Plot summary (with possible spoilers): On the surface, Bob Parr (voiced by Craig T. Nelson) and Helen Parr (Holly Hunter) seem like any other suburban couple. Bob is a drone at an insurance company with a heartless boss who demands that he turn down as many claims as possible, while Helen stays home with the kids: Violet (Sarah Vowell), a shy teenager, Dash (Spencer Fox), a rambunctious elementary school student, and baby Jack Jack.
Despite the apparent normalcy, the Parr family is anything but. They’re actually superheroes with special powers, though they’re not allowed to use them anymore. This came about after Bob (aka Mr. Incredible) was sued for saving a would-be suicide’s life and for causing various injuries during other rescue attempts. City officials figured it would be better to usher Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl (Helen) into hiding rather than continue to pay millions of dollars for all the damages. Violet and Dash only know a little bit about their parents’ past, but they know enough to understand where their own powers (Violet can disappear, Dash can run incredibly fast) come from.
One day, Bob loses his cool at his job and assaults his boss, which gets him fired. But rather than tell Helen about it and put his family through yet another move, Bob pretends that he still has a job. He’s actually visiting a woman named Mirage (Elizabeth Pena), who has a couple of superhero tasks for him to perform, including destroying an advanced robot. Bob likes being Mr. Incredible again and doesn’t see the harm in what he’s doing.
But then Mirage’s boss Syndrome (Jason Lee) reveals himself. Syndrome was once slighted by Mr. Incredible as a child, and has never forgotten that moment. Now he wants to take his revenge on Mr. Incredible by killing him and the rest of the “supers”. Then Syndrome will be the only superhero in town and can receive all the glory and accolades he craves.
Elastigirl soon finds out about Mr. Incredible’s predicament and heads off to help him, not realizing that Dash and Violet had stowed away on her plane. But it’s lucky they did, because it turns out that everyone’s powers are needed in order to defeat Syndrome and restore order.
My Reaction: I know The Incredibles is an old film, but I never got around to watching it when it was first released. My son wasn’t old enough to watch movies then, but now that he’s six, he finally wanted to rent it. I’m glad he did, because this turned out to be an excellent family film!
The action in The Incredibles will appeal to children, who can watch this as a straightforward superhero movie. But the film also has some humor for the parents, as well as a few messages about society in general that adults can appreciate. These are the the types of family films that work best, so it’s not surprising that The Incredibles, an Oscar winner, was so well received and loved during its release 5 years ago.
Overall, I was very impressed by this film, so much so that I’ll probably end up buying the DVD for my son. Brad Bird created a winner here, there’s no doubt about that! I give this movie 5 stars out of 5.