*** Official THE INCREDIBLES Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Reagan]

Scott and Andy,



Thanks for the insight.



-Reagan

 

[Holadem]

I may have to see this again... I must really have missed something, with all the gushing praise I am seeing. I'll make sure it's a better presentation this time. I still don't understand what happened in that big and usually thunderous theater! Grrrrr....



--

H

 

[Kwang Suh]

As this is a discussion thread, spoiler tags are not necessary.



Symbolically, all the superpowers represent the archetypes of a family member. In the case of Jack Jack, he's a baby with unknown potential, therefore he can be anything he wants.

 

[Diallo B]

a quick thread jack.
i appreciate people being cautious with the spoiler tags. last night my brother walked into my home office and said, " i can't believe they voted "**@@#$%%^" off on survivor." and i had not seen it yet. he knows that i record shows to watch on my own time and i avoid spoilers like the plague. i was pissed.

back to the thread.

i understand some parents trouble with the violence in the movie. but, for crying out loud it is a super hero movie!!! and i hope that all of those people crying about violence don't let their kids watch:

dragonball or any of its offspring
tom and jerry
any looney toones cartoon
woody woodpecker
any version of transformers
teen titans
megas xlr
justice league or its successor
thundercats
silverhawks
the simpsons


and the worst of all

g.i. joe.

i was watching g.i. joe on the cartoon network a few months back and i could not believe all of the sexual innuendo, VERY realistic violence and borderline cussing that was there. as a child i did not understand what was going on. but now, man was that an eye opener. i can't beleive my parents used to let me watch that.

 

[Ken Chan]

So were there any advances in the art of computer animation? The sheen of fabric or wetness? Hair? Wet hair? (Shrek 2 had the raindrops; didn't see the last one with the fish....)



Good movie. Handled the superhero theme well. Appreciated the digs at litigiousness and mediocrity. Best James Bond feel since True Lies.

 

[Chris]

The handling of water movement in the way he ran across the water was sheer; the managemetn of fire and more realistic physics were nice; there were quite a few advances.. Violet's hair was a unique little trick, however they pulled that off.

 

[Jassen M. West]

Did anyone notice the "I" shaped "cigarette" burns? I thought that was a nice little easter egg.



jay

 

[Chris Harvey]

quote:So were there any advances in the art of computer animation? The sheen of fabric or wetness? Hair? Wet hair? (Shrek 2 had the raindrops; didn't see the last one with the fish....)

The stuff I noticed was mainly the hair: after tussling, the Parrs had mussed-up hair, the wet hair looked really good (and wet), Violet's hair (obviously), but also Bob's hair looked frizzier when it had dried (after being wet). And, of course, Syndrome's zero-G/electrified look.



Oh yeah, and the movie lived up to its name. Wonderful stuff.

 

[Dana Fillhart]

First thought that popped into my mind when I saw grown-up Buddy ("Incredi-boy", lol) was...Hey, they digitized Harry Knowles!

I give the film a 90%, and just about ties Eternal Sunshine and Hero for best films in my 2004 list. Sadly, I've not actually seen any films since Hero, so my list is VERY lacking this year.



Despite the high rating, I was a little uncomfortable about some of the heavy-handed morality this time around, though I can't exactly put my finger on it. I felt the same way after viewing Pleasantville - I knew I had just witnessed an awesome, special film, but there were some moral/ethical postulates blended within the context of the film that, somewhere in my psyche, I balked at.



In this film I feel the overriding theme, stated explicitly at least twice during the film, was that society was imposing upon itself a homogeny of mediocrity by eliminating any talent that could be deemed "special". "And when everybody has super powers," Syndrome declares wicedkly (paraphrased), "...nobody will be super." That (or variations on it) was said a few times.



Normally I don't mind - and even enjoy - political/ethical overtones (overt or subtle) in films, whether or not I agree with them. In this case, though, the allegory to the US public education system (or rather, the perceived problem with it from certain political viewpoints) was so overwhelmingly blatant that it was, to me, very grating in that it didn't directly come out and apply it. Not sure if I'm making sense here, but I'm just trying to work out what exactly I think it was that unsettled me about the film and its somewhat heavyhanded "message" delivery.



My friend I went to see it with claimed there were some very disappointing obvious stereotypes in the film, which kept it for him from being as good as Finding Nemo (his favorite Pixar film), but other than typical archtypes (in the same vein that Lucas used in the SW prequel trilogy) as storytelling shortcuts, I didn't find anything offensive (well, okay, maybe Mr. Incredible's boss was a little too ... stereotypical).



Those things said, I found the film to be highly enjoyable throughout, and I definitely want to see it again (which is only the second film this year I've had that desire, after Hero).

 

[Chris Farmer]

On a different note, did anybody spot any other Pixar characters from their other movies? Most notably, at least the Pizza Planet truck had to be there somewhere, unless they somehow forgot it.

 

[Raasean Asaad]

I believe an actual Pizza Planet got blown up in the background.

 

[DaveF]

quote:disappointing obvious stereotypes

Mr. Incredible's boss was cliche -- though I always enjoy Wally Shawn. I also thought E (the super-seamstress) was cliched. The fast-talking, never listening, haute-couture, while enjoyable, seemed very generic. Also, the voices of secondary characters seemed blase. The tricycle boy, in particular, had a really tedious voice. It was lacking something. The dull voice lacked the character's sparkiness.

I enjoyed The Incredibles, but I think it's Pixar's least original film so far. (though I suppose some might argue that A Bug's Life is less original, pulling from another movie for its inspiriation). The characters and story seem very similar to recent superhero stories, especially Spy Kids.

And unlike many others, I found Iron Giant entertaining but not nearly as great as Disney's and Pixar's best. It makes me wonder if it's Brad Bird.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Bob's boss reminded me of William H. Macy (visually speaking).

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

This talk of innuendo reminds me of my favorite line from the film, at least for now.



When Syndrome has them all together and says: "You married Elastigirl? and you got bizzzzzzzzaaaaaaaayyyyy!"



Everyone laughed at that one when I went on Saturday.



Going back tonight for $4.00, can't wait.

 

[Nick T Robot]

quote:Now parents will have to pre-screen or at least wait until after the first weekend before they can determine what the movie is truly like.

I may be too late, but as a Parent myself, I have to say this:

Parents should be doing this for any PG (or PG-13, R or NC-17) rated movie!

I think this was marketed as another movie made by the Pixar team, just as it was. It's been widely discussed that it's their first PG movie. The ratings are there for a reason. If the same team made this movie and it was rated PG while the other movies by that team are rated G, then you'd HAVE to wonder why?

This is a Voluntary Movie Rating System so they don't HAVE to do this.


That's what the MPAA Ratings are there for!

quote:PG:"Parental Guidance Suggested. Some Material May Not Be Suitable For Children."

This is a film which clearly needs to be examined or inquired into by parents before they let their children attend. The label PG plainly states that parents may consider some material unsuitable for their children, but the parent must make the decision.

Parents are warned against sending their children, unseen and without inquiry, to PG-rated movies.

The theme of a PG-rated film may itself call for parental guidance. There may be some profanity in these films. There may be some violence or brief nudity. But these elements are not deemed so intense as to require that parents be strongly cautioned beyond the suggestion of parental guidance. There is no drug use content in a PG-rated film.

The PG rating, suggesting parental guidance, is thus an alert for examination of a film by parents before deciding on its viewing by their children.

 

[dpippel]

quote:Bob's boss reminded me of William H. Macy (visually speaking).

I thought he was the spittin' image of Stephen King.

 

[David Williams]

Did anyone get a really good look at Mirage's phone number? It's definitely a valid U.S. toll free phone number. I caught the beginning (866), but Mr. Incredible moves the card back and forth so quickly I missed the last part. I wonder if there is a message attached to the phone number?

 

[ZacharyTait]

quote:Bob's boss reminded me of William H. Macy (visually speaking).

Thank you! That was bugging the hell out of me.

 

[Don Solosan]

quote:A question. Did Violet have her hair parted on the left AND right in the early scenes before she put it back (when in costume). I seem to remember either her left or her right eye being covered by her hair.

In most of the movie (and the artwork I've looked at) her part is on the left side, revealing her left eye. In shots where she's on the left side of the screen looking right, they switched the part, otherwise her whole face would have been covered.



As a side note, I knew a guy in college who had his hair covering one of his eyes and he ended up needed glasses because it damaged his vision!

 

[MichaelD]

Doug, I also thought he looked exactly like Stephen King