons. Apparently somebody's still sore about the way she totally pegged him when they first met... And now Jafar is short an ally... what few allies he had... and he just killed off his most powerful one, which makes him an idiot... Wonderful...

-Back in the Rabbit House, the writers give the Rabbit something to do: go and round up all the citizens of Wonderland to come fight for Alice and hopefully take down the most powerful person in the history of the world. Who wouldn't want to sign up for that, right?

-Back in the palace, Jafar's up to his old tricks again; he releases Will (who is over that "My will is thine" tripe; he comes out looking very bored and demands, "What the bloody hell do you want?") inside a magic triangle barrier that he can't cross, just to show him that Jafar has "held up my end of the bargain." He brings out Anastasia... But she has no memory of Will, because Jafar has (WHAT ELSE?) used his magic to make her fall in love with him!!

-So now Jafar has effectively proven that the Three Rules of Magic no longer apply to him... and he just stands there snogging Ana in front of the tortured Will.... Which makes him an idiot AND an ass.... but he's not done...

-Now he's gotta get himself an army, and because all the LIVING soldiers have defected to join Alice, he goes to the graveyard and raises all the dead soldiers, which makes them beholden to him for giving them life (even though they never asked for it, and probably didn't want it after all...) and so they are compelled to do what he wants.... Jafar, the Jerk-Ass Idiot!

-Meanwhile, Alice decides that Cyrus and Amara should go to the Well of Wonders and lift the curse, while she goes and sacks Jafar's castle.... Didn't anybody ever tell her that it's never a good idea for the good guys to split up? 

-And now we have the Battle of the Pep Talks: Jafar vs. Alice. Jafar begins by rousing the newly-resurrected soldiers with the hype that "Wonderland is in danger"... but by the end of the speech, he tells them to "Kill all who resist! Bring Wonderland to it's knees!" Umm.... getting a little carried away with yourself, aren't you? Because if the Citizens of Wonderland are charged with both saving Wonderland and bringing it to its knees.... don't those two goals kind of cancel each other out?? Then what the heck are they fighting for??

-Meanwhile, Alice gives her speech: It's clear, direct, and consistent. She knows they're fighting for a cause greater than any one person, they're fighting for their homes, they're fighting for their families and loved ones! Alice Wins Best Speech!!

-Not long afterward, the two armies collide in an ambush. I have to say, good thing the "resurrected dead" aren't really zombies; they can bleed and die all over again. Amara can use her magic to get the squad attacking her and Cyrus to stab themselves, but Alice gets captured by the time Cyrus realizes that his true love doesn't have the magic power that his mother does. Minor detail, might have been good to consider BACK WHEN SHE PROPOSED SPLITTING UP IN THE FIRST PLACE!

-So now Jafar has Alice bound to a chair in his throne room, he's got Will in a magic triangle... What does he do? Time for another round of Kiss The Girl! Wow, kissing in a TV show is really boring... And besides, it just goes to show how shallow Jafar really is. Everybody knows TRUE Love is more than just a never-ending snog fest, you numpty! 

-Finally, Jafar turns on Alice. He's raised the dead, he's made someone fall in love.... now he's going to change Alice's past, to make it so that she will have never met Cyrus.

-"You've already loved and lost.... but what would you be if you had never loved at all?" Hey! No fair copping that quote!

-Hurrah for Alice. She doesn't break, not even once. She owns Jafar every bit as much as the Jabberwocky did. She points out that the love he fabricated with his magic over Anastasia is not true love, and his threat to take away her meeting Cyrus and how that would remove love from her life is totally false because "true love always lasts" and that's the sort of love Jafar will never feel, with all his magic and manipulation. Now who does that remind you of???

-He storms off in high dudgeon when he finally figures out that Amara and Cyrus are trying to stop him... which gives Alice and Will the opportunity to work on Anastasia!

-Will follows Alice's speech about love up with one of his own, and it's bloody brilliant. Anastasia thinks that what she feels toward Jafar is "love" because that's what his magic has told her; Will responds with, "Love is messy. It means arguing and making up and crying and laughing and struggling and sometimes it doesn't seem worth it but it is, and at the end... you forgive each other." WHEEE!!!!!

-Hurrah for True Love's Kiss! There was really no other way to follow up a speech like that... and it was every bit as fantastic as it ought to be! Some people would rather ship Alice and Will... but I really think that Anastasia is the only one for Will (and she certainly reforms a lot better than another Evil Queen who persists in teetering on the brink of good and evil... blergh!)

-Anastasia manages to free Alice, but Will is still trapped, so Ana stays with him while Alice goes to help or warn Cyrus about Jafar.

-Finally, we arrive at the climax over the Well of Wonders. Cyrus is saying goodbye to his mother, and Nyx arrives to accept the offering... but just then Jafar pops up and tries to interfere... He kills Amara, and the water starts seeping out of her onto the stones of the Well, and just before he kills Cyrus too, a Rabbit Hole explodes under Jafar at just the right moment (the first time in the whole show that I'm actually cheering for the Rabbit) and knocks him off his feet. Alice comes out and tells Cyrus to give the water back, which he tries to do...

but just before it drops all the way, Jafar takes it back and scatters it! All hope is lost, and it looks like Jafar has won once and for all... but no writer is that stupid, for Alice points out, "That water wasn't yours to steal." OWNED, SUCKER!!

 

-Here we pause for a musical interlude that sounds a lot like Jafar's theme from the Disney movie, plus we have the same "Jafar-getting-sucked-into-the-genie-bottle moment" (Which was a lot more dramatic in the animated version, methinks...)

-With the banishment of Jafar, all his magic is undone... including the resurrection of Ana. Poor Will! He's got no hope left... The guy could really use a Plot Device of Incredible Convenience about now...

-Enter Cyrus and Alice, with a bottle of water from the Well of Wonders that was "given, not stolen" so it's totally okay! Alice drums up some tosh about "She said it was time for the Red Queen to move on, but Anastasia must continue..." but Anastasia waking up and Will getting his true love back is so perfect and adorable that we can quite ignore how abhorrently pitiful the writing has gotten by now.

D'AWWWW!!!

-Fast-forward to Alice preparing for her wedding day. All of a sudden, Edwin the Coward is accepting of Cyrus and grateful for Alice's forgiveness of the abominable way he treated her when he didn't believe... You realize this doesn't change the fact that Cyrus is nothing but the son of a poor sorceress from a different world and no more a gentleman than when he was a genie, and so accepting him means that you necessarily believe the magical land exists, because Cyrus exists...

You know what? It's the finale; never mind all that...

-The wedding of Cyrus and Alice, which of course means a "curtain call" for all the characters... not that I mind... the sight of Millie the "Sensible Daughter" sitting on the Hero Tweedle's lap is just adorable... but... WHAT THE HECK?? First they were ready to lock Alice away for mentioning a Talking Rabbit... now the writers expect us to believe that they are suddenly okay with SAME TALKING RABBIT OFFICIATING THE WEDDING?? Like he has some kind of extra-terrestrial ordination or something?? Oh help...

-In the end, Will and Anastasia return to Wonderland and become the White King and Queen, and Alice writes her adventures in a book, which she shares with her daughter while the whole family has a tea party in the woods... and Percy the White Stalker Rabbit looks on...

FINAL SCORE: This ending was fitting only because it was so campy and cliche that it "fit" the rest of the show. There were no loose endings, no killer tag scenes that leave you wondering, everything's "Happy-ever-after"... which is new...

As far as the categories go, the Heroes of course shine while the Villain can go boil his head in a vat of molten lava for all I care. It's really too much to expect the villain to go amassing an unbeatable army at the very end of a show... no, he's gotta get rid of the strongest people on his "team" and surround himself with little people... Geez. This episode gets full marks for banter because of all the great quips and speeches that happened (I'm not calling Jafar's power-rant a speech... it was more like a frenzied rave than an actual speech in any sense of the word...). The Graphics were passable, and the level of Conflict and Resolution suitable to an ending. All this adds together for a grand score of 9/10, the best this show can achieve! 

Heroes: 5/5

Villains: 4/5

Graphics/ VFX: 4/5

Banter: 5/5

Conflict/Resolution: 5/5

TOTAL SCORE: 9/10

Finally it's over!! (Or is it?)