THE INCREDIBLES Review

I have now watched THE INCREDIBLES - 4 times. I've not written about the film, simply because - oddly - I can't think of what to say. It's perfect. It's just an absolutely perfect film. It deserves to earn all the money. Win all the awards. There should be a mountain range somewhere carved to look like the characters - so for all time - we will know THE INCREDIBLES.

The film is EXACTLY what I've been saying for years Warners should be doing with their DC characters. This is why MARVEL shouldn't do cheapo - strait to video bullshit underfunded cartoons of their characters. This is the most perfect ripped from the imaginations of Silver Age Comic Book Lovers' dreams. Sure - the production design screams James Bond, but for me - it screams Jim Steranko "NICK FURY, AGENT OF S.H.I.E.L.D." The John Barry-esque Bond-ian score is heaven. The motion is perfection, the character design - perfect, the characterizations - perfect. The story is perfect. It is -- just PERFECT.

It works on emotional levels, funny levels, nostalgia levels, familial levels - just every level. Hell, that rooftop scene between Mr Incredible and Elasti-Girl is the most innocently erotic HOT HOT HOT scene I've seen in a movie in quite some time, and when Mr Incredible's jaw drops and he sighs out a wow - I'm right there with him.

Ok ok ok, I'm a geek. A super geek. Pathetic, I know, but I want boots to make me fly and zero-whatever ray... and I want my hair all up like a crazed lick of flame. Yeah, I've been getting emails out the wazoo claiming that SYNDROME is me - and I'm totally OK with that. I haven't a clue if it's true, but when Syn exclaims that he's "Geeking Out," I have to admit - I was "Geeking out" too. In fact, I was in full fledged Geekgasm mode here.

When Dash hits that water - and his music goes away and we just hear the pitter-splatter of his blurring feet - and he looks down, gives a "I don't believe this"-style giggle to himself and accelerates and the music kicks in, and I'm like tearing up. I'm that sort of geek, and I absolutely do not apologize for it. Rather - I raise my Burger King EMPIRE STRIKES BACK glass of Jolt in honor of BRAD BIRD and salute him. Yes, Brad Bird has now made two of the best Animated... strike that, just two of the best films period of the last decade.

I feel like compulsively watching this film, the same way I have compulsively watched THE IRON GIANT. Watching that miniature Edith Head to the Gods prance about with her Droopy like leg motion... well - I'm in Heaven. Edna Mode is one of the GREAT inventions to the realm of Superheroes. Much like that Phil the Camera Man from Busiek and Ross' MARVELS - it's one of those... let's look at this from a different perspective. Who does make all those superhero costumes? I mean - we geeks never really asked that, cuz we knew that most of em came out of Jack Kirby's skull. We never bothered to really think of it from the "Universe" of the character's point of view. Though - I do seem to remember Janet Van Dyne going to some stylish clothing expert for a WASP costume or two.

I love that this film takes the time to show the dysfunction of their family... what holding your children's experiences and potential can do... What settling for what is expected by others that YOUR life is expected to be can do for you. The film actually gets into some questions regarding these characters that too few people ever bother to ask about themselves. Believe me, as I look at changing my own life - ceasing to just be the guy I was always and instead becoming the guy I have always been afraid of becoming. Well, that's always the scariest decision, turn in one's life.

THE INCREDIBLES is one of the "GREAT" films of 2004 - it is all deserved. Pixar knows the secret. It's all about "the story" - They market the story, sell the idea of the story and deliver it with a gift unfortunately too rare these days... All their stories feel like you're laying in the lap of the safest person you know, and in their rich tones and gleaming, smiling face they told you the stories you grew up with. These are those classic tales we'll tell our grandkids - these are timeless and magical. Doesn't matter if they're about toys, fish, monsters or superheroes... the real magic is that it's never about those things, it's about us, who we are and where we're going. All that other stuff is razzamatazz, and I love it... but it's the soul of these tales that make me love them more.

They're lessons not just for kids, but for us adults as well. I just hope that we adults are tooning in!