By Michael Gleason

Superheroes have been all over the silver screen recently. From X2 to Spiderman 2, making a superhero movie has been tantamount to printing money for the major movie studios. Enter Disney and its media-darling CGI partner Pixar with The Incredibles, an amusing look at superheroes.

The bulk of the movie takes place in a world where superheroes have been chased into retirement by lawsuits and bad publicity, lightly mocking our over-litigious culture. They have been forced into menial jobs and the everyday grind. Their talents and powers must remain hidden; their essential heroism must be dulled. The greatest tension in the film comes through the hero’s self-denial. The film depicts the workaday life very well, saying more through image than it ever could with words.

The story centers around the family of one Mr. Incredible, voiced by Craig T. Nelson. Incredible and his wife, Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), have retreated into their alter egos and settled down into married life. Sadly, the worst part of the movie is that all the members of the family are walking clichés. The lovable lug of a husband, the responsible housewife, the withdrawn teenage girl and the troublemaking boy all make appearances here. The hackneyed characters are, thankfully, the only real sore spot of the film, but it still makes one wish for deeper and more complex protagonists.

The Incredibles harkens back to 60s-era comic books, with bright and garish colors and clearly delineated good and bad sides. Don’t look for moral ambiguity here, as the good guys (with their traditional square jaws) and bad guys (with their outlandish costumes) are instantly recognizable as such. Such simplicity is regrettable at times, but it works for the target audience.

The animation, as with all Pixar films, is impeccable. This is Pixar’s second-to-last venture with Disney, but the animation company clearly did not slacken at all. The stylized superheroes add character to the film, and other effects look clean and smooth. The ocean waves and the explosions, in particular, look quite realistic. The “newsreel” footage seems authentically grainy, adding a real sense of time’s passage. The design work is conspicuously well-done, as the gadgets and locales are well-laid-out and worthy of old science-fiction serials.

The movie is littered with humorous moments, and the audience ate these moments up with vigor. Of course there’s nothing racy, as this is, after all, a Disney flick. However, there are a good number of laughs, even for the older, more cynical set. The film moves at a good pace, and is superbly directed. The action sequences move with an excellent and well-choreographed sense of urgency. It hangs together very well, as one can see that story elements in the beginning of the movie clearly affect the outcome. It works logically, and that indeed is a great boon to the film.

The voice acting is an exceptionally bright part of the film. Nelson is perfectly cast as the bulky Mr. Incredible. The rest of the cast is extremely talented, and always are fit to the on-screen persona. The other characters seem less like someone is providing the voice, and more like it is the character that is speaking. That really helps with the suspension of disbelief, and makes the film much stronger than it otherwise would have been.

In short, Disney’s latest film is a breezy and fun time at the movies. It doesn’t give pretense to greatness, but instead concerns itself with good storytelling. This movie succeeds wildly with this goal, and is a solid recommendation to anyone, but especially families.

Final Grade: A-

Pixar / Disney´s The Incredibles is an amusing look at modern superheroes. (Image courtesy movies.yahoo.com)