Today, we watched a dubbed version of Monsters
Inc. in Spanish Class. Being one who is not fluent
en Español, I was amazed at how easy the dialogue
was for me to understand. Sure, I had seen the movie in
English before, but the simplicity of the language
seemed astounding. Then, I got to thinking about the
concept of Monsters Inc. It, too, is rather
basic. It was at that moment that I realized that every
movie that has come out of Pixar Studios has had a
ridiculously simple-minded premise; I think that I too
could’ve thought of personifying toys, bugs, and fish,
if I had the motivation of a few billion dollars in
revenue, as a result. But, despite this, most of them
have turned out to be rather amazing movies, through and
through.
Why is this? The obvious
answer would be the tremendous, eye-popping animation
that all Pixar productions contain. However, I have a
hard time believing that imagery, alone, has been able
to hook me into any movie, let alone an animated one. I
suppose that the real reason why I can, indeed,
reinforce the widely shared opinion that the folks at
Pixar are geniuses is because every one of their films’
screenwriters is extremely observant. What separates
these pictures from standard traditionally animated ones
is, primarily, because they contain such witty satire,
topping most live-action comedies in such an area.
The Incredibles,
Pixar’s latest endeavor, opened last weekend to the same
big box office numbers as all of their previous works,
and is a nice addition to the long list of movies that
they are responsible for. Using typical superhero
shtick, writer/director Brad Bird creates a story about
a family with special powers, headed by Mr. Incredible
(voiced by Craig T. Nelson) and Elastigirl (voiced by
Holly Hunter), who are forced to live normal lives, by
the disapproving government. The idea, in itself, is not
much better than that of an episode of any old cartoon
on Nickelodeon or The Disney Channel. However, usually
conforming to Pixar’s delightful mold seems to be Bird’s
forte. With The Incredibles comes some delicious
commentary on society’s view of superheroes, an
outrageous exploration of familial dynamics, and, of
course, multiple looks at the humorous behaviors of
children.
Unfortunately, Bird forgets to
place a key piece in his animated puzzle: sympathy.
Without the advantage of performances from actors (aside
from the voices), it is necessary that a director go out
of his way to find this crucial element in moviemaking.
The Incredibles is missing both the sorrow and
the joy of other Pixar films, like Finding Nemo
and Toy Story and its sequel. This is, perhaps,
the only main difference between this effort and its
predecessors.
The look of the film is just
as marvelous as I expected it to be. The action
sequences are astounding; The Incredibles, for
its filmmakers, represented the opportunity to show
everything impossible that they had ever wanted
superheroes to be able to do in a restricting
live-action movie. The result is often hypnotizing; the
first scene, in particular, instantly hooked me in by
accomplishing such. If it weren’t for the slightly
unrealistic ways in which the characters move in The
Incredibles, I would’ve been ready to start a
letter-writing campaign, in efforts to completely squash
the “real” portion of the film industry.
The release of next year’s
Cars will mark the end of distributor Disney’s long
partnership with Pixar. While this will almost
definitely ensure a higher profit-margin for the
animation company, which is owned by Steve Jobs, it may
mean less total box-office-success for their films, much
to my dismay. The Incredibles indicates a
smidgeon of a decline in quality for Pixar, but it is
certainly worth seeing, nevertheless. Major butt-kicking
at the expense of lack of the audience’s sympathy is
almost justifiable, in a way.
-Danny, Bucket Reviews (11.10.2004)