Mr. Incredible and Pals

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Mr. Incredible and Pals
Directed by Roger Gould
Produced by Ann Brilz
Brad Bird (executive)
Osnat Shurer (executive)
Written by Roger Gould
Starring Craig T. Nelson
Samuel L. Jackson
Roger Jackson
Pete Docter
Michael Asberry
Celia Schuman
Music by Alex Mandel
Editing by Steve Bloom
Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures
Pixar Animation Studios (2005 release with The Incredibles DVD)
Release date(s) March 15, 2005
Running time 4 min.
Country Flag of the United States
Language English
Preceded by Jack-Jack Attack (2005)
IMDb profile

Mr. Incredible and Pals is an animated short film produced by Pixar, and included as a bonus "easter egg" on the DVD edition of its 2005 feature film The Incredibles.

The film is produced in a style of limited animation that intentionally parodies the low-budget, low-quality TV Saturday morning cartoons that aired regularly during the era of the 1960s and 1970s. TV animation studios were contracted to turn out high quantities of product on low budgets, and this resulted in a large number of TV cartoons that have been derided and mocked by TV critics, film and animation historians, and audiences in general.[citation needed] Mr. Incredible and Pals provides examples of the style of low-budget TV animation that produced such stereotypical fare as:

  • Still shots of drawn scenes, rather than actual frame-by-frame animation.
  • Actual footage of live actors' mouths moving instead of animated lips on the characters. The most well-known example of this form of "animation" was the Clutch Cargo series.
  • A Cold War-era plot pitting the true, freedom-loving American superheroes Mr. Incredible and Frozone against a stereotypical "Communist" supervillain, Lady Lightbug.
  • A "cute animal" sidekick only added for "children's appeal." In this film, a glasses-wearing rabbit named Mister Skipperdoo does nothing but hop up and down, yet his actions are seen as crucial to solving the "mystery" that comprises the plot of this cartoon.

In addition to the many in-jokes and animation references included in this cartoon, the voice actors for Mr. Incredible and Frozone (Craig T. Nelson and Samuel L. Jackson) provided a DVD commentary for the short film, acting in character as if they were the actual Mr. Incredible and Frozone, watching this film for the first time more than thirty years after it was produced. The "background story" behind Mr. Incredible and Pals stated that Mr. Incredible and Frozone licensed their names and images to a TV animation company, and this was the pilot episode for an animated TV series that never aired. The commentary of the two characters -- who were aghast at the wretched quality of the story and animation -- provided additional entertainment for the DVD's viewers.

As of 2008, Mr. Incredible and Pals was the first of only two short films produced by Pixar Animation Studios in the traditional hand-drawn method, instead of CGI animation. The second cel-animation short film, Your Friend the Rat, was produced in 2007 and included as part of the DVD release of Ratatouille.

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Pixar Animation Studios
Feature films
Toy Story (1995) • A Bug's Life (1998) • Toy Story 2 (1999) • Monsters, Inc. (2001) • Finding Nemo (2003) • The Incredibles (2004) • Cars (2006) • Ratatouille (2007) • WALL-E (2008) • Up (2009) • Toy Story 3 (2010)  • newt (2011)  • The Bear and the Bow (2011)  • Cars 2 (2012)  • John Carter of Mars
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Luxo Jr. (1986) • Red's Dream (1987) • Tin Toy (1988) • Knick Knack (1989) • Geri's Game (1997) • For the Birds (2000) • Mike's New Car (2002) • Boundin' (2003) • Jack-Jack Attack (2005) • One Man Band (2005) • Mater and the Ghostlight (2006) • Lifted (2006) • Your Friend the Rat (2007) • Presto (2008)
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