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Daily Egyptian - Arts & Entertainment - Carbondale, Illinois
'Incredibles' good but not incredible
Geoffrey Ritter
The Incredibles
Starring: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson
Directed by: Brad Bird
Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
Rated PG
3 Gus headsLet's cut right to the point.
For the time being, Pixar can keep its perfect record.
Looking back over the last decade of film, perhaps no other production company can post as glowing a resume as Pixar. From "Toy Story" to "A Bug's Life" to last year's "Finding Nemo," the computer animation powerhouse has spun out an impressive list of hits that, to date, have not been tarnished by a single dud.
Some of the films, of course, are better than others, but not one of them has been bad. Although, some could use a little work.
This is the category for "The Incredibles," the newest Pixar gem that without a doubt entertains but feels a little forced. The premise, a highly amusing bit of fluff about superheroes retiring to regular lives and jobs, is good stuff; its execution is done with the usual for-the-adults charm that has come to define this genre of animation.
However, something about the film being centered around humans removes the fantastic elements that made its predecessors so much fun. While nothing is inherently wrong with "The Incredibles," it feels stale and doesn't excite the way those other films, including Dreamworks' "Shrek," managed to.
It's a song and dance we have become too used to. Granted, it's a good song and an energetic dance, but it feels completely by the numbers here.
Nonetheless, "The Incredibles" charms and gets its fair share of belly laughs. Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) was once a superhero who took his job very seriously, but now he is simply Bob Parr, an insurance salesman married to Helen, a.k.a Elastigirl (Holly Hunter).
The couple was forced into hiding years ago when, as it turned out, not everyone appreciated their derring-do, and now they try their best to live average suburban lives. Much of this involves keeping their super-talented offspring, Dash, Jack Jack and Violet, from performing too many extraordinary acts and blowing their cover.
But Bob, missing his glory days, begins to take off on nightly acts of vigilantism with a former colleague, Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson), and soon enough, he is summoned to a remote island for an off-the-books assignment. There, he must battle a villain he had a hand in corrupting, Syndrome (Jason Lee), but when things get too complicated, the entire Parr family rushes to action to save the world from almost certain armageddon.
It's pretty cute stuff, and it's funny, too. Director Brad Bird, who crafted the excellent animated film "The Iron Giant," is a talented foreman for animation, and he gives the film an undeniably fun flair. Drawing occasionally from superhero movies but more often from 007 flicks, "The Incredibles" is a clever shout-out to action movies that most film buffs will at least curl a gleeful lip at.
But in the end, nothing is particularly new about "The Incredibles." It's a movie that entertains but doesn't leave any real lasting memory, and like any other superhero movie, it sometimes seems designed for the action figure market. Smart, hip and clever, it's a film that has everything going for it, but at the end of it all, it is simply fluff. Good fluff, but fluff nonetheless.
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Last update: Thursday, November 11, 2004 at 4:45:16 AM
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