TheMovieStory

The Incredibles is a 2004 American Academy Award-winning computer-animated feature film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures, centering around a family of superheroes. It was written and directed by Brad Bird, a former director of The Simpsons previously best known for directing the 1999 animated movie The Iron Giant. The Incredibles was originally developed as a traditionally-animated movie for Warner Bros., but after Warner shut down its animation division, 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 and in Japan, February 2, 2005. 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 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 basic cable première 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

After a man’s suicide attempt is foiled by the superhero Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson), and an improvised train rescue — again by Incredible — leaves 100 people injured, a series of lawsuits has forced superheroes, commonly called “supers,” into a government-sponsored program similar to witness protection in exchange for a promise to stop all superhero work.

Fifteen years later, two superheroes, Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) have married and settled into relatively normal lives. Now known as Bob and Helen Parr, they have a house in the suburbs of Metroville and are raising three kids, Violet (Sarah Vowell), Dashiell (”Dash”) (Spencer Fox) and baby Jack-Jack (Eli Fucile). Violet and Dash each have superpowers like their parents; Violet has the power of invisiblity and the ability to throw out force fields, while Dash has super speed. Jack-Jack appears to be a normal baby without powers. Bob dreams of returning to his glory days of being a superhero, going so far as to moonlight as a crimefighter by listening to a police scanner with his friend Lucius - another former super called Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson). Helen eventually learns of his “night job” and scolds him for being reckless. Bob ultimately loses his job as a claims adjuster for an insurance agency after, enraged after being prevented from trying to help someone in trouble and his company’s general business policy, he injures his boss, Mr. Huph (Wallace Shawn), throwing him through four walls.

Returning home that night, Bob finds a mysterious package in his suitcase, a special electronic message from a woman named Mirage (Elizabeth Peña) in his briefcase addressing him as Mr. Incredible, and asking him to subdue a renegade robot, the Omnidroid 8000, on Nomanisan, an uncharted volcanic island (a pun on the famous quote “no man is an island” by John Donne), a task he is promised to be paid handsomely for. He completes the task, telling Helen and his family that he is going on a business trip, though his old super suit is damaged in the battle. He turns to the suit’s designer, the flamboyant Edna Mode (Brad Bird), for repair. Instead, she insists on creating a brand-new suit with one caveat — “No capes!” — as they have led to the demise of many past superheroes. Over the next two months, Bob maintains the image of still being employed, but secretly works out in preparation of the next assignment. However, Helen has doubts and starts to suspect Bob of having an affair.

After being contacted again by Mirage, Bob travels again to Nomanisan, but finds out it is a trap for him, as a new improved version of the Omnidroid overpowers him. He meets Syndrome (Jason Lee), once a young fan named Buddy Pine. Buddy once wanted to be Mr. Incredible’s sidekick, but was harshly rejected. Now, Syndrome, through a fortune made in weapons technology, controls the entire island and the Omnidroid, and seeks to kill Mr. Incredible. Bob manages to escape and dupe Syndrome into thinking he had been killed, and then learns of Syndrome’s plan to create increasingly better versions of the Omnidroid by learning from previous battles with defeated superheroes.

Simultaneously, Helen, on a hunch of Bob having an affair, visits Edna, and learns that she had not only made a new suit for Bob, but suits for the rest of the family as well, including a homing tracker for each. Activating it, she learns that Bob is on Nomanisan, but unfortunately for Bob, this signal triggers an alarm and he is captured.

Helen calls in a favor to get a private jet to the island, but finds that Dash and Violet have snuck aboard, eager to try out their supersuits. The jet is shot down by missiles, much to Bob’s fear, but Helen and the children are able to safely make it to the island. While Helen infiltrates the volcano base, Dash and Violet just barely avoid being burnt up by exhaust from the rocket that Syndrome launches, which brings the ultimate Omnidroid on target to Metroville. The children are discovered but manage to lose their attackers, while Helen rescues Bob and escapes the base; eventually, they all are able to regroup, but are shortly recaptured by Syndrome. Syndrome then explains his plan: to save Metroville from his own Omnidroid and thereby become a hero. Syndrome leaves the family trapped at the base as he departs for Metroville.

The family is able to free themselves from capture, and with Mirage’s new-found help, find a second rocket which they use to get back to Metroville quickly. The Omnidroid starts to wreak havoc on the city, and Syndrome attempts his plan, but quickly loses control of the robot and is knocked unconscious. The family finally arrives and, with the help of Frozone, are able to use Syndrome’s control piece for the Omnidroid to destroy it and save the city.

The family is welcomed as heroes as they are taken back home, while on the way home Helen listens to missed messages and found out that Syndrome has Jack-Jack, and attempts to kidnap him to a waiting jet. However, Jack-Jack’s multiple powers are finally revealed, causing Syndrome to drop him, safely caught by Helen. Syndrome attempts to make his escape, but his cape gets caught in turbine engine and he is sucked into the fan, causing the jet to blow up and rain wreckage on the Parrs and their home, destroying it. Violet creates a force field around the family just in time to protect them from the falling debris.

Three months later, the Parrs are much happier; Bob is now content with their civilian life, Dash controls the use of his powers in track events, and Violet, having found confidence, is asked by her heartthrob Tony Rydinger (Michael Bird) to a date. However, a new villain, The Underminer (John Ratzenberger), rises from the ground and declares “war on peace and happiness.” The movie ends as the family members, including Jack-Jack, put on their masks and prepare to fight.

Voice cast

Reception

Critical response to The Incredibles was overwhelmingly positive, receiving a 97% “Certified Fresh” rating at Rotten Tomatoes[1] and a 90 out of 100 rating on Metacritic indicating “universal acclaim”[citation needed]. 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.”[2] 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.”[3]

Some negative criticism was directed towards the film’s violence, which suggested that the “Incredibles” are free to arbitrarily punch criminals and enemy troops to render them unconscious and injured, even when those criminals or troops are disarmed and pose no threat; indeed, the film is much more violent than any previous Pixar film and the first to receive a PG rating from the MPAA. 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, 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.”[5]

Following concerns that the film would receive underwhelming results,[6] the film grossed $70,467,623 in its opening weekend, the highest opening weekend gross for a Pixar film, just barely beating Finding Nemo’s opening weekend take of $70,251,710.[7][8] 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.[9] Worldwide, the film grossed $631,436,092, ranking fourth for the year.

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.

Awards

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.