The Incredibles
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Plot Summary:
Former superheroes Bob and Helen have to come to terms with 'ordinary' life...until a new heroic opportunity presents itself. Much comic book adventuring ensues...Opinion:
Ah, yes—here we are…one of the best movies of 2004. (Too bad I had to wait until 2005 to see it. Hmmm…internet piracy does seem tempting sometimes…)Here’s a comic book superhero movie with all the strengths and none of the weaknesses of the genre—it has heroes with amazing powers, yet very human traits. It has a comprehensible story without any noticeable plot contrivances, nor implausible developments (within the fantasy universe of the movie itself, of course). Both the action-packed and slower scenes work, and there really isn’t any moment of the movie's 115 minute running time where you wish they would hurry things up a bit.
I found "Finding Nemo" to be fairly dull, lacking neither the humor nor story prowess of any of the previous Pixar movies, but “The Incredibles” exceeds it in about every category. (Still, incomprehensibly, the critical reaction across the board has been “This is a great movie! Not as good as “Nemo”, but still great…”) Part of the difference of opinion might be because of the differing target audience. “The Incredibles” is an adult cartoon. (No, not that kind of ‘adult’…) It was designed with adult sensibilities, not for the six-year-old set—who will be happier booting up “Nemo” or the “Toy Story” movies instead. “The Incredibles” is funny—yet in a subtle way. It also lets the humorous elements come naturally, without completely stopping the flow of the story for the sole purpose of creating a ‘comic scene’ like “Nemo” did. It contains a great sense of character arc for the entire family, who learn—if I may plagiarize from another superhero series—that “with great power comes great responsibility”
Good movies leave you thinking, ‘I can’t wait to see that again’—even five minutes after the credits roll. “The Incredibles” is one such film—even one you can put your young kids to bed and watch it by yourselves…
Content Analysis: (PG 1-0-2-0 on the Baron's scale)
There have been some complaints about “The Incredibles”—mostly because of the violence and peril the characters are placed in. Sounds like some people either (a) didn’t pay attention to the ‘PG’ rating, or (b) still possess the mindset that ‘PG’s and ‘G’s are pretty interchangeable nowadays.Yes, “The Incredibles” has more ‘adult’ action and dangerous situations than normally your five-year-old would watch. There’s lots of gunplay, and both of the Incredible kids are frequently in very real danger of being killed. Still, compared to, say, the Star Wars prequels (also PGs…so far) the actual violence is very minimal, and for older kids, there really isn’t anything to worry about.
While “The Incredibles” isn’t as ‘adult’ as some of the new anime coming from Asia—hopefully, it will help parents realize that ‘cartoon’ doesn’t always equal ‘G rating’…and that you still need to do your research before seeing anything.
In-depth Analysis:
There have been a few comments here and there from the media about the implicit ‘right-wing’ message of “The Incredibles”. Yes, it shows a solid family—consisting of a mother AND a father who love each other and their kids, don’t have affairs, or get divorced, or have drug or pornography habits, and who try to help people whenever they can. How much more ‘right-wing’ can you get?I’m kidding…actually, the supposed ‘right-wing’ message is about the culture of entitlement and the inherent inequality of society…and why this is a good thing. Bob and his family—along with numerous other superheroes—have inherently better abilities than ‘normals’. The movie frowns upon the attitude that it’s not ‘fair’ that some people are better in some things than others, and that—in ‘crabs in a barrel’ fashion, they should be brought back to the mean, by any means necessary, so the normals don’t have their self-esteem damaged. (In a funny scene, Bob complains about the ‘graduation’ ceremony for his son…moving from fourth to fifth grade. Having just a high school graduation is too ‘discriminatory’, I guess, because it ‘excludes’ all those who dropped out…but who are just as worthy of being ‘celebrated’ as everyone else, you see…)
The problem here is that the superheroes in “The Incredibles” are obviously and undeniably different than others. Their abilities far surpass those of normal humans, and those abilities won’t go away simply by pretending everyone is the same. Where did those superpowers come from? The movie doesn’t say…there’s no mention of any hero having an ‘origin story’ as is standard in the comics, so (as the Incredible kids demonstrate directly) we’re left to assume that their abilities were genetic—a birthright, so to speak. Why are some people born with greater ability than others? That’s not an answerable question…yet it’s obvious that it’s true nonetheless.
The parable of the talents (found in Matthew 25) makes it clear that different levels of ability were given to different people—and that’s an inherent part of God’s plan:
And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.Jesus never explains why the first person had five talents to begin with and the third only had one, only that the starting total doesn’t matter in the end--it all depends on what you do with what you’re given. While there aren’t comparable ‘superpowers’ in the real world, there is ‘inequality’ everywhere you look. Some people are born into rich families, some into dirt-poor families. Some are born into righteous, God-fearing families, some are born into irreligious, immoral ones. Some are born in developed countries with many opportunities to grow and succeed in life, some into third-world, oppressive countries. Some are born with perfect health, some have serious medical problems from the very beginning that follow them their entire lives. It’s one thing to wish that everyone was equal in every way—it’s quite another to pretend that everyone is equal in every way, and condemn those who use/display their abilities as promoting inequality.
Bottom line is: if you wonder why people are born into vastly different situations—economic, medical, etc—take it up with God, because obviously it’s part of His plan. Don’t pretend, though, that hiding the abilities of those who have them, for the sake of those who do not is a means of achieving true equality. Taking talents away from the first and the second to make them the same as the third, doesn’t benefit any of the three in the end…
