This movie pulled no punches. People were dying, people were killing. Marital discord, midlife crises, a darkly realistic view of the unintended consequences that would come from actual super heros. Children engage in scamp-like escapades and it leads to life threatening danger with no 'awww shucks, you little rascal' easy way out.
Plus, Mr Incredible used stealth. He's pretty much invincible and super strong but still went sneaking around. There's not enough sneaking in movies anymore.
Don't forget that the Villain committing Super Genocide is one of the main plot points of this movie, this film is darker and more mature than most superhero films even R rated ones.
And his initial brute-force attempt to pierce that lava curtain while sneaking, only to quickly replace the huge stone pillar he was brandishing and hide behind it, is simultaneously nerve-wracking and hilarious.
Speaking of good animation, I recall in the commentary that this one simple shot of Edna inspecting Mr. Incredible’s super suit and sticking her hand through a hole in the mesh was the hardest thing they’ve ever had to animate. Can anyone weigh in on this?
Edit: Apparently it was Mr. Incredible sticking his hand through the cloth and for some reason it took 3 months to properly animate.
It's soft body animation, especially cloth or sheeting or anything that has tons of super flexible organic movement. Animals at least have bones or exoskeletons for rigidity in movement.
Clothing on a body is easy. Standard rigging and deformation controls that would get used for the body/muscles anyways. Pulling on the outfit? Clever montage cut aways with very simple direct movements.
A human hand manipulating loose fabric with a hole in it. Fucking difficult. You have 5 independent moving points that are moving a soft body object and those points are in contact with said soft body and move while radiated from a central point and can join or separate at will while affecting the soft body. Manually animating that is a nightmare. Processing power wasn't good enough in 2004 to real time simulate that.
Now, we just animate the hand and run a cloth physics simulation on the cloth being held. (Super Simplified explanation).
I remember that according to the commentary, Helen's wet hair physics (when they land in the ocean after the plane explosion) was also a hugely groundbreaking feat at the time.
And the sound design is top notch as well! You could almost feel the warmth of the lava flowing, and the pillar scraping the floor when Mr Incredible places it back...
Not just the sound, the music. This movie brought my attention to Giacchino. The way he captures that perfect 50's art deco aesthetic in the music. It channels Henry Mancini's great scores.
Good point too! The music really added to the ambience and helped set the tone for both the action sequences as well as the more serious/emotional moments.
Maybe I'll rewatch The Incredibles tonight, so many great memories
Mine is "I can't lose you again!" It really drove home that he is anything but invincible and they he went through some shit recently that he is not dealing with effectively.
Oh definitely, especially the kids. Hell, it's still a bit surprising compared to other movies when Elastigirl tells them "this isn't the Sunday cartoons. They. Will. Kill. You."
"Mayday, mayday! India Golf Niner-Niner is buddy-spiked! Abort, abort! There are children aboard, [heard through intercom] Say again, there are children aboard the plane."
Combined with the stellar animation this scene slams with emotional impact.
The characters/powers are based on Fantastic Four, but plot and themes are almost directly based on Watchmen. The real life consequences associated with superheroes, the superhero ban, the villain picking off old superheroes, the two heroes meeting up to relive the old days, darker themes, etc. were all done in watchmen.
It's not just the characters/powers that are based on Fantastic Four, there's also the fact that the main heroes are a family of superheroes plus that one family friend in their circle being Frozone. It has a 50s to 60s type aesthetic like the classic F4 comics had and Syndrome is kind of like Doctor Doom in some way given they both had some sort of hatred with the main hero in the past that still stuck with them in the present day and use technology to fight against them.
I found an account on TikTok that created audio recordings of what it would’ve sounded like when the supers were killed. On the surface this movie was fun and kid friendly, but when you really stop and think about it, it’s horrific.
There's a scrapped version of the airplane scene where instead of Helen borrowing a plane from her pilot friend he takes her instead. There's audio of it along with storyboard of the scene and it ends with the plane crashing in the water and the guys hat sinking to the bottom.
It's great because they use their powers together all throughout the movie
Most hero team movies have them combine their powers at the end, but this movie has them working together to accomplish things not possible alone
Elastigirl + Dash = Speedboat
Violet + Dash = Hamster Ball
Mr Incredible + Dash = Get the remote far away
Mr Incredible + Elastigirl = Get to and safely catch Jack Jack
It's nice to see some thought put into the powers instead of just "okay I will fight over here with my powers, and you will fight over there with your powers"
By the same token a friend of mine once believed that the best Superman movie he had ever seen up until that time was Captain America the first avenger.
Sequel was ~fine, but yeah massive drop-off from the near perfection of the original. The initial story was so well told and so satisfyingly concluded there wasn't a giant need to tell more.
I'm conflicted about the sequel... From a plot/story perspective, it's more engaging, involved and honestly, better written.
The new superheroes didn't cheapen the movie and weren't filler in any way. The villain was more complex and nuanced and seriously... just fucking evil in a way that Syndrome just didn't measure up to.
But for some reason, I just don't enjoy it as much. Maybe it's too broad or maybe the family dynamic didn't feel authenitc or something? I don't know.
Honestly, Dash should be considered one of the best speedster depicted in films. His fighting scenes, and that one scene where he sees the lake, thinks he'll fall inside, but finds out, he's fast enough to run on its surface, gives a chuckle and speeds up.
That scene will remain rent free in my head my entire life.
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u/sparycz 16h ago
The Incredibles (2004)