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The Incredibles (27-Oct-2004)
Director: Brad Bird Writer: Brad Bird Keywords: Sci-Fi, Action/Adventure, Superheroes, Robots, Explosions, Airplane Crash, Running
CAST | Craig T. Nelson | ... Bob Parr / Mr. Incredible | | Holly Hunter | ... Helen Parr / Elastigirl | | Samuel L. Jackson | ... Lucius Best / Frozone | | Jason Lee | ... Buddy Pine/Syndrome | | Dominique Louis | ... Bomb Voyage | | Teddy Newton | ... Newsreel Narrator | | Jean Sincere | ... Muriel Hogenson | | Wallace Shawn | ... Gilbert Huph | | Spencer Fox | ... Dash Parr | | Lou Romano | ... Bernie Kropp | | Sarah Vowell | ... Violet Parr | | Michael Bird | ... Tony Rydinger | | Elizabeth Peņa | ... Mirage | | Bud Luckey | ... Rick Dicker | | Brad Bird | ... Edna Mode | | Bret Parker | ... Kari | | John Ratzenberger | ... The Underminer | | Nicholas Bird | ... (additional voices) | | Louis Braga III | ... (additional voices) | | Pete Docter | ... (additional voices) | | Elizabeth Greenberg | ... (additional voices) | | Dennis D.J. Jennings | ... (additional voices) | | Ollie Johnston | ... (additional voices) | | Ted Mathot | ... (additional voices) | | Jazzy Mahannah | ... (additional voices) | | Randy Nelson | ... (additional voices) | | Bob Peterson | ... (additional voices) | | Jeff Pidgeon | ... (additional voices) | | Joe Ranft | ... (additional voices) | | Katherine Ringgold | ... (additional voices) | | Stephen Schaffer | ... (additional voices) | | Bob Scott | ... (additional voices) | | Peter Sohn | ... (additional voices) | | Andrew Stanton | ... (additional voices) | | Frank Thomas | ... (additional voices) | | Deirdre Warin | ... (additional voices) | | Philip Wong | ... (additional voices) |
REVIEWS Featured review by [[Mark Tapio Kines]]: What makes The Incredibles stand out from [[@list::company:pixar]]'s previous five computer animated features is that it's the first to be written and directed by an "outsider": [[Brad Bird]], who also made the fine 1999 animated film [[@movie::the-iron-giant-1999]], and was one of the core team of [[@list::tv:the-simpsons]], has an approach that, while not departing from Pixar's taut, twisty story aesthetics (no surprise, since, like the rest of the main Pixar guys, Bird went to [[@list::edu:calarts]]), has more of a sense of individual vision. This is due in no small part to Bird being the sole credited writer for the film. In the past, Pixar releases were all credited to a team of writers, from within and outside the company. Also, this film, while still family-friendly, is geared even more towards adults (its PG rating is due to much comic book-style violence), and the mere fact that Pixar finally made a film about human beings instead of toys or fish is an undisputed milestone. You all know that the movie is about a pair of retired superheroes who, with their similarly gifted children, are called back into action to defeat an insane supervillain. So I'll continue waxing about the structural evolution evident in the film. You're dealing with a dysfunctional family. The story is far less gag-related than other Pixar movies. Thankfully, there are no [[Randy Newman]] songs (or songs of any kind, for that matter). And it doesn't try to be cute. On top of that, The Incredibles has even less to do with the maudlin superhero movies of late, much less cartoons or comic books, and feels more like a [[@list::list:movie-keyword/james-bond|James Bond]] film, with its gadgets, secret lairs, sexy femme fatale and derring-do. There are also very obvious influences from both [[@movie::raiders-of-the-lost-ark-1981]] and the early [[@movie::star-wars-1977]] films (especially the sound effects, and a high-speed chase through a forest that's almost a shot-for-shot ripoff of the scene in [[@movie::return-of-the-jedi-1983]]). One thing that has stayed consistent with Pixar's previous output is that these guys are smart enough to know that audiences don't really care if a big Hollywood star is providing a voice. So whereas other studios bend over backwards trying to get you excited about [[Will Smith]] or [[Ben Stiller]] lending their vocal talents, Pixar knows you'll see their movies simply because they make good movies. Thus, The Incredibles' main voices are provided by [[Craig T. Nelson]] and [[Holly Hunter]], hardly box office draws. I'd like to see more of that, please, where a voice actor is cast in the traditional way: if they're right for the part. (And thank God that Pixar never stoops to "motion-capturing" the actual actor, ala [[Robert Zemeckis]] with his creepy animated [[Tom Hanks]] in [[@movie::the-polar-express-2004]].) All that said, The Incredibles may not make my top ten list this year, since more interesting, oddball films have been released in 2004, and there are a few flaws in the human animation that are a little distracting (chief among them the characters' lipless mouths not fully suiting the dialogue), but so what -- it looks fantastic and it's fun to watch. What more do you need?
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