The Incredibles

The Incredibles
Teaser Poster
Directed by	Brad Bird Supervising Technical Director: Bill Wise
Produced by	John Walker Executive Producer: John Lasseter Assistant Producer: Katherine Sarafian Associate Producer: Kori Rae
Written by	Brad Bird
Starring	Craig T. Nelson Holly Hunter Sarah Vowell Spencer Fox Jason Lee Samuel L. Jackson Elizabeth Peña Brad Bird
Music by	Michael Giacchino
Cinematography	Andrew Jimenez Patrick Lin Janet Lucroy
Editing by	Stephen Schaffer
Distributed by	Buena Vista Pictures
Release date(s)	November 5, 2004
Running time	115 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$92 million
Gross revenue	$631,442,092

The Incredibles is a 2004 computer-animated feature film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures, centering on a family of superheroes. It was written and directed by Brad Bird, a former director of The Simpsons who has also directed the 1999 animated movie The Iron Giant and the 2007 Disney Pixar film Ratatouille. The Incredibles was originally developed as a traditionally-animated movie for Warner Bros., but after Warner shut down its division for fully animated theatrical features, Bird moved to Pixar and took the story with him.

The Incredibles is Pixar's sixth feature film. It was presented by Walt Disney Pictures and released by Buena Vista Distribution in North America on November 5, 2004, and in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland on November 26 of the same year. It is the first Pixar full-length film to feature an entirely human cast of characters. It was released in a two-disc DVD in the U.S. on March 15, 2005. According to the Internet Movie Database, it was the highest-selling DVD of 2005, with 17.18 million copies sold. It had its network television premiere on Thanksgiving Day 2007 on NBC (usually, Disney movies would air on ABC) and its basic cable premiere on ABC Family as part of The 25 Days of Christmas in December 2007, and its second cable showing on Disney Channel as part of the No Ordinary Friday on February 1, 2008.

Plot

In the past, superheroes were commonplace. However, due to injuries and other incidents stemming from Mr. Incredible's rescue attempts on the day of his marriage to Elastigirl, superheroes became unpopular with the public and remaining superheroes were placed in protection programs, forced to hide their hero identities. Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl have settled into a suburban lifestyle near the city of Metroville as Bob and Helen Parr with three children. Dash and Violet have super powers as well — super-speed and invisibility, respectively — but their infant Jack-Jack has yet to reveal any such powers. Bob finds his job at an insurance agency boring, and secretly goes off at night with his best friend and fellow superhero Frozone to stop crime.

Bob loses his job and threatens his family's superhero identity when he injures his boss, being prevented from stopping a nearby crime. Bob discovers a package from Mirage that offers him the chance to use his superhero abilities to stop a rogue robot, the Omnidroid 9000, on a remote island, for a large sum of money. Bob keeps his job loss and the new offer secret from Helen and completes the job, reliving his old superhero days. He spends several days working himself back into shape, and getting a new super suit made from costume designer Edna Mode. Bob takes another offer by Mirage to help on the island, but finds himself against a much more powerful Omnidroid, which he is eventually able to overpower. He quickly learns that these robots have been created by Buddy Pine, snubbed by Bob despite being his biggest fan years ago and has now taken the name Syndrome; Syndrome seeks revenge on Mr. Incredible and other superheroes. After tricking Syndrome into believing he had been killed, Bob sneaks into his base and discovers that Syndrome has used the adaptable Omnidroid to kill off many of his former superhero colleagues, improving the model from each battle, though is relieved that the identify of his wife or kids is yet known.

Meanwhile, Helen has become suspicious of Bob's activities, and discovers he has visited Edna. She finds that Edna, in creating Bob's new suit, created new suits for each member of the Parr family, including a homing device in each suit; Helen uses it to discover Bob's location on the remote island, but inadvertently causes Bob to be captured by Syndrome when the device goes off. Helen procures a jet to find Bob, but finds Dash and Violet have stowed away. When Syndrome shoots the jet down as it nears the island, the three are able to escape using their powers. On land, Helen frees her husband from the base while Dash and Violet avoid capture by Syndrome's forces. The four reunite but are quickly captured by Syndrome and are recognized as a family of superheroes. Syndrome reveals that he plans to launch the final Omnidroid to Metroville, using a control armlet to act as if he was saving the city in order to gain superhero status. After the robot is launched, Mirage helps the Parrs to escape and follow on a second rocket, using a trailer van for everyone to travel in.

The Parrs arrive in Metroville as the Omnidroid lays waste to the city, and are quickly met by Frozone. Syndrome attempts to stop the robot, but the robot recognizes the armlet as a threat to itself and shoots it off Syndrome. The Parrs and Frozone team together to use the armlet to disable the Omnidroid, saving the city. They return home, learning that the public no longer shuns superheroes, but find that Syndrome, having discovered the Parrs' identity, is attempting to kidnap Jack-Jack. As Syndrome flies back to his waiting jet, Jack-Jack's powers of shifting into multiple forms manifests itself, causing Syndrome to drop him and to be sucked into the jet's engine via his cape. Helen is able to catch Jack-Jack safely while Violet's force-field ability saves the family from the wreckage of Syndrome's jet. The Parrs take up their normal life, but when the city is threatened by the Underminer, they quickly don their outfits to fight him.

Characters

Main article: List of The Incredibles characters

• Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible: He has superhuman strength and reasonable resistance to harm, is also very resourceful and has often used his intelligence to outsmart opponents. Frequently reminisces about his "Glory Days". Voiced by Craig T. Nelson.
• Helen Parr/Mrs. Incredible/Elastigirl: She has superhuman elasticity and plasticity. Frequently worries for her family's safety. Voiced by Holly Hunter.
• Violet Parr: She has invisibility and the creation of force fields. Frequently wishes she was "normal". Voiced by Sarah Vowell.
• Dash Parr: He has superhuman speed. Is a competitive fourth grader. Frequently wishes to prove that he's special. Voiced by Spencer Fox.
• Jack-Jack Parr: He has various powers, such as the ability to burst into flames, pass through solid objects, and emit laser beams from his eyes. Can also turn into a monster form and transmute his body into a heavy metal. Voiced by Eli Fucile and Maeve Andrews.
• Lucius Best/Frozone: He can create and control ice. Frequently relives the "Glory Days" with Mr. Incredible. Voiced by Samuel L. Jackson.
• Buddy Pine/Syndrome: Mr. Incredible's number one fan, but he grows up to hate him due to the fact that Mr. Incredible wouldn't let him become his sidekick. He serves as the main antagonist. Voiced by Jason Lee.
• Mirage: Assistant to Syndrome. She defects shortly after Syndrome shows lack of concern for her life when Mr. Incredible threatens to crush her to death, immediately after she had pushed Syndrome out of the way, being grabbed in his place and saving his life. Voiced by Elizabeth Peña.
• Edna Mode: Famous designer of super-suits. A little obsessed with her work. Voiced by writer/director Brad Bird.

Production

Brad Bird's Inspiration

Brad Bird, writer and director of the film, was inspired by his own life during the creation of The Incredibles. Brad Bird's situation during the time was very similar to that of Bob's in The Incredibles. Bird wanted to do what he loved, he wanted to make films. Yet each of his films would eventually fall by the wayside at some point during their development. While this was happening, he was also trying to focus on his new family that demanded more of his time. He felt that if he focused too much on one, that he would completely fail at the other. Brad Bird stated, "Consciously, this was just a funny movie about superheroes. But I think that what was going on in my life definitely filtered into the movie."^[1]

Problems During Production

Upon Disney accepting the project, Brad Bird was asked to bring in his own team for the production. He brought up a core group of people he worked with on The Iron Giant. Because of this, many 2D artists had to make the shift to 3D, including Brad Bird himself. Brad Bird wrote the script without knowing the limitations or concerns that went hand in hand with the medium of animation. As a result, this was to be the most complex film for Pixar yet. It was planned to be 15 minutes longer than anything else Pixar had created.

Bird's story was full of the most difficult things to do in animation at the time. Creating an all human cast meant that they needed to focus on creating believable human characters, which was one of their biggest hurdles. They needed to advance and create new technology that allowed them to animate and create a detailed human anatomy with the inclusion of muscles as well as dynamic clothing and realistic skin and hair. Long hair had never been done before in animation up until this point. Because of all of these problems, Disney, at first, didn't even want to make the movie. They felt that it should be a live action movie if anything. However, John Lasseter, who works for Pixar, really pushed it, and it ended up being a major success. Quoting Brad Bird, "Basically, I came into a wonderful studio, frightened a lot of people with how many presents I wanted for Christmas, and then got almost everything I asked for."^[2]

References to other Pixar films

Main article: List of Pixar film references

Reception

Critics

The Incredibles received high critical acclaim, receiving a 97% "Certified Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes^[3] which made the movie the twelfth greatest action film of all time and the only one of Top 20 with more than 100 reviews^[4]. Metacritic indicates The Incredibles "universal acclaim" with a 90 out of 100 rating.^[5] Critic Roger Ebert awarded the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, writing that the film "alternates breakneck action with satire of suburban sitcom life" and is "another example of Pixar's mastery of popular animation." Rolling Stone gave the movie three-and-a-half stars and called the movie "one of the year's best" and said that it "doesn't ring cartoonish, it rings true."^[6] Also giving the film three-and-a-half stars, People magazine found that The Incredibles "boasts a strong, entertaining story and a truckload of savvy comic touches."^[7]

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was bored by the film's recurring pastiches of earlier action films, concluding, "the Pixar whizzes do what they do excellently; you just wish they were doing something else."^[8] Similarly, Jessica Winter of the Village Voice criticized the film for playing as a standard summer action film, despite being released in early November. Her review, titled as "Full Metal Racket," noted that "The Incredibles announces the studio's arrival in the vast yet overcrowded Hollywood lot of eardrum-bashing, metal-crunching action sludge."^[9]

Because of the violence it featured, The Incredibles was the first and only Pixar film to receive a PG rating from the MPAA.

Release

Following concerns that the film would receive underwhelming results,^[10] the film grossed $70,467,623 in its opening weekend from 7,600 screens at 3,933 theaters, averaging $17,917 per theater or $9,272 per screen, the highest opening weekend gross for a Pixar film. The film was also #1 in its second weekend, grossing another $50,251,359, easily outgrossing new animated opener The Polar Express. The film ultimately grossed $261,441,092, the second-highest gross for a Pixar film (behind Finding Nemo) and the fifth-highest grossing film of 2004.^[11] Worldwide, the film grossed $631,436,092, ranking fourth for the year.^[12] The film was also the third-highest animated film that year behind Shrek 2.

Top ten lists

The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2004.^[13]

DVD extras and Easter eggs

The Incredibles two-disc Collector's Edition DVD set was released on March 15, 2005. Like many other DVD releases, there are various extra features available on the two discs including:

• Introduction, an introduction for the extras featuring Brad Bird.
• Deleted Scenes, the film's deleted scenes plus an intro for all but one of them. The other one is only accessible as an Easter egg.
• Jack-Jack Attack, a Pixar short film made especially for the release of The Incredibles about what happened while Kari was babysitting Jack-Jack.
• The Making of The Incredibles, a documentary about making The Incredibles featuring about 30 of the crew members.
  • More Making of The Incredibles, another longer documentary also about making The Incredibles.
• Incredi-Blunders. The Incredibles outtakes due to glitches in animation programming.
• Vowellet: An Essay by Sarah Vowell, a documentary about the life of Sarah Vowell, a writer who did the voice of Violet Parr (possibly Region 1 only; see talk page)
• Character Interviews, actor and actresses interview the characters (possibly Region 1 only; see talk page)
• Theatrical Trailers, The Incredibles film trailers.
• Mr. Incredible and Pals, a Mr. Incredible cartoon spoofing cheesy superhero cartoons from the 1960s, as well as Synchro-Vox cartoons like Clutch Cargo.
  • Mr. Incredible and Pals With Commentary, the cartoon with the characters' commentary.
• NSA Files, info about the supers.
• Boundin', a Pixar short film written, directed, composed, production designed and narrated by Bud Luckey.
  • Boundin' With Commentary, Boundin' with commentary by Bud Luckey.
  • Who Is Bud Luckey? a four-minute documentary about the making of Boundin'.

There are also several Easter eggs in the menus^[14]; the one on the main menu shows every door, button and explosion in the movie. Some of the other menus have more than one easter egg movie which one plays appears to be a random choice. One of the eggs on the first Index menu is a short sockpuppet version of the movie The film was also released on UMD for the Sony PSP and in a limited edition VHS version, and was the last Disney/Pixar film to be issued in the VHS format. All future Disney/Pixar titles beginning with Cars would only be released on DVD and Blu-ray.

Merchandising

Several companies released promotional products related to the movie. Dark Horse Comics released a limited series of comic books based on the movie. Kellogg's released an Incredibles-themed cereal, as well as promotional Pop Tarts and fruit snacks, all proclaiming an "Incrediberry Blast" of flavor. Furthermore, in the weeks before the movie's opening, there were also promotional tie-ins with SBC Communications (using Dash to promote the "blazing-fast speed" of its SBC Yahoo! DSL service) and McDonald's. Toy maker Hasbro produced a series of action figures and toys based on the film, although the line was not as successful as the film itself.

In Europe, Kinder chocolate eggs contained small plastic toy characters.

In Belgium, car manufacturer Opel sold special The Incredibles editions of their cars.

In the United Kingdom, Telewest promoted blueyonder internet services with branding from the film, including television adverts starring characters from the film.

In all merchandising outside of the film itself, Elastigirl is referred to as Mrs. Incredible. This is due to a licensing agreement between Disney/Pixar and DC Comics, who has a character named Elasti-Girl (a member of the Doom Patrol). The DC Comics character is able to grow and shrink at will from microscopic size to thousands of feet tall.

In July 2008, it was announced that a series of comic books based on The Incredibles would be published by BOOM! Studios in collaboration with Disney Publishing by the end of the year.^[15]

Video game

Main article: The Incredibles (video game)

The Incredibles is a video game based on the movie for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, Game Boy Advance, PC, Apple Macintosh, and mobiles.

Awards

The film won the Academy Award in 2004 for Best Animated Feature (the second out of three Pixar Animation Studios feature films to do so) as well as Best Achievement in Sound Editing. It also received nominations for Best Original Screenplay (for writer/director Brad Bird) and Best Achievement in Sound, but did not win.

The film was awarded the 2005 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form.

These and other awards place it among the most-honored animation films in recent history. ^[16]

See also

• List of The Incredibles characters
• List of animated feature-length films
• List of computer-animated films
• Hum Hain Lajawab - the Hindi language version of the film

References

External links

• Mini-Review at DVD Lounge
• Official website
• Trailer
• The Incredibles at the Internet Movie Database
• The Incredibles at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• The Incredibles at FilmSpot
• The Incredibles at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Incredibles at Metacritic

• The Incredibles at the Open Directory Project
• The Incredibles at Box Office Mojo
• The Official DVD Website