Deep Dive Pixar: Wes Looks at The Incredibles

Ladies, gentlemen and alternatively gendered individuals, welcome to a very exciting edition of Deep Dive Pixar, a sub-division of Deep Dive Disney. Today, we’re looking at one of my favorite films that Pixar has ever produced, The Incredibles. I mean it folks, this a good one. Not only is it a fascinating and surprisingly original take on the superhero genre while still maintaining the various aspects that work about it, it also deals with some surprisingly mature and at times dark subject matter that I’m shocked Disney was willing to allow in a movie aimed at kids, earning the film the first ever PG rating in Pixar’s history. Writer and director Brad Bird envisioned the film as a love letter to 1960’s comic books and spy films, and while it succeeds in delivering on that aesthetic the film also gives us a surprisingly deep commentary on various topics such as the morality of super heroics, the nature conformity in society, the idea of a man going through a mid-life crisis brought about by a stifling of his passions and learning just how much his family means to him and so much more. Even a friend of mine, who happens to be one of the most cynical people I know, described The Incredibles as a near perfect movie. So what’s our story? The Incredibles gives us a pseudo-1960’s style setting in which super-powered individuals are commonplace. Among them are Bob Parr, the super strong hero known as Mr. Incredible, Helen Truax, the stretchy powered Elastigirl and Lucious Best, the ice powered hero known as Frozone. The heroes enjoy the adoration of the public and are generally respected or at least tolerated by the government. Mr. Incredible himself enjoys a certain degree of success and while he may have a bit of a healthy ego about him, he is ultimately still a good person who wants to help people, even if at one point he comes across as a bit harsh to a Mr. Incredible superfan named Buddy who wants to be his sidekick. However, that same night, Bob ends up injuring someone while saving their life and ends up getting sued. This act further opens the flood gates and soon enough, heroes are getting sued left and right. Finally, the government is forced to outlaw superheroes with existing heroes being granted amnesty for past actions provided they agree to never use their powers again. Fifteen years later, Bob and Helen are now married with three children, each with powers of their own. While Bob clearly is a loving husband and father, the superhero ban definitely hit him harder than most, especially now that he has to work a soul crushing job as a claims adjuster and is forbidden from using his god given abilities to help people, which is the only thing he ever wanted. Things turn around for Bob when he’s offered a chance to do some hero work for an eccentric billionaire. Now that Bob is once again doing what he loves, things start turning around for him and it looks like things are going his way for the first time since the glory days. However, things go south when it turns out the billionaire he’s been working for is actually a now grown up Buddy, the fanboy from earlier, who has since become a supervillain and international arms dealer known as Syndrome and has hatched an evil scheme to systematically track down and kill all the supers in hiding so he can play-act as one and win the adoration of the public. Now, the entire family must band together and stop Syndrome before his sick game ends up having very real consequences. It’s one of the best movies Pixar has ever made so what are we waiting for? let’s talk about, The Incredibles.

Main Character:

I went back and forth on how I wanted to do this for a long time and while it pains me to relegate such great and integral characters like Dash, Violet and especially Helen to the side characters section, this is ultimately Bob’s movie. Don’t worry, the second movie does a much better job at making the film feel like an ensemble piece. While the family are vitally important to the proceedings, it is Bob, voiced by Craig T. Nelson of Coach fame, who takes center stage. When we first see Bob back in the glory days, he appears to be a pretty noble hero and decent person all things considered but certainly has a bit of an ego. That’s not necessarily a slight against him since loving what you do and the praise that comes with it is not a bad thing in and of itself, though it does help to inform Bob’s mindset later on. For now, it’s important to remember that Bob is a believer in the Uncle Ben principle, “with great power comes great responsibility.” Bob has a belief that if one is born with exceptional powers, it is one’s duty to use them to help people as best they can. When superheroes are outlawed, Bob is basically forced to live a life that contradicts his own philosophy. He has incredible powers, powers that few if any other ordinary mortals possess, and he must find a way to thrive in a society that prohibits him from using them to help people. Instead, Bob now works for an insurance company under a weasel of a boss who enforces tedious bureaucracy and cares more about making money than actually helping people. For a man of Bob’s mindset, that has to be a personal hell. Every moment we see Bob going through suburban life in the first hour of the film, you can tell that it’s killing him to live this life of mediocrity and possibly even more so to force his kids into this life as well. Any time Bob sees an opportunity to relive the glory days, he leaps at it, sometimes even going so far as to listen to drag his best friend Lucious along with him to fight crime under cover of night. You can argue that Bob is being selfish in his desires, and that is absolutely valid. While Bob’s desire to be a hero again is born of noble intent, he is completely blind to the affect that it will have on his family, seeing as how if Bob gets caught, they’ll be forced to relocate and uproot their entire lives. Bob clearly loves his family, but he also misses being Mr. Incredible. Being someone who could help people without having to limit himself. In essence, as Mr. Incredible, the thing that makes him different from everyone else is celebrated, as Bob Parr, the thing that makes him special makes him reviled by society. So, when he gets the offer from Mirage, he naturally leaps at it, and suddenly, everything seems to be coming up Bob now that he’s once again able to do what he loves. He starts getting back in shape and he even seems to be a better family man as a result of this new mindset. However, Bob is still very much in the wrong for lying to his family, especially when it begins to convince Helen he’s having an affair, more on that later. Ultimately, Bob’s biggest problem is the fact that he’s so fixated on what’s been denied to him that he forgets about what he has, a loving and supportive family. While wanting to save the world and all the people in it is a noble cause, Bob has a wife and three kids and they must always be his priority. They are his greatest adventure, and for a time, Bob forgot that. I love that when Bob thinks his family is dead at one point, he’s completely and utterly broken, even willing to kill just to spite his enemy. He neglected the most important thing in his life, and now… they’re gone. Later in the film, Bob almost goes after Syndrome’s robot alone just because he knows he’s not strong enough to lose his family again, but it’s Helen who helps him realize that with his family by his side, he doesn’t have to be. Bob is a truly fascinating and well fleshed character and upon a closer examination, one of my favorites in Pixar’s extensive history.

Villain:

Syndrome is a seriously twisted son of a bitch. Many feel that young Buddy Pine only fell to the dark side because Bob rejected his offer to be his sidekick, but I don’t buy that. At worst, Bob was a little harsh with Buddy, but I feel he was one hundred percent in the right. Keep in mind, Bob never says anything about Buddy’s lack of powers, Buddy just assumes that that’s the reason his hero rejected him but that’s not the reason at all. Bob may get a certain satisfaction from being a hero, but he still treats it as the serious and dangerous line of work that it is. Bob takes one look at Buddy and he can tell that this kid has no idea what he’s getting himself into. This kid, who’s implied to have been stalking Mr. Incredible for a while at this point, doesn’t take this seriously, he just wants to live out some childish fantasy, a mentality that Buddy regrettably carry into his adult life as the villainous Syndrome. That’s the thing about Syndrome, every move he makes is all part of a twisted game he’s playing in his head, a game with very real consequences that he is either ignorant of, or more likely, indifferent to. Think about this, by the time we catch up to the adult Buddy, he’s shown to be incredibly brilliant and absurdly wealthy. He may very well be one of the most powerful people in the world financially speaking. Someone with Buddy’s genius, wealth and resources could easily affect the world in a positive way, be more of a hero than he ever could have been as Mr. Incredible’s sidekick. The fact that Buddy chooses to act as he does, putting on a ridiculous outfit and acting like some cliché comic book villain, shows that this was never about doing the right thing for him. Every action Buddy takes as Syndrome is in service of either his childish ego or his grudge against his former idol. Buddy lures super after super to his island, only for them to be killed by his robot in order to make it as powerful as possible and does so with the maturity of a child playing with action figures. Side note, the Omnidroid is awesome. I love its simple yet menacing design and I’ve always thought it would make a sick Kingdom Hearts boss. Once syndrome has perfected his weapon of mass destruction, ensuring that no one can defeat it accept the one who holds its remote, he plans to unleash it on the unsuspecting public just so he can swoop in and save the day, being admired as a hero without actually putting in the effort to be one, at least until he gets bored and sells his weapons to anyone who can afford them. When the plan ultimately backfires and the Incredibles defeat the Omnidroid, Syndrome proves himself a sore loser and tries to abduct baby Jack-Jack and raise him as his evil sidekick, a finally act of evil desperation that ultimately results in a gruesome and fitting end to one of Pixar’s most twisted and evil villains.

Side Characters:

Finally, we get to talk about Helen. Helen is a wonderful and strong character, arguably one of the best female characters in any Disney property. While Bob is obsessed with living the Glory Days, Helen has been able to adjust to suburban life a lot better than her husband and firmly believes in obeying the laws against supers in order to keep her family safe. She sees what Bob cannot, that by obsessing over what you’ve been denied can cause you to lose sight of what you have. While she may but heads with her husband, she still loves him deeply and wants him to take a more active role in their family. However, despite her having no interest in coming out of retirement, she more than happily steps up when she believes her husband is in danger, even if at this point she suspects him of having an affair, a subplot I didn’t especially care for. I do especially like this one scene on the island where Helen, who’s told her kids never to use their powers their whole lives, now encourages them to embrace them as they’ll be needed for what comes next. I honestly like that, it shows that as much as Helen may not be interested in being a hero anymore, she still has what it takes and knows how to inspire the next generation.

Speaking of the kids, let’s talk about Helen and Bob’s children. Well, let’s talk about Violet and Dash anyway, Jack-Jack doesn’t really do much other than be adorable. Don’t worry, like other members of the Parr family, he’ll get a bigger role in the sequel. What’s interesting about Dash and Violet is that they have the opposite mentalities when it comes to their powers. Dash, much like his father, is irritated that he has these amazing abilities and lives in a society where he’s not allowed to use them, effectively stifling his potential. Violet on the other hand laments the very fact that she has powers in the first place, wanting a normal life but seeing herself as a freak. I like that Violent is the most reluctant to embrace her powers, making the scene where she finally puts on her mask all the more special.

Bob’s best friend Lucious, better known as Frozone, voiced by the prolific Samuel L. Jackson, is a great character. While he’s clearly adjusted better to civilian life than Bob has and sees his friend’s obsession with reliving the glory days as pathetic, he still has the same innate desire to do good, as we see when he springs into action with zero hesitation as the Omnidroid is terrorizing the city. Also the iconic “Where’s my super suit” scene is just wonderful.

I want to briefly discuss Mirage, Syndrome’s right-hand woman and possible lover. While she’s clearly willing to go along with his demented plan, once she realizes that she’s little more than an expendable pawn in his childish game she happily switches sides. We never actually learn what becomes of her but I’d like to think that someone with her talents wouldn’t have ended up getting recruited by Winston Deavor from the second movie.

There’s a very cool cameo near the end of the film that I’d like to acknowledge. After the Incredibles take down the Omnidroid, two old men are seen commenting on the fight. These two characters are modeled after and voiced by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, at the time, the only living members of Disney’s original core group of animators referred to as The Nine Old Men. A pretty cool tribute to some pretty cool guys.

Finally, there’s my favorite character, fashion designer for superheroes, Edna Mode. Voiced brilliantly by none other than Brad Bird himself, Edna is probably the coolest character introduced in this franchise. Something about her overbearing, overwhelmingly confident, give no fucks, take no shit attitude is endlessly endearing and even a little intimidating. She is at all times in control of her situation and can immediately see through anyone trying to bullshit her. She takes great pride in her work and laments the fact that she, someone who used to design outfits for gods, must lower herself to working with supermodels, whom she sees as “spoiled, stupid little stick figures with poofy lips who think only of themselves.” Speaking as someone who also hates the pretentiousness of the fashion industry, I want to pick Edna up and hug her like the Abominable Snow Man from Looney Toons. Also, her “No Capes” speech is not only iconic as well as hilarious, but it also ends up being proven one hundred percent correct since that’s how Syndrome ends up meeting his demise.

No songs worth discussing in detail, but I do want to take a brief moment to say that the James Bond-esque theme of the movie, written by the great Michael Giacchino, is totally awesome!

Memorable Scenes:

There are a lot of memorable scenes in this movie, some we’ve already discussed and some we may have to leave out simply because we’d be here all day otherwise. Let’s start with the very beginning of the film where we see Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl and Frozone participating in sit-down interviews. This immediately makes the film stand out in a big way. Any other film in this genre may have started with a big action scene, showing heroes doing hero things, but this scene immediately drives a very important point home. Underneath the costumes and without the superpowers, these are human beings providing a service just like anyone else. It ties into Brad Bird’s idea of the Mundane and the Fantastic and how one cannot exist without the other. What’s also worth noting about this scene is that Bob and Helen appear to have the opposite mentalities of when we see them later in the film. Bob seems to like the idea of eventually settling down and starting a family while Helen scoffs at the idea of retiring at the top of her game.

Speaking of sit-down interviews, if you happen to have this movie on DVD, I’d highly recommend checking out some of the bonus material, including more interviews of that nature with some heroes we don’t even see in the movie. We also get a bonus short where Jack-Jack slowly drives the babysitter insane and my personal favorite, a cheaply made, Clutch Cargo style in-universe cartoon show that Mr. Incredible and Frozone lent their likenesses to complete with in-character commentary from Craig T. Nelson and Samuel L. Jackson. It’s truly an amazing set of special features that really help to make world presented in this film feel more fleshed out.

Finally, there’s easily my favorite scene in the entire film, the one where Bob confronts his boss. While Bob hates his job with the insurance company, he still has that innate desire to help people and routinely assists his clients in navigating the bureaucracy so that they are able to get the help they need, irritating his self-important weasel of a boss (voiced by the inconceivable one himself, Wallace Shawn) to no end. When the little slime ball has had enough he calls Bob into his office to chew him out, clearly demonstrating how little he cares about helping anyone in the process. While all this is going on, Bob spots a man getting mugged in an alley through the window. While Bob instinctively wants to help, his boss just callously hopes that his company doesn’t handle the victim’s insurance and threatens to fire Bob if he goes to help the man. Bob finally can’t take it anymore. For years Bob has lived in a society that won’t allow him to help people the best way he knows how, and when he tries to help people through legal means, he finds himself having admonished for it by a corrupt and uncaring authority figure. All Bob’s frustration that’s been festering during the fifteen years since the superhero ban can no longer be contained and Bob snaps, violently grabbing the little weasel by the throat and tossing him through several walls. While Bob is definitely in the wrong here and immediately regrets his actions, it is still pretty nice to see such an unlikable character get his comeuppance. It’s a fairly cathartic scene for anyone who’s ever had a problem with their boss.

Story:

There are a lot of themes that can be read into this movie, many of which, like the importance of family, Brad Bird’s idea of the Mundane and the Fantastic and the nature of an innate desire to do good and how that can still be selfish, we’ve already touched on. However, the main theme of this film, at least as I see it, is the idea that one must use whatever gifts they’re given, be they natural or acquired, to do good in the world as best we can. While this obviously applies to Bob and the family, living in a society that forbids them from using their natural abilities in a way that can help others, it does not apply to supers exclusively. Take the case of Syndrome, whom we’ve already determined had the power to do great good in the world but chose to use his power to service his ego and met a horrible end. Same thing with Bob’s boss, who could have looked the other way or even assisted Bob in helping his company’s clients, but instead chose to act selfishly. Now let’s take the case of Edna. Here’s a person who clearly has a great talent as a fashion designer. And yet, she detests the idea of designing for vapid supermodels, instead preferring to design for heroes, people who help others and make the world a better place. In her mind, she’s also using her gifts in a way she feels will best help society.

The Dark Disney Factor:

This movie honestly has the Dark Disney Factor in spades. Hell, the initial lawsuit that sparked the ban on superheroes came from someone who was saved during a suicide attempt, claiming that Mr. Incredible didn’t save his life but “ruined his death.” I remember seeing this movie as a teenager and having my jaw drop when they mentioned suicide in a kid’s movie. All I remember thinking was “can they do that?” And as it turns out, that one bit was only the tip of the ice burg. Remember how I mentioned Syndrome murdered all those supers to test his robot. Well, that in and of itself is pretty dark and gives this movie a pretty high body count even compared to some of the other dark films we’ve covered. However, it goes a little further where in one instance Bob has to save himself by hiding behind the corpse of another Super. To make this even more unsettling, it’s made clear that this corpse was a friend of Bob’s since we clearly see him at Bob and Helen’s wedding at the beginning of the film. So yeah, using your friend’s corpse to shield yourself from a killer robot. That’s pretty messed up.

I think the actual darkest scene in the film comes right after Bob is made to believe that Helen and the kids are dead. Enraged and vengeful, Bob lashes out and grabs a hold of Mirage, threatening to break her spine like a toothpick. Now, Bob stands down once Syndrome calls him out and many have speculated that it was only an empty threat since Bob is not a killer. However, I interpret this scene a little differently. I believe that, while he most assuredly would have regretted it later, Bob absolutely would have killed Mirage in that moment. Bob is indeed no killer, but we have seen that he’s prone to impulsive fits of violence when pushed too far like the scene where he maimed his boss and given that he currently believes his family is dead Bob is definitely not in his right mind. He totally would have killed Mirage here, so why didn’t he? Well, I personally think that Bobs’ intent here was to injure Syndrome in the same way he injured him, by taking away a loved one. However, when Bob locked eyes with Syndrome during this scene, he clearly saw that Mirage is nothing to him but a pawn to be sacrificed in his childish game and killing her would have at best done nothing to Syndrome and at worst would have brought him satisfaction at having driven a hero to become a killer. The whole scene, fittingly, reminded me of a Superman comic. Action Comics #719 to be exact, my single favorite comic book issue of all time. Without going into excessive detail, The Joker has set up a situation where Lois Lane is dying and the only way to save her is to kill The Joker. Superman almost does it, but Batman holds him back knowing that even if Superman does kill him, Joker still wins because he’s driven a great and noble hero to become a killer.

Final Thoughts: My God, this movie is... well, for want of a better term, incredible. It's one of the most unique, interesting and thought provoking takes on the Superhero genre I've ever seen and we haven't seen anything quite like it since (not counting the sequel). This is one of my longest articles to date and yet I could easily have continued to gush about this movie for so much longer, that's how great it is. If you have not seen this movie you are making a mistake. Anywho, next time, Deep Dive Disney keeps the good times rolling by covering more Kim Possible. See you next time.