Incredibles: Review

Ok, serious throwback for all you Pixar fans. In fact, this was one of their first animated movies from what I understand.

I have always wanted to see it, but hey, you don't go watch every movie that hits the screen just because it looks good.

This one however, simply was over the top. Wow. I loved it, and I'm pretty picky on movies. 

Down to business.

Hero's live in the public life with two names. Their Super name, and their covert name. They revert to their covert name and clothes for daily life, then don Super name and outfit to save the world from jeopardy.

Due to growing public disapproval, The supers are forced to go into hiding under their normal names - and live a normal life. 

Easier said than done.     

Mr. Incredible, aka Bob Parr, has a hard time adapting. Married to Elastagirl, father of three more supers, Bob lives and breathes Super - but can't live his old life and dream. He is stuck working for normal day jobs, getting relocated to another every time he gets a little carried away and uses more than the normal dose of strength on a job.

His family is far from normal as well. Violet can make herself invisible and make force fields, Dash can run about faster than a speeding bullet, and as for the infant Jack-Jack, they don't know what he does yet.

Dash gets in trouble in school using his speed for pranks on the teacher, and Violet is depressed since she can't find a boyfriend. Helen, aka, Elastagirl, is the everyday mom, caring for the kids, cheering up her husband and sorting through constant kid squabbles.  

Bob makes a break into the super world once every Wednesday night, when he and another former super, Frozone, pretend to go bowling, as their wives think, but really go about town and save people from danger. 

Until things take a turn. 

Bob gets a message from a mysterious person, the day he gets fired for throwing his annoying boss through five sets of walls at once, asking him to come do some undercover super work for her. A Droid is loose on an Island, and needs to be stopped before it destroys a high-tech compound located there. 

Mr. Incredible jumps at the opportunity - especially since it promises high pay. Now that he has no job, that is even better. 

He (of course) takes down the droid, and now is one happy camper.



He interacts with his family more, family is happy, life is good. He is now the perfect dad. He plays with the kids, feeds the baby, is hopelessly in love with his wife, and all is sunny and balmy.

Instead of going to work everyday now, he goes off and works out at the train yards moving trains and losing the few spare tires he gained around the middle in the 15 years since he was a full time super. 

Until he gets another call.

He goes back to the Island for his next task, and discovers he's been set up. The droid was really a plot to kill him, and now, a bigger, badder droid gets the better of him. He finds out that a annoying little kid from his super days, who happened to be a techy genius, is taking over the world with his inventions.  He was always so bummed he wasn't really a super, he is on a mission to kill them all, and then be the only super, all his gadgets making him what he wants to be - Syndrome the Super - anything but normal. 

After pulling a few shenanigans, Mr. Incredible escapes and is caught again and locked in a containment unit.

Back at home, Helen goes to the person who made Bobs super-suit ages ago, when she found a patch job in Bobs old super suit. This person in the only person who can fix such a suit, and is the only person Bob would trust to do it anyway. At this place, Edna Mode, aka E, has a whole top secret high-tech suit development lab underground.



After Bob had come to ask for her to fix the suit, she was disgusted at his old suit and made him a stark new one - the one he is wearing now in the containment unit. She of course got carried away and made the whole family suits. She tells Helen what Bob is up to, gives Helen the suits, and Helen goes after him, still not sure what is going on. E has a tracking unit built into all the suits, and shows Helen where Bob is.

After finding out that the kids stowed away on the plane she was on, and having it shot down by Syndrome, Helen, Dash and Violet are stuck on the Island, and have to find Bob. 

After finding him, and getting captured themselves, Syndrome lets them in on his biggest plot yet. He is going to send a droid in a rocket to downtown MetroTown (home town for the Parr's) and after it wreaks havoc, Syndrome will save the day and be the Hero he always wanted to be. When he is old and can no longer be super, he will sell weapons and electronics to the world, so "Everyone can be super, which means that nobody will be super."

After escaping (of course, they're supers after all ) they hook a ride on another rocket to Metro Town, and of course, save the day.


Worldview.

There was a few things that caught me about this movie.

First, the whole point of the movie, is the family. Family.
Not put-the-kids-in-as-many-programs-as-possible-so-parents-can-get-them-out-of-their-hair. Family.

Dad being the provider and mom as the stay-at-home helper.

They don't portray the family perfectly, but it is a far cry better than in most movies.

The Dad:

Bob is the A typical disconnected dad. He is in his own world, stuck in his hobbies, bringing home the bacon, but that's about it. He would much rather be out saving people.

Things change however. When him and the whole family are stuck in the containment unit, he realizes what he has done. He says that he has been a horrible father, obsessed with his own hobbies and trying to have adventure, that he missed the biggest adventure he ever had - his family. "You guys are my adventure".

Wow. That folks, blew me out of the water. Besides Courageous, I have never seen a Dad portrayed as actually saying his family was his "greatest adventure". This is like Malachi 4:6.

"He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children." 


Granted, it isn't turning his heart to them so he can train them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord, but wow, this is about the closest I have to it in the secular world.  

The Mom:

This is the biggest part of the movie that stuck out to me. (isn't it fascinating how much influence a woman can make on a movie?)  Helen at the beginning of he movie claims in an interview that she doesn't want to settle down and "let the men save the world".

After she marries and settles down, apparently things change.

She is now a stay-at-home mom, who loves it. She isn't a wife who is cranky at home, tired of the kids and wants to do her thing. Her life is the family and she loves her life. The big thing however, is how she encourages her husband. No movie, not even Courageous has it like here. She is constantly encouraging her husband to help customers and save the world one policy at a time, how much it means to her that he keeps going on his tough job, despite how much he doesn't like it, and stuff like that. Honestly, that part is what blew me away the most about the movie.

I saw that part, and the first thing that ran through my mind was, "I want a wife that will do that to me".
A wife that will encourage her husband to keep at it no matter how hard things get, and tell him how much it means to her that he does.

That's what a guy who works for a living loves to hear. If that won't motivate a husband and father, not much will.

Granted, she doesn't always handle her husband right. When Bob is being a bit of a jerk she tends to get on his case in not quite a Biblical way. Still, it is handled far better than it could have been.

The kids are about modern average. Always fighting, quarreling, and getting into scrapes with one another, but still fight for and save each-other when the crooks are after them.

One more aspect of the movie that caught me is the theme of the movie. The theme is "use whatever gifts you have for the good of others."

Not bad at all on the first glance. As I thought about it however, I noticed an even deeper point to the story.
Syndrome wants to make everybody equal, nobody super, so, I presume, nobody can ever feel left out like he did when he was young.

Everybody, exactly the same.

Sound familiar?

Yes folks, this movie actually seems to teach against socialism. It makes the case that people will be different than others, some good and some bad, and people are to use their good differences to help other people.
Granted, its just moralisms preached, but that angle took me off guard. I appreciated that subtle angle a lot.

Pros:
Worldview, the fact that the family is a key part, the mother encouraging the father, and the humor. CLEAN humor, no crude humor. Love that part.
Dad turns his heart towards his family. Husband and wife are in love with each-other. (Love that part!)

Cons:
The mom is a great encourager and is madly in love with her husband, but yells at him at the slightest provocation. If I want a wife who encourages me, I certainly don't want a wife that yells at me.

There seems to be this theme that superheros have to wear skin tight clothes. Grrr. I guess superwomen with skirts never really caught on. The guys clothes are to tight as well. (I think jeans look rather heroic myself)

Although the dad fesses up and changes in the end, he lies a lot through the movie. It isn't dealt with as strongly as I would like it to be, so I rate it in the cons.

Helen wants to help her husband, and her role in life is to help him on his mission. (Great!)
Only problem in that her way of 'helping' her husband is being out there beating up crooks right beside him. You see more of her beating up crooks than saying she's there to help him, so again, in the cons.  

Overall rating: 4 stars. The one star out is because of the above cons. I sure wish they weren't there, because the movie could have been so totally Incredible without them.