The Incredibles (2004)

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Back in January, whooda thunk two of the best films of the year (and, more than likely, two of the biggest money-makers) would be about superheroes? If your hand is in the air, we'll PayPal you a dollar, but only if you can prove you were thinking about Spider-Man 2 and The Incredibles, and not Van Helsing and Blade 3. The Incredibles, the latest from the yet-to-release-a-dud Pixar (Finding Nemo) is visually breathtaking, looking much more like high-tech 3D claymation than computer animation. And its story - at least to a comic book reader like myself - can't be beat, with a simple-looking shell packed full of metaphorical goodies. And there's a pre-feature short that - no joke - is worth the price of admission on its own.

The Incredibles, written and directed by The Iron Giant's Brad Bird, owes much more to Brian Michael Bendis's amazing and award-winning comic Powers than it does to any previous big screen adaptation of your typical cape-wearing lifesaver. The film is set 15 years after our highly litigious society banned "supers" from using their gifts to protect and serve. This means that Bob Parr (Craig T. Nelson) has gone from being the baddie-crushing Mr. Incredible to a cubicle-dwelling insurance claims adjustor in a Joe vs. the Volcano-esque office. His wife, Helen (Holly Hunter), was once the Reed Richards-y Elasti-Girl, but is now a suburban housewife who tends to her children: Kitty Pride/Sue Storm clone Violet (Sarah Vowell), Barry Allen wannabe Dash (Spencer Fox), and newborn Jack-Jack, who seems to be "normal." So far.

After suffering through a number of government-sanctioned relocations, the now lumpy Bob and his pal Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) still can't seem to keep their noses out of the crime fighting business. This leads to an unfortunate event in which Bob is drafted to play-test a giant destructive robot on a remote desert island. What Bob doesn't know is that he's helping a criminal mastermind named Syndrome (Jason Lee) hone the world's worst nightmare: A.uh.giant destructive robot. Okay, another dollar for anyone who thought Craig T. Nelson would ever be mentioned in the same essay as "the best film of the year." Actually, the voice-work in The Incredibles is easily its weakest aspect. Or maybe it just seems that way because Bird's storytelling is so damn strong, and the Pixar animation once again breaks the very ground it destroyed last year. If you can, pay attention to the character's hair and clothes, and the effects that water has on them. Look at the way the scenes are lit, and at the shadows that light creates. Pardon me for the Joel Siegel moment, but it's all pretty fricking incredible.

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