Short story: Superb movie
I think Pixar has done it again with The Incredibles. The graphics are once-again much improved, and I must say that it is getting harder and harder to tell that the movie is computer-generated when you’re not looking at human characters.
In fact, that is my only complaint with the movie. Although the modeling on the characters is generally superb, they still don’t really look human. In fact, I think the Shrek 2 team did a better job with e.g. Princess Fiona than what we have with this movie. I’m not referring to the weirdly proportioned shapes of the superheros either, but rather elements like the ears and noses. It doesn’t really detract from the film experience, however, and you can’t even notice on the female characters, as they pretty much all have their hair covering their ears.
The story itself is top notch. The writer/director of this movie also directed and co-wrote The Iron Giant, and it’s clear that his writing has improved for this movie. I’ve also seen The Iron Giant, and although some speak highly of that movie, I wasn’t too impressed with it, other than to say that I appreciated the fact that they packed in more story than a Disney feature length film would have. Bird has continued this trend for The Incredibles, and almost perfected it.
If I continue breaking down each part of the movie I’m just going to end up gushing however, so let me just reassure that the fight scenes are very well done, the sound and music are excellent, and in fact, there’s really nothing else that I would complain about. The movie contains melodrama without getting cheesy, and even manages to use the wife-thinks-her-husband-is-cheating cliché successfully.
My overall rating: 9.8/10