- There was this hilarious YouTube video out a few years ago called "Saturday Morning Watchmen." As the title suggests, it depicted the world's most famous adult-oriented, dysfunctional superhero squadron, but dramatically repackaged for children. Rorschach pet cute puppy dogs and juggled pies. Dr. Manhattan transformed into a giant, grinning, blue car. While The Incredibles is admittedly a tad more serious than all that, I had trouble keeping the comparison out of my mind. Sure, Watchmen has its problems, but I still think of it as the final word on such superhero concerns as monologuing, the dangers of capes, and forced retirement. Is it wise for a kid-friendly cartoon to borrow from such an esteemed source?
- Well, mostly. If you like Watchmen, you'll probably like The Incredibles. For that matter, if you like superheroes and/or James Bond, you'll probably like The Incredibles. Taking a page from George Lucas' playbook, the film borrows from a wide enough variety of sources that, in most cases, no one influence is overly recognizable. A notable exception to this claim may be their excessive cribbing from the Fantastic Four. Although the mighty Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) and speedy son Dash (Spencer Fox) could correspond to any number of characters in the Marvel/DC universes, the malleable Mrs. Incredible, nee Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), and vanishing daughter Violet (Sarah Vowell) ring a little too familiar. Thankfully, the movie they are in is generally entertaining enough that this lapse in creativity can be forgiven.
- As mentioned, the plot of The Incredibles echoes that of Watchmen in that society has forced the middle-aged supercouple Mr. and Mrs. Incredible and their heroic brethren into mandatory retirement. While Mrs. Incredible seems content with being a homemaker (a serious job when your children are superpowered), Mr. Incredible finds his work as an insurance agent to be somewhat less than fulfilling. As a result, the hapless hero and his former partner, the amusing 70's blaxploitation iceman Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson), spend their "bowling night" out on secret superhero patrol. But you get recognized when you're Mr. Incredible. Soon, he's approached by a femme fatale named Mirage (Elizabeth Pena), whose benefactor wants to hire him for some undercover hero work. With the secret lairs, killer robots, and John Barry-inspired score, Mr. Incredible probably should have guessed that all was not as super as it seemed.
- As it happens, his employer turns out to be a rather irritating superfan-turned-supervillain named Dr. Doom...I mean, Syndrome (Jason Lee). I think the movie intends for him to symbolize the celebration of mediocrity or some such thing, but it doesn't really fly when you realize that this guy must have spent the last fifteen years of his life inventing things while Mr. Incredible just sat around and got paunchy. Regardless, I'm all for pummeling annoying people, so I still ended up rooting for the good guys. In fact, I wish they had taken this crusade against annoyance one step further and annihilated the awful costumer-to-the-stars, Edna Mode (Brad Bird). Why did anyone think that a cartoon riff on Edith Head would be funny? Thankfully, Craig T. Nelson's outstanding voice work, the excellent animation, and the film's general enthusiasm are enough to hold off the forces of annoyance for this day. The result is...well, let's just go with pretty good.
- I didn't realize it at the time, but two old men are voiced by two of the original Disney animators.
- The two main locations are called "Metroville" and "Municiberg." Okay, that's pretty funny.
- There are cartoon outtakes at the end.
