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Home > Movies > Reviews > 2004 |  
The Incredibles
| posted 11/05/2004



You won't sense any disappointment in Steven D. Greydanus' assessment (Decent Films). He raves, "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. It's an ideal collaboration, a perfect storm of heart, wit, energy, and style."

Greydanus's raves continue in another article as he sizes the film up alongside other recent family films and finds the competition lacking. "The Incredibles is terrific—terrific enough that it would be a contender for the year's best family film in nearly any year. Right now, it just about owns the field. Let's face it: So far, it's been a lousy year for family films. Until now, the fine Two Brothers has been just about the only bright spot."

"Pixar can't seem to make even a single mistake when it comes to elevating the artistry of animation," says Steven Isaac (Plugged In). "Likewise, while illustrating the value of an intact family or the beauty of individuality or the negative results of pride, The Incredibles is, well, incredible. If its director had left more of its computer-generated violence on his hard drive … it would have been sublime." He advises parents, "If anything in any of Pixar's previous projects proved too much for you or your tots, stay far away from The Incredibles."

Phil Boatwright (CBN) says, "For some reason some parents are still under the misguided assumption that if it's animated, it must be okay for all ages. Not so. Though this film is creative, funny and addresses life issues, it is an action adventure about superheroes—which means violent acts of derring do. That said, entertainment-wise, The Incredibles is everything other family adventures such as The Thunderbirds and Agent Cody Banks 2 wanted to be this year and failed."

Keith Howland (Christian Spotlight) says, "Unlike the Shrek films, which are often crass and crude, the humor in The Incredibles is clean fun. Sadly, there are two fleeting instances of God's name used vainly. However, there are several issues that can be used to initiate discussions of spiritual matters. All in all, The Incredibles is another triumph from Pixar, and a great movie for the family, although the very young would find it to be too intense."

Mainstream critics are pulling on their Spandex to accomplish mighty feats of raving.

from Film Forum, 11/18/04

Andrew Coffin (World) says, "Pixar has done it again. The Incredibles is not just one of the best family movies of the year; it's one of the best movies of the year, period. The Incredibles … is the first Pixar film not to be rated G, so it's not as suitable for young audiences as the studio's other animated films, but it easily ranks with Pixar's finest achievements."

Josh Hurst (Reveal) raves about "brilliant computer animation," "the loveable, delightfully quirky superheroes," the "perfect" character voices, and the "immeasurable" imagination of Brad Bird. "The world he creates here is deep enough and rich enough to become lost in, and he has a knack for taking familiar action sequences from films like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Return of the Jedi and actually improving them, making them even more exhilarating then they were in their original context." He concludes, "This is the most charming, believable, and enjoyable family I've seen on the big screen in a long time."

At GetReligion, Terry Mattingly ponders the fact that The Nation and The New York Observer are interpreting the film as being driven by a right-wing agenda. After all, the film dares to portray a complete and healthy traditional family.




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