Arikah Map

The Incredibles

The Incredibles
The Incredibles:Tiposter
Directed by Brad Bird
Produced by John Walker
Written by Brad Bird
Starring Craig T. Nelson
Holly Hunter
Samuel L. Jackson
Jason Lee
Eli Fucile
Brad Bird
Spencer Fox
Wallace Shawn
Jean Sincere
Sarah Vowell
Bud Luckey
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 minutes
Language English (original)
French
Budget $92 million USD
Preceded by Finding Nemo (2003)
Followed by Cars (2006)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Incredibles is an Academy Award-winning Pixar Animation Studios animated feature film. It was written and developed by Brad Bird, former director of The Simpsons and previously best known for directing the animated movie The Iron Giant. The Incredibles was originally developed as a traditionally-animated movie, but after Warner Bros. shut down its animation division, Brad 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 movie to be rated PG by the MPAA and the first to feature an entirely human cast of characters. It was released in a two-disc DVD (in both widescreen and full frame versions) 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.

MSN Movies ranks The Incredibles as the fourth best superhero movie to date, behind X-Men, Batman Returns, and Spider-Man.[1]


Contents

Plot

After a brief scene depicting an interview with three superheroes (Mr. Incredible/Bob Parr, Elastigirl/Helen, and Frozone/Lucius), the film opens with a youthful Mr. Incredible capturing two criminals while saving a kitten from a tree. He then meets Buddy Pine, his self-proclaimed “number one fan,” who wants to be his sidekick, Incredi-Boy. Mr. Incredible rejects his offer and then, along with Elastigirl, captures a thief. After saving a man from falling to his death, Mr. Incredible finds Bomb Voyage in the act of robbing a bank but is interrupted once again by Buddy, who still insists on being his sidekick. Buddy’s interference results in Bomb Voyage blowing up an elevated railroad and escaping. Mr. Incredible stops the train from falling off the broken track and sends Buddy home before rushing to the church, where he and Elastigirl are married. After the marriage scene a montage of news reports reveals that a wave of lawsuits against superheroes has resulted in the government banning all superhero activity.

Fifteen years later, Bob is an insurance claims adjuster and has three children with Helen: Fourteen-year-old Violet, who has invisibility and force field powers; ten-year-old Dash, who has incredible speed; and baby Jack-Jack, who has no known powers. Bob and his friend Lucius secretly moonlight in fighting crime, causing a huge argument between Bob and Helen when Helen finds out.

Furious with the immorality of his job and especially his boss, Mr. Huph, Bob throws him through several walls and is fired. Upon returning home, he finds an invitation by the mysterious Mirage. She reveals that a highly dangerous robot, the Omnidroid 9000, is wreaking havoc on an uncharted island and that her employer wants Mr. Incredible to stop it. Bob tells Helen he is going on a business trip and heads to the island, where he successfully defeats the Omnidroid. Not only is he much happier and involved with his family after proving that he is still a superhero, his reward of triple his annual salary allows him to pretend that he is still working at the insurance company and even buy a new car. He also gets a new super suit from Edna Mode, who is extremely prejudiced against capes because of their tendency to get caught on things.

Soon after getting the new super suit, Mirage calls again saying that she has a new assignment for him. Helen suspects that something is going on when Bob suddenly announces that he’s going on another business trip, but does nothing. When Bob returns to the island, he is attacked and nearly decapitated by an improved version of the Omnidroid and is greeted by the supervillain Syndrome, a grown-up Buddy Pine. It is revealed that Buddy, after being rejected by Mr. Incredible, created deadly weapons and sold them to armies to become rich enough to develop the Omnidroid. Meanwhile, Helen talks to Edna, who has already made super suits for every member of the Parr family, and discovers that Bob was actually fired from his job over two months ago. She breaks down, certain that he is cheating on her, and Edna advises her to take control of the situation. Back on the island, Bob discovers that Syndrome killed many of his superhero friends in the process of developing the Omnidroid, and is now planning on unleashing the robot in a major city where it will cause mass destruction.

After ascertaining Bob’s location using the homing device Edna built into his super suit, Helen departs for the island on a jet plane, unknowingly accompanied by Violet and Dash. Syndrome, meanwhile, tortures Bob for information and launches a missile attack against Helen's airplane. Although Helen, Violet, and Dash survive, everyone on the island believes they are killed. Out of rage, Bob grabs Mirage and threatens to kill her unless Syndrome frees him; Syndrome refuses, but Bob relents. Mirage is disgusted with Syndrome’s willingness to throw away her life and begins to pity Bob. Meanwhile, Helen and the children swim to the island from where the plane blew up.

While Helen infiltrates Syndrome’s base, the Omnidroid is launched on a rocket towards its target, which turns out to be Metroville (the city where the Parr family lives). The children sleep the night in the jungle but then are discovered and chased by Syndrome’s henchmen. In Syndrome’s base, Mirage secretly frees Bob just before Helen arrives to do the same thing, then the two superheroes rush to find their children, who are successfully fighting off the henchmen. The family is reunited, but just as they are about to defeat the armed guards Syndrome arrives and captures the Incredibles using his zero-point energy fields. After explaining his plan to save Metroville from his own Omnidroid and become a hero, he leaves the Incredibles in an energy prison. Violet’s force fields allow them to escape, however, and with Mirage’s help they depart for the mainland after Syndrome.

In Metroville, Syndrome arrives during the Omnidroid's destructive rampage and attempts to stop it, but the robot knocks him unconscious after figuring out that his remote control is allowing him to stop it from hitting him. Then the Incredibles arrive and, with the help of Frozone, fight the robot. Together, they are able to get the Omnidroid to dismantle itself. The town applauds them for their achievements; the possibility of superheroes coming out of hiding is also mentioned. Syndrome wakes up to find that the Incredibles have just done exactly what he wanted to do.

The Incredibles return home to find that Syndrome is kidnapping Jack-Jack; as he attempts to fly up to his jet using his rocket boots, Jack-Jack suddenly reveals his super powers by transforming into fire, metal and then an alien-like monster. Syndrome drops Jack-Jack, who is caught by Helen, and attempts to flee. However, Bob hurls the family car into the jet; Syndrome is knocked into the turbine and is killed when his cape is caught in the engine and pulls him in. Violet then protects the family from the raining flames and debris as the jet explodes, much to the amazement of their young neighbor.

Three months later, the family is much happier, and even Bob is content with their civilian life. Dash is running in a track meet, which Helen wouldn’t let him do at the beginning of the movie because she was afraid he would accidentally reveal his super powers. Dash promises to run no faster than the average human pace and finishes in second place at the track meet. Violet, who used to feel out of place to the point of using her hair to hide her face, is also found with her hair pulled back and successfully asking her crush for a date to the movies. As they walk out of the sports complex, The Underminer rises from the ground and “declares war on peace and happiness.” The family, including Jack-Jack, puts on superhero masks and prepares to fight; the movie ends with Bob opening up his shirt to reveal his Mr. Incredible suit underneath.

Operation Kronos

Operation Kronos refers to the plot concocted by Syndrome, the supervillain of the film, in an attempt to reinvent himself as a new hero for the post-super age while simultaneously eliminating most of the remaining legitimate superheroes living undercover. The name of the operation is an alternate spelling of Cronus, one of the Titans of ancient Greek mythology. Cronus was said to have usurped the throne of his father, Uranus, only to be later himself overthrown by his own son, Zeus, and subsequently banished to Tartarus.

Phases 1, 2, and 3 went perfectly (in fact, Dash and Violet were nearly roasted alive in one of the exhaust caves during lift-off). However, in the Final Phase, while Syndrome "battled" it in Metroville, the Omnidroid "learned" that he used his wrist-mounted remote to control it. The robot blasted it off his wrist and knocked him unconscious. The Incredible Family, who had just freed themselves from one of Syndrome's multiple-prisoner containment chambers, showed up in an RV that they took to escape from Nomanisan Island (Elastigirl acted as a harness, while Violet did the honor of separating the framework), and with the help of Frozone, saved the day, ruining the plan, and ending Operation Kronos.

Voice cast

Actor Role
Craig T. Nelson Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible
Holly Hunter Helen Parr/Elastigirl
Sarah Vowell Violet Parr
Spencer Fox Dashiell Robert "Dash" Parr
Jason Lee Buddy Pine/Syndrome/Incredi-Boy
Brad Bird Edna Mode
Elizabeth Peña Mirage
Samuel L. Jackson Frozone/Lucius Best
Eli Fucile Jack-Jack Parr
Bud Luckey Rick Dicker
Wallace Shawn Gilbert Huph
Bret 'Brook' Parker Kari McKeen
Kimberly Adair Clark Honey Best
Lou Romano Bernie Kropp
Wayne Canney Principal Walker
Dominique Louis Bomb Voyage
Jean Sincere Mrs. Hogenson
Teddy Newton Newsreel Narrator
John Ratzenberger The Underminer
Maeve Andrews Jack-Jack Parr (monster)

Reaction

Critical response to The Incredibles was overwhelmingly positive, receiving a 97% "Certified Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes. 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." [2] James Berardinelli shared an almost identical opinion; "The Incredibles is among the best of Pixar's digitally animated movies," he commented. He noted that the film "may be the most visually daunting animated film to reach the screen to-date" and that "it is markedly more mature in tone and approach than any previous digitally animated movie." [3]

Some negative critcism was directed towards the film's violence; indeed, the film is much more violent than any previous Pixar film. Eleanor Ringel Gillespie of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote that "the Pixar whizzes do what they do excellently; you just wish they were doing something else." [4] Similarly, Jessica Winter of the Village Voice criticized the film for playing as a standard summer action film. 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." [5]

DVD extras

The Incredibles two-disc Collector's Edition DVD set was released on March 15, 2005. Two versions of the set are available: one widescreen and the other full screen (this is unlike releases for other Pixar films, which often contained both versions in one set). Like many other DVD releases, there are various extra features available on the two discs including:

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.

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

In Mexico, there has been a craze about the movie, literally hundreds of items are being sold there, with several of them being exclusive to Mexico. Already many stores around the country have been reporting being completely sold out of certain popular items.

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.

Video games

Trivia

Some information in this article or section has not been verified and may not be reliable.
Please check for any inaccuracies, and modify and cite sources as needed.
The Incredibles:Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas in the movie
Enlarge
Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas in the movie

Pixar insider references and jokes

Similarities/allusions to other works

Awards

The film won the Academy Award in 2005 for Best Animated Feature 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 Mixing, but did not win. It is also the second Pixar Animation Studios feature film to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

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

Associated short films

The video/DVD release also features an additional short called Jack-Jack Attack, starring one of the film's characters Jack-Jack Parr. It details the off-screen details of Kari McKean's "very weird" night caring for the baby.

Possible Sequel

There is a possibility of an Incredibles sequel, other than The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer video game, comics or Disney shows.[citation needed] It is also stated that there will be an Incredibles T.V. show coming out in Fall 2007.[citation needed] Mr. Incredible and Frozone would appear in the show, along with the villain Syndrome. If the show will be canon to the movie, then it would be confirmed Syndrome did survive that plane explosion somehow. Brad Bird has recently said he wanted to take a different direction with the characters.

See also

Notes and references

    Categories


    Articles lacking sources from December 2006 | All articles lacking sources | Articles lacking sources from October 2006 | Wikipedia articles needing factual verification | Articles with large trivia sections | Articles with unsourced statements | The Incredibles | Action films | 2004 films | Pixar feature films | Superheroes by team | Mad science | American films | English-language films | Best Animated Feature Academy Award winners | Animated comedy films | Kids' Choice Awards winners | Fictional families | Hugo Award winning works | Superhero films | Hugo Award Winner for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form | Computer-animated films | Movies and Shows featuring Superheros

    Find

    Find

    Find