![\"incredibles\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/440\/2014\/03\/incredibles.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWhen The Incredibles<\/em> opened in 2004, the Pixar canon included only one sequel, 1999\u2019s Toy Story 2<\/em>. That number remained unchanged until 2010, when, under Disney ownership, the age of Pixar sequels commenced with Toy Story 3<\/em>, followed by Cars 2<\/em> and Monsters University<\/em>, with Finding Dory<\/em> in development.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, after directing Ratatouille<\/em>, Brad Bird went on to the popular Mission: Impossible \u2013 Ghost Protocol<\/em>, followed by an upcoming live-action SF mystery, Tomorrowland<\/em>. His next project may well be a long-planned adaptation of the James Dalessandro novel 1906<\/em>, about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.<\/p>\n The upshot is that a sequel to one Pixar film that really seems to invite or even demand one, The Incredibles<\/em>, remains as distant as ever, though Bird has expressed his openness to doing one\u2014after 1906<\/em>. That probably puts an Incredibles<\/em> sequel about a decade away at the earliest. Is this property still worth waiting ten years for?<\/p>\n The Incredibles<\/em> is exhilarating entertainment with unexpected depths. It\u2019s a bold, bright, funny and furious superhero cartoon that dares to take sly jabs at the culture of entitlement, from the shallow doctrine of self-esteem that affirms everybody, encouraging mediocrity and penalizing excellence, to the litigation culture that demands recompense for everyone if anything ever happens, to the detriment of the genuinely needy.<\/p>\n Like Spy Kids<\/em>, The Incredibles<\/em> is a romantic celebration of marriage and family as an act of heroism, while it also acknowledges the sacrifices that parents make by giving up the pursuit of their own self-fulfillment for the sake of the domestic good. It knows what Spy Kids<\/em> knew but Unbreakable<\/em> didn\u2019t, that being a husband and father calls for a kind of heroism beyond that of superheroes or superspies.<\/p>\n The Incredibles<\/em> recognizes the sacrifice made by a father who spends his day away from his family sitting in rush-hour traffic and marking time in a cubicle. It also acknowledges that a mother who gives up a career and works as a homemaker while her husband leads a life outside the home that may seem or may be comparatively exciting also sacrifices for her family. In its comic-book way, the film pays tribute to how far a mother will stretch and how flexible she will be to hold her family together, and to how deeply a father wants to protect his family and how inadequate he feels to the task, even if he is Mr. Incredible.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The towering creative achievements of Pixar\u2019s transitional period\u2014Ratatouille<\/em>, Wall-E<\/em> and Up<\/em>\u2014have pushed the envelope on what Hollywood animation can do and achieve. Next to the counter-intuitive premises of those films, The Incredibles<\/em>, with its family of superheroes, seems like a comparative no-brainer (along with nearly everything Hollywood animation has done since, like, Fantasia<\/em>).<\/p>\n Yet if the measure of The Incredibles<\/em>\u2019 success is not its premise, but how Bird develops it and where he goes with it, my appreciation for the film\u2019s achievement has only deepened with passing years and repeated exposure.<\/p>\n Above all, I\u2019m awed by the sophistication and depth of observation Bird brings to the joys and foibles of middle-class marriage and family life. All the mundaneness of the second act\u2014the chaotic family dinner; Helen\u2019s uncomfortable visit with the principal and Dash\u2019s blend of smugness and resentment; Violet\u2019s teenaged angst and sibling bickering with Dash; Bob\u2019s midlife crisis and secretive behavior; Helen\u2019s conflict between domestic fulfillment, frustration and anxiety about her husband\u2019s trustworthiness; the moments of marital friskiness\u2014all this captures the rhythms of family life with more honesty and clarity than any other family film I can think of.<\/p>\n It may seem odd, but the way the characters argue is among the film\u2019s most striking achievements. Family members in other Hollywood animated films\u2014even good ones like Brave<\/em>, How to Train Your Dragon<\/em> and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs<\/em>\u2014argue like family-film characters hitting overly familiar beats. The characters in The Incredibles<\/em> argue like flesh-and-blood human beings who love each other, but come with different baggage and different blind spots.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not sure I appreciated in 2004 the extent to which the \u201cstudio as auteur\u201d theory of Pixar obscured my appreciation of The Incredibles<\/em> as an expression of Bird\u2019s creative interests. Compare Hogarth and Annie\u2019s relationship in The Iron Giant<\/em> to the familial dynamics in The Incredibles<\/em>. Buddy\/Syndrome\u2019s fanboy devotion to Mr. Incredible and passion for super-gadgets mirrors Remy\u2019s hero-worship of Gusteau and passion for cooking, as well as Dean\u2019s commitment to his art and even Hogarth\u2019s love of pop culture (cheesy horror movies, comic books).<\/p>\nWhat I Said Then<\/h1>\n
What I Say Now<\/h1>\n