The Incredibles is not only the title of this film but is also an apt description of the film itself. It is not only a great family-friendly superhero film, it's also a great film in its own right. It manages to hit all the right emotional chords while being funny and clever at the same time. It shifts gears seamlessly between these moods while never feeling forced or sczhiophrenic.
The graphics are outstanding. The director, Brad Bird, known for his work on the Simpsons and with the classic Iron Giant, had never worked with digital animation before. You'd never know it to see this film. He managedf to get a great performance out of his animators. The emotions and humor are dead on., although it's getting harder and harder to expect anything less out of Pixar.It's not just the characters though that are so impreesive, it's also the world they live in and the actions tehy perform. The Incredibles is an action packed film, full of explosions, superpowers and fight scenes. IThe whole film is rendered with lavish detail, making for a complete and enjoyable film.
The voicework is top notch. Pixar has the amazing ability to cast people not on name power but on actual talent and whether or not they're right for the part. As Brad Bird himself described it, "no one goes to a cartoon for the star." His example was Sinbad, voiced by Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta Jones which opened to empty theaters across America but it might as well have been his own brilliant Iron Giant which featured Harry Connick Jr and Jennifer Aniston. It did dismal despite the star power and being a great film. Personally, I don't care for Craig T. Nelson but he is perfect as Mr. Incredible. He manages to hit the false bravado, the true excitement in action and even his fears. Holly Hunter and Samuel L. Jackson are both, of course, brilliant. To me the surprise was Sarah Vowell as Violet. She managed to capture the awkardness of teenagedom perfectly.
The people who you have to feel bad for (other than Disney for letting Pixar go in a few years) is the cast and crew of the Fantastic Four film as that film's now been made redudant. It's not just that the main hero's name is Mr. Incredible instead of Mr. Fantastic. Nor is it is just that the Incredibles mimic the Four's powers with Mr. Incredible as the Thing, Elastigirl as Mr. Fantastic and Violet as the Invisible Woman (The writers granted the other child, Dash, with super speed, for the same reason that the old Fantastic Four cartoons had HERBIE instead of the Human Torch; lawyers are worried that kids would set themselves on fire to immulate their hero). It's not even that they have to face a character obviously based on the Mole Man.
No, the real reason that this film replaces the Fantastic Four is that it has the same loving, dysfunctional family feel to it. The cornerstone of the Four, the thing that makes them who they are, is that they are a surrogate family for each other. In the Incredibles they are a real family but it still has that playful teasing and caring that we've come to expect from Marvel's First Family.
Final review, simply put? This is a great film, possibly one of the best of the year.
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