Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

1More Film Blog

Home
Religious Music & Entertainment
The Incredibles (Bird, 2004) — 10 Years Later

The Incredibles (Bird, 2004) — 10 Years Later

Last updated on: May 22, 2015 at 8:47 pm by Steven D. Greydanus

The Incredibles (Bird, 2004) — 10 Years Later 2015-05-22T20:47:47-05:00 Steven D. Greydanus

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

When The Incredibles opened in 2004, the Pixar canon included only one sequel, 1999’s Toy Story 2. That number remained unchanged until 2010, when, under Disney ownership, the age of Pixar sequels commenced with Toy Story 3, followed by Cars 2 and Monsters University, with Finding Dory in development.

Meanwhile, after directing Ratatouille, Brad Bird went on to the popular Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, followed by an upcoming live-action SF mystery, Tomorrowland. His next project may well be a long-planned adaptation of the James Dalessandro novel 1906, about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

The upshot is that a sequel to one Pixar film that really seems to invite or even demand one, The Incredibles, remains as distant as ever, though Bird has expressed his openness to doing one—after 1906. That probably puts an Incredibles sequel about a decade away at the earliest. Is this property still worth waiting ten years for?

What I Said Then

The Incredibles is exhilarating entertainment with unexpected depths. It’s a bold, bright, funny and furious superhero cartoon that dares to take sly jabs at the culture of entitlement, from the shallow doctrine of self-esteem that affirms everybody, encouraging mediocrity and penalizing excellence, to the litigation culture that demands recompense for everyone if anything ever happens, to the detriment of the genuinely needy.

Like Spy Kids, The Incredibles is a romantic celebration of marriage and family as an act of heroism, while it also acknowledges the sacrifices that parents make by giving up the pursuit of their own self-fulfillment for the sake of the domestic good. It knows what Spy Kids knew but Unbreakable didn’t, that being a husband and father calls for a kind of heroism beyond that of superheroes or superspies.

The Incredibles recognizes the sacrifice made by a father who spends his day away from his family sitting in rush-hour traffic and marking time in a cubicle. It also acknowledges that a mother who gives up a career and works as a homemaker while her husband leads a life outside the home that may seem or may be comparatively exciting also sacrifices for her family. In its comic-book way, the film pays tribute to how far a mother will stretch and how flexible she will be to hold her family together, and to how deeply a father wants to protect his family and how inadequate he feels to the task, even if he is Mr. Incredible.

What I Say Now

The towering creative achievements of Pixar’s transitional period—Ratatouille, Wall-E and Up—have pushed the envelope on what Hollywood animation can do and achieve. Next to the counter-intuitive premises of those films, The Incredibles, with its family of superheroes, seems like a comparative no-brainer (along with nearly everything Hollywood animation has done since, like, Fantasia).

Yet if the measure of The Incredibles’ success is not its premise, but how Bird develops it and where he goes with it, my appreciation for the film’s achievement has only deepened with passing years and repeated exposure.

Above all, I’m awed by the sophistication and depth of observation Bird brings to the joys and foibles of middle-class marriage and family life. All the mundaneness of the second act—the chaotic family dinner; Helen’s uncomfortable visit with the principal and Dash’s blend of smugness and resentment; Violet’s teenaged angst and sibling bickering with Dash; Bob’s midlife crisis and secretive behavior; Helen’s conflict between domestic fulfillment, frustration and anxiety about her husband’s trustworthiness; the moments of marital friskiness—all this captures the rhythms of family life with more honesty and clarity than any other family film I can think of.

It may seem odd, but the way the characters argue is among the film’s most striking achievements. Family members in other Hollywood animated films—even good ones like Brave, How to Train Your Dragon and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs—argue like family-film characters hitting overly familiar beats. The characters in The Incredibles argue like flesh-and-blood human beings who love each other, but come with different baggage and different blind spots.

I’m not sure I appreciated in 2004 the extent to which the “studio as auteur” theory of Pixar obscured my appreciation of The Incredibles as an expression of Bird’s creative interests. Compare Hogarth and Annie’s relationship in The Iron Giant to the familial dynamics in The Incredibles. Buddy/Syndrome’s fanboy devotion to Mr. Incredible and passion for super-gadgets mirrors Remy’s hero-worship of Gusteau and passion for cooking, as well as Dean’s commitment to his art and even Hogarth’s love of pop culture (cheesy horror movies, comic books).

And, of all Pixar’s filmmakers, only the future director of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol could have choreographed The Incredibles’ brilliant action set pieces.

The Verdict

There’s nothing like time and repeated reviewings to reveal the hidden strengths or weaknesses of any form of entertainment. Of all the films I reviewed in 2004, The Incredibles is surely the one I’ve rewatched the most—and the one I would most readily rewatch again. If it takes ten years or even longer for an Incredibles sequel, I’ll be here.

—

Steven D. Greydanus is film critic for The National Catholic Register and creator of DecentFilms.com.

Previous Post

February 26, 2014

Cement Suitcase (Castañeda, 2013)

Next Post

March 19, 2014 Veronica Mars Giveaway -- Win a Free DVD

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 10 Years Later 1999 Top 5 2007 Top 10 2008 Favorite Discoveries 2008 Top 10 2009 Favorite Discoveries 2009 Top 10 2010 Favorite Discoveries 2010 Top 10 2011 Top 10 2012 Top Ten 2013 Top Ten 2014 Top Ten Best Picture Winners Christian Spotlight on Entertainment Christianity Today Coming Soon Disclosure Disclosure--AS Disclosure--Book Disclosure--DVDS Disclosure--SEOL Disclosure--Travel Dissenting Opinion Elsewhere Emergenetics Essays Featured Film Fest DC--2014 Film Festivals Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2010 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2011 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2012 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2013 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2014 Headline Interviews Laura on the Oscar Winners Podcasts Quick Impressions Reviews RiverRun Film Festival 2014 Television The Criterion Collection The Thin Place To Stream or Not to Stream? Top 10s and Other Lists Toronto International Film Festival 2009 Toronto International Film Festival 2010 Toronto International Film Festival 2011 Toronto International Film Festival 2012 Toronto International Film Festival 2013 Toronto International Film Festival 2014 Uncategorized Video Virginia Film Festival 2011 Virginia Film Festival 2013 Women's Film Festival 2012

Select a Month February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was the Amalekite king spared by Saul, contrary to God's command?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Ish-bosheth Agag Goliath Abner