The Incredibles

The Incredibles
Directed by	Brad Bird
Written by	Brad Bird
Produced by	John Walker
Starring	Craig T. Nelson Holly Hunter Sarah Vowell Spencer Fox Jason Lee Samuel L. Jackson Elizabeth Peña Brad Bird
Cinematography	Andrew Jimenez Patrick Lin Janet Lucroy
Edited by	Stephen Schaffer
Music by	Michael Giacchino
Distributed by	Buena Vista Pictures
Release dates	November 5, 2004
Running time	115 min.
Country	United States
Languages	English French Spanish
Budget	$92 million
Box office	$631,442,092

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 premiere on ABC Family as part of The 25 Days of Christmas in December 2007 and on Disney Channel as part of the No Ordinary Friday on February 1 , 2008.

Plot

After a man's suicide attempt is foiled by a force of superheroes, and a train rescue leaves 100 people injured, a series of lawsuits has forced superheroes, known as "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 (Craig T. Nelson) 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 having the power of invisiblity and being able to throw out force fields, while Dash has super speed. It also seems as if Jack-Jack is 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 he accidentally injures his boss, Mr. Huph (Wallace Shawn), after being prevented from trying to help someone in trouble.

Returning home that night, Bob finds a special electronic message from a woman named Mirage (Elizabeth Peña) in his briefcase addressing him as Mr. Incredible, and asking him to subduing a renegade robot, the Omnidroid 8000, on Nomanisan, an uncharted volcanic island, a task he is promised to be payed handsomly 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.

Simulatenously, 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, containing the ultimate Omnidroid on target for 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 wreck 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, but find 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 is able to control his powers to compete in track events, and Violet has found confidence to ask for 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

Actor	Role
Craig T. Nelson	Bob Parr / Mr. Incredible
Holly Hunter	Helen Parr / Elastigirl
Sarah Vowell	Violet "Vi" Parr
Spencer Fox	Dashiell Robert "Dash" Parr
Jason Lee	Buddy Pine / Incrediboy / Syndrome
Dominique Louis	Bomb Voyage
Brad Bird	Edna "E" Mode
Samuel L. Jackson	Lucius Best / Frozone
Wallace Shawn	Mr. Huph
Elizabeth Peña	Mirage
John Ratzenberger	The Underminer
Frank Thomas	Frank
Ollie Johnston	Ollie

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." 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." 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."

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." 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."

Following concerns that the film would receive underwhelming results, 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. 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. Worldwide, the film grossed $631,436,092, ranking fourth for the year.

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:

• Introduction, an introduction for the extras featuring Brad Bird
• Deleted Scenes, the films deleted scenes plus an intro for all of them
• Jack-Jack Attack, a Pixar short film made especially for the release of The Incredibles about what happened while Kari was babysitting Jack-Jack
• The Making of The Incredibles, a documentary about making The Incredibles featuring about 30 of the crew members
  • More Making of The Incredibles, another longer documentary also about making The Incredibles
• Incredi-Blunders, The Incredibles outtakes
• Vowellet: An Essay by Sarah Vowell, a documentary about the life of Sarah Vowell, a writer who did the voice of Violet Parr
• Character Interviews, actor and actresses interview the characters
• Theatrical Trailer, The Incredibles film trailer
• Mr. Incredible and Pals, a Mr. Incredible cartoon spoofing cheesy superhero cartoons from the 1960s, as well as Synchro-Vox cartoons like Clutch Cargo
  • Mr. Incredible and Pals With Commentary, the cartoon with the characters' commentary
• NSA Files, info about the supers
• Boundin', a Pixar short film written, directed, composed, production designed and narrated by Bud Luckey
  • Boundin' With Commentary, Boundin' with commentary by Bud Luckey
  • Who Is Bud Luckey? a four-minute documentary about the making of Boundin'

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.

Trivia

• Cameo: Doc Hudson from Cars can be seen parked on the street to the left of the screen at the 1:40:31 mark in the film. Cars was under development when The Incredibles was released.

• The Pizza Planet truck from Toy Story Is visible when Bob says I take seventh don't I ?.

• The sequence where, after breaking through an apartment wall into a jewelry store, Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) is kept at gunpoint by a nervous rookie cop ("I just need to get a glass of water.") is a direct homage/parody of a similar sequence in Die Hard with a Vengeance. Even the police officer's facial design is recognizably similar.

• Two of Walt Disney's Nine Old Men, Frank Thomas (deceased before the film's theatrical release, thus making this his last appearance) and Ollie Johnston (the only currently living member at age 95), voice themselves near the conclusion of the film, commenting about the superheroes that "There's no school like the old school!"

• "Nomanisan Island" is a pun on the famous quote "no man is an island" by John Donne.

• At no point in the movie are the Parrs referred to as "The Incredibles". Dash and Violet do not even receive code names (though Dash called himself "The Dash" once). However, at the point when Mr. Incredible/Bob is released by Mirage and Elastigirl/Helen walks in, Mirage begins to say, "Oh, hello, you must be Mrs. Incredible." However she is cut off by Elastigirl's punch, thus not finishing the sentence.

• Early in the movie Mr. Incredible is trying to remember the name of "Incredi-boy" (Buddy, later Syndrome), who is voiced by Jason Lee. He guesses "Brodie", which is the name of Jason Lee's comic-obsessed character in Mallrats.

• When Mr. Incredible returns home late, after rescuing civilians from the burning building, he can be heard humming his own theme song. This theme song is the main theme of the James Bond film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"

• John Ratzenberger's character, the Underminer, was added to ensure that he appeared in the film in some form (the staff consider him a "lucky charm").

• Syndrome was modeled after Pixar staffer Brad Bird as an inside joke. On an appearance on NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, Bird said that by the time he realized the joke, the movie was too far into production to have it changed. Bird also voices Edna Mode in the movie.

• The babysitter's name, Kari McKeen, may be a play on the Cars's main character, Lightning Mcqueen.

• The music that plays in the background of the scene when Mr. Incredible sneaks up on Syndrome's complex from the forest is strikingly similar to the music in the opening of the James Bond film "Goldfinger" when Bond is seen infiltrating the factory of a Heroin dealer to destroy it.

Video games

Main article: The Incredibles (video games)

Awards

The film won the Academy Award in 2004 for Best Animated Feature (the second Pixar Animation Studios feature film 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.

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 depicts the off-screen details of Kari McKean's "very weird" night caring for the baby.

Trailers

One Pixar tradition is to create trailers for their films that do not contain footage from the released film. Trailers for this film include:

• An out-of-shape Mr. Incredible struggles to get his belt on (hence, none of the Incredible Family members wear a belt in the film, and instead sport elastic waist straps). When he successfully puts the belt on, the buckle snaps off and breaks the light.

See also

• Characters from The Incredibles
• List of animated feature-length films
• List of computer-animated films
• Watchmen

External links

• Mini-Review @ DVD Lounge
• Official website
• Trailer
• The Incredibles at IMDb
• Template:Bcdb title
• Template:Movie-Tome
• The Incredibles at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Incredibles at Metacritic
• The Incredibles at Curlie
• The Incredibles at Box Office Mojo
• The Official DVD Website