The Incredibles (2004)
What are you waiting for? I dunno - something amazing, I guess.
THE SUMMARY: A retired superhero family returns to the business to defeat an old admirer turned enemy, finding ordinary family values along the way. It’s wholesome, it’s fun, and if you pay attention, there’s even some important philosophy to consider. A solid piece of yesteryear’s family entertainment. These days, a nuclear family can’t be superheroes. Especially not a white one.
FROM MOVIE-PICKER WILLIAM: A fantastic family movie that never quits. Ayn Rand's original career was as a screenwriter and had she lived during the Pixar era, the script for this movie could easily have been hers: a family of superheroes is relegated to obscurity due to the ingratitude of the very people who benefit most from their labors, only to be drawn out by a villain consumed with envy of their superpowers. Besides being resolutely pro-family and anti-egalitarian, the movie is enjoyable for simply being such a wildly entertaining thrill ride. Arguably the best CG-animated movie ever made.
THE BEST:
For a ‘kid’ or ‘family’ movie, this one had me making as many notes about philosophy as any more ‘adult’ presentation. There are simply too many excellent themes or scripting moments for me to include in a concise review, so I have made a selection of my favorite thought-provokers:
The marriage bargain between men and women: Perhaps most fundamentally, this is a movie about the bargain of marriage between husband and wife. Does a husband have an obligation to forgo all thirst for adventure? Does a wife have an obligation to reject it in pursuit of family preservation? Is Bob a bad husband for taking risk, or is Helen a bad wife for refusing to allow him to? What exactly are the dynamics and rules of a good marriage?
The beauty and necessity of the relationship is, of course, the balance of both. Without the natural male drive to take risk and build incredible things, society never advances. Without the natural female drive to maintain a stable home, there’s nothing to return to when the risk fails. Risk without a safety net is death. A safety net without exploration outward is stagnant. A good marriage is a stable base from which to climb.
It’s notable that Bob and Helen’s marriage improves immensely when this truth is realized - when he ditches the mundane for the adventurous, even if through the deception of his wife. His enthusiasm is rejuvenated. He gets back in shape. He has a purpose again. And through him, so does Helen.
There’s a lesson here for both men and women on the bargain of marriage. For women, understand that men must take risk and build something to feel satisfaction. For men, understand that without family, there’s much less value in whatever you build. For both, the lesson is both: take big risks and build great things, but start by building a family first.
The bad guy creates the problem to solve the problem and become the hero: Sound familiar? It should, considering we watched the bat-virus iteration of the exact same plot line over the last three-plus years. Whenever an existential threat emerges, and somebody swoops in immediately with a perfect solution to fix it, be skeptical. Odds are that solution is indeed too convenient, and even planned ahead of time.
Valuing life is not weakness: Maybe the most profound moment of the movie. When Mr. Incredible refuses to crush Syndrome’s assistant Mirage, Syndrome calls him ‘weak,’ to Mirage’s admonishment later when she says ‘valuing life is not weakness.’ It’s obviously true insofar as the value of human life is the single most basic moral principle we have, from which all others are derived, but the theme is even broader than that. True strength is not built on wickedness. True strength is built on adherence to the world’s moral principle, and upholding and defending it, whether it’s personally convenient or not.
Strength is serving these principles, even when it’s very difficult to do. That’s why there’s nothing ‘strong’ about suckerpunching somebody just because you can.
Doubt is a luxury we can’t afford: Another of my favorite lines - Helen/Elastigirl reassuring her kids on departure. These days I’m desperate for as many white pills as I can scavenge, and this certainly is one. To the extent you have the time and security to sit around contemplating your problems, you are, indeed, in a position of luxury. True survival scenarios offer no such comfort. Consider your gifts accordingly.
Syndrome loses control of the Omnidroid
Suing the good guy/litigating productivity into oblivion: Mr. Incredible getting sued into early retirement for the liability of preventing a suicide is as great a representation of our current social state as I’ve ever seen. Do right and get punished, because everyone is seeking a victim angle through which they can exploit somebody else and take everything they have. Likewise, build something great and get punished, also because we have way too many people trying to take, and way too few trying to build. But to the prior point on moral virtue over convenience, that of course doesn’t mean we should succumb and join the leeches. Keep building, no matter the obstacles.
Your boss isn’t as controlling as you think: He may be in the short-term, micromanager sense - don’t get me wrong - but I mean it in the long-term, life overall sense. Post super-heroing, Bob settles for a perfectly normal insurance agency job, which pays the bills, but has that sort of overbearing boss. Often the convenience of this secure mediocrity convinces us we have to put up with a school or work scenario we can’t stand, because we find the annoyance of that situation more acceptable than the fear of the unknown otherwise. It’s not until Bob takes the risk to pursue his calling that he realizes his true potential. His boss hasn’t actually been controlling him. He himself has.
The point is fear of failure is never a good reason to avoid risk and hard work. Letting all of life’s opportunity pass you by and realizing too late that you missed out on all of it - that’s the real fear. Or at least it should be.
What are you waiting for? I dunno - something amazing, I guess: Likewise, amazing things don’t just happen to you, or at least very rarely. Maybe only if you’re the tricycle kid. It seems like such a throwaway moment - Bob arriving home from work unsatisfied, asking the gawking neighbor kid what he’s waiting for, and the kid replies ‘I dunno - something amazing, I guess.’ But it’s the philosophical turning point of the entire movie. Bob stops waiting, and starts doing. He literally heeds the call to become Mr. Incredible, despite the mystery and the risk, and completely changes his life for the better.
Don’t sit around waiting for something incredible, or expecting something incredible just to happen spontaneously. Make something incredible, actively, every day. It’s almost always the only way it works.
The are always alternatives to this boss
Sue the good guy out of business
Something amazing, I guess.
THE WORST:
Just the limitations of the genre: I wouldn’t say this is even a fault of this movie - it’s just a reality of my ability to enjoy it fully. What keeps The Incredibles from a coveted Five Wicky™ for me is just the clash between a silly, cartoonish style, and the sincerity of the themes I appreciate most. That doesn’t mean the presentation is ‘wrong’ - in fact I find the animations and voice acting to be excellent, and they hold up well for a twenty-year-old movie - it’s just I have a harder time taking this movie seriously, and what I enjoy most about this movie are points of complete seriousness.
Yes, I realize I awarded The Lion King a Five Wicky™, and it’s a similarly cartoonish presentation with similarly serious themes, so perhaps I’m inconsistent in that thinking. That’s okay. I’m allowed the subjectivity of what works and what doesn’t for me personally. The Incredibles is still a great movie regardless.
Some era/setting ambiguity: Not that it matters to appreciate what’s important about this movie, but I find the setting’s time to be totally confusing. There are 1950s cars, but desktop computers. The movie is a mix of modern/futuristic and vintage, which is fine - it’s complete fiction - it’s just hard to tell what era is the intent. All of them, I guess.
THE RATING: 4/5 Wickies. After writing my thoughts of near universal praise with only nit-picky criticism, and leaving behind a bunch of other points of appreciation I didn’t have room to write, I should be offering a five… but there’s just something about the presentation that places this one a shelf or two below the top for me. Still, a thoughtful and memorable movie to enjoy with the family, to learn about the importance of family.
YOUR RATING: Vote here ⬇
NEXT WEEK: My Neighbor Totoro (1988) Note: There was an error in the polling this week that disabled voting for part of the time. Since I don’t have a way to correct that issue with a retroactive vote, I have to defer to the leading movie at the time the voting stopped. I have corrected the error for future voting. I apologize, and I swear I am not attempting to fortify the election.
AFTER THAT? YOU PICK - VOTE! April’s movie nominations are from listener William. This is the last week to vote on William’s list - we will have a special selection next week for the fifth Sunday in April.
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