Ive been looking forward to THE INCREDIBLES ever since I saw the superbly antic trailer for it that accompanied FINDING NEMO. Thats what makes the experience of having seen it last all the more deflating. Despite first-rate CGI animation and some clever atomic 50s-style art direction, THE INCREDIBLES commits the worst cinematic sin of all, its tepid. And it has nothing from that trailer in it.
It starts out well enough. The super heroes of the world have been sued out of business by a populace that has turned litigious after being saved by said supers, as theyre called. Flash forward 15 years and Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson), now settled with his wife, the annoying perky Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), and their three kids, is living a quiet suburban life as part of the super hero protection program. By day, he toils in the claims department of an insurance company, barely able to squeeze into the tiny cubicle provided, or the compact car, for that matter, that he uses to get back and forth. By night, he listens to the police radio with Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) an old pal from his glory days, finding people to rescue despite the years, and the weight gain, taking their toll. Then fate takes a hand, and Mr. Incredible is offered the chance to take up where he left off, as long as it remains a deep dark secret from everyone, even his family.
Its exactly the sort of situation that writer/director Brad Bird exploited to comic perfection when he was a producer on The Simpsons, tweaking the banality of everyday life with a dada-esque edge to the dark, dark humor. Instead of going in that direction and all the wonders that it might have held, he went, as they say, another way. That would be the melding of spy spoofs from the 60s full of nifty gadgets and enormous secret fortresses, with the generic 50s sitcom of the Father Knows Best or Leave It to Beaver mold. The result is a film that devolves quickly into the trite and achingly sappy moments where everyone learns a moral lesson that will produce cringes rather than the warm fuzzies Bird and Disney intended. Its SPY KIDS (the original) without the fun, James Bond without the spice or wit of the best ones in the series. It is, in fact, the sort of film out of which The Simpsons would make short but entertaining hash. The kids are cliché, the chipper son, the sulky daughter, the adorable baby, none of whom rise above the tired dialogue of the less successful sitcoms of any era, super powers notwithstanding. Instead of using it all as a springboard to plunge boldly into satire, Bird has created a simulacrum of all that is most blandly conventional. And if thats not bad enough, it lasts an unbearable two hours. If it weren’t for the intermittent sly bits, like the baby’s name, Jack-Jack, paired with the family’s non-super surname, Parr, I would have despaired altogether.
From anyone else, from any other studio, this would be a harmless bit of fluff that will keep the kids quiet and moderately amused. Even moms out there might enjoy the way Elastigirl can stretch her arms to incredible lengths to keep order with, and distance between, her fractious kids. Theres plenty of plot, a whole mess o action, but, from Bird though, THE INCREDIBLES is a heart-breaker of what could have and should have been.
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