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AceRogers — I have issues with Disney's The Incredibles

Published: 2023-12-20 05:25:40 +0000 UTC; Views: 3999; Favourites: 3; Downloads: 1
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Description         Welcome back, everyone. This latest review is for a film made back in 2004, which became iconic with Pixar studios and spawned a sequel 15 years later. I don't really know why it took that long for a sequel, but I haven't seen said sequel yet. Anyway, before I get into talking about The Incredibles, I want to first talk about the year 2004, when it came out. (Sigh) The realization that that was almost twenty years ago makes me feel old, but more importantly, movies were different back then. 2004 was before Disney bought Marvel, Lucasarts, and Fox, before ESG scores were a thing, and before the Marvel MCU. The truth is, at the time, there were a lot fewer superhero movies at the time, and they weren't nearly as popular as The Avengers was. This being the case, when The Incredibles came out, I thought a superhero movie made by the Disney company (Which I still associated as kind of a cute, family-values production company at the time), and Pixar (which I fondly remembered as the creators of "Toy Story", and "A Bug's Life") was an act of desperation designed to appeal to the audience's bloodlust or need for a fight or whatever. Especially since it looked like The Fantastic Four meets The X-Men meets The Simpsons.
        That's not to say I didn't enjoy the movie, because I did. In fact, nobody I talked to at the time DIDN'T like the movie, and my mom described it as "cute". (Tsh) Cute was always Mom's default for describing movies and shows that simply weren't off-putting, but personally, I didn't find it cute. Before I get too far into that, though, I want to talk about some of the things I liked about the movie. On the top of that list has to be the character of Edna Mode. She had SUCH a personality! She could be analytical in coming up with new suits to benefit heroes based on their powers, she could be a friend/mentor to Helen when she needed it, but mostly she was saucy and critical of others and their outfits. Lines like "Supermodels! (Hmph) Nothing super about them!" are golden. I also liked her security system and how it would have fried Helen if Edna hadn't added "And guest." The character of Lucius/Frozone is good also. He often seemed not only in a lot better shape than his friend, Bob/Mr. Incredible, but also more sensible. I think my favorite one of his lines was when Bob and Lucius crash into a jewelry store and attract the police by accidentally setting off the alarm. He says: "They think we're bad guys! INCOMPETENT bad guys!"
        As for Bob, I WANTED to like him a lot more than I did. I wouldn't say I HATED the guy, but I found him less likable than his wife, Helen/Elastagirl/Mrs. Incredible. Also, his anger management issues were unsettling to say the least, and there was a part around the beginning where he actually acts happy that his son pulled a prank at school and was too fast to get caught. As for Helen, in a lot of ways, she seemed to be more the hero of the movie than Bob, especially during the second act when she goes to try and find him. In case you can't guess, she's also more responsible with the children, even if she DID leave Violet in charge of her two brothers (Yeah, Violet is, like, TWELVE in this movie. That may be plenty old enough to take care of baby Jack Jack, but not her bratty and hyperactive ten-year-old brother who clearly doesn't respect her). Moving on, I actually like the character of Violet in several ways. As a superhero, she could really use some more meat on her bones, but I can really appreciate her force field/invisibility powers, just like The Invisible Girl from The Fantastic four. Her shy and socially awkward emotions were also relatable for a girl her age, as well as for someone born with superpowers who has to hide her whole life. 
        With Dash, similar to Mr. Incredible, I think I was supposed to like him more than I actually did. He's y'know, kinda cute in a problem child sort of way, but he just seems so uncontrollable that it borders on serious danger. He also acts obnoxiously immature, but I'll discount that part since he's literally a child. I think it's kind of cute at the end where he intentionally loses a race, and goes for second place, all while his family is cheering him, but I really don't like the part when Helen tells him: "Everybody's special.", and he dismissively replies: "Which is another way of saying NOBODY IS..." The villain "Syndrome" says something to this effect later on. Is that the message of the film? Because if it is, saying that "Nobody's special" isn't a particularly uplifting message. Anyway, with Baby Jack Jack? I'm not even gonna bother TRYING to analyze his personality. He doesn't HAVE one. He's just a drooling infant. Seriously, the only thing interesting about the baby is that, for most of the movie, it's implied that he's the only one without superpowers, and in the end it turns out he HAS the power to change shape. The additional short "Jack Jack" attack shows that he can do a lot more than that, and of course, his many powers are showcased in The Incredibles 2. Personally, I find Jack Jack's variety of powers weird, dangerous, and not the least bit clever. It's like the creators couldn't think of what power to give the baby, so they gave him ALL of them. That's just MY input though.
        Finally, we get to Syndrome, A.K.A. Buddy. I'm often sympathetic to villain characters on the basis that they might not deserve to be jailed or killed or something like that, but I just didn't LIKE Syndrome. First of all, what's with that name? Why is he called Syndrome? He flies and uses a finger laser to manipulate matter. He should be called "Powerpoint" or something like that. Also, this is someone who extorted his ways to riches and then killed off retired superheroes just so he could develop the perfect robot, which he then sick on a city full of innocent people. The guy has NO altruistic motives and the only "revenge" reason for his deeds is because his favorite hero didn't want him to be his sidekick. I'm sorry, but in no universe does that justify becoming evil. Seriously, there were a ton of other superheroes out there, just hitch your wagon to a different star! Not to mention, as "How it should have ended" pointed out, Mr. Incredible could have easily made him his tech guy way back when, and things would have been totally different. That said, I don't think I'd have had more patience than Mr. Incredible toward a nerd who wouldn't leave me alone at work. Another thing is, as a villain, Syndrome doesn't even seem THAT sinister. Seriously, he's got flying shoes, miniature bombs, and a magic finger. He doesn't turn into a dragon or a kaiju or a giant snake, or merge with a giant bug- The most threatening thing about him is his giant robot, The Technodrome. Sorry, I meant the Omnidroid. And he couldn't even control it! 
        The main reason The Incredibles DIDN'T kick his butt, like, instantly, is because he managed to catch them off guard and zap them when he FIRST encounters them, then in the SECOND encounter, the family, with their combined superpowers, can't think of anything better to do than just run straight toward him! And even then, Dash has super speed! You'd think he'd go too fast to be targeted or something. Any competent action hero should be able to overcome a magic finger with the speed of Syndrome's reflexes. I still don't think Syndrome should've actually DIED at the end, but the creators probably thought it was clever to have him suffer a cape-related death after how Edna Mode talked about how dangerous it is to wear a cape. Before I move away from Syndrome, he doesn't even LOOK that threatening or scary. No glowing red eyes, no claws or fangs, no armor, and what the heck is going on with that hairstyle?! Also, if you looked at a DVD box, he's not shown or mentioned anywhere. Did he have evil moments? Sure. He sent a missile at the plane Helen was in even though Dash and Violet were there too. And let's not forget the part where he was willing to sacrifice his assistant, Mirage, to avoid letting Mr. Incredible go. Of course, that second one is more a sign of how Mr. Incredible is bad, but, of course, he couldn't go ahead with snapping Mirage like a twig. This is going to relate to one of the things that I have the most issue with about this movie, but first, I want to talk a little about Mirage.
        Mirage was Syndrome's leggy assistant who seemed to have absolutely no problem with any of the many superheroes Syndrome sacrificed to make the perfect robot dying, but starts to have second thoughts when he wants to kill Mr. Incredible's family. Of course, her breaking point is almost getting snapped in half by Mr. Incredible when he seemed to have nothing to lose. After telling Syndrome: "Valuing life is not weakness, and disregarding it is not strength" (Which, she really lacks motivation to say something like that, but okay), she suddenly decides to be a good guy and lets Mr. Incredible go and later tells him the launch codes to Syndrome's jet. Probably the best moment involving Mirage is when Mr. Incredible hugs her for letting him go, and his wife punches her out because she thinks she's a homewrecker! (Happy sigh) Can you imagine how desperate Mirage would have to be to ACTUALLY have an affair with him? She'd need a shirt that read "I heart fat old guys"! Sorry. I didn't mean to fat-shame here, but I think we can all agree she's WAY out of his league. That said, she still deserved to have her pretty little tushy thrown in a jail cell for being part of Syndrome's team for so long. 
        Anyway, I should probably talk about the plot here. It begins in a golden age of superheroes, where Mr. Incredibles, Elastagirl, and Frozone are into busting bank robbers, purse snatchers, and bombers, as well as rescuing a kitty from a tree. Fan boy, Buddy, wants to join Mr. Incredible, and clearly won't take a hint to leave him alone, even when shot off in an ejector seat. Things take a dark turn when someone tries to commit suicide, and Mr. Incredible saves him, but injures him in the process. Somehow, this sets in place a chain of law suits that makes it illegal for superheroes to exist. Personally, though, I'd have thought superheroes were ALREADY illegal. I mean, they all hide their identities and wear costumes and stuff. They're clearly vigilantes. Anyway, Bob settles down with Helen even though having to deal with a mad bomber and a crazed fan boy mean that he's actually late to his own wedding. Fifteen years later, we're introduced to Bob's children; first the baby (suggesting they had children really late), then Dash, and finally Violet. Meanwhile, Bob is stuck in a job selling insurance, working for an obnoxious, greedy little jerk (I wish I could say that no REAL bosses were like that...), who is mad at him for releasing helpful information to customers.
        Back at home, Dash starts trouble with his big sister, who can't help participating in a fight, resulting in a conflict that Bob grumpily has to intervene in. Later that evening, Bob and his best pal, Lucius, go somewhere and rescue people from a burning building. A deleted scene showed that Bob and Lucius actually CAUSED the problem with the building by blowing off steam in a seemingly empty place. In escaping, they get into the jewelry shop, with that funny scene. Helen is NOT happy when she finds out what Bob has been up to, and they get into a fight, which ends as soon as they realize Dash and Violet can hear them. The next day, Bob is pushed too far by his boss keeping him in his office at the cost of being able to stop a mugging outside. Bob then fulfills the fantasy of every working man by throwing his boss through a set of walls. (Seriously, as much fun as that looked, things like that are part of why I don't like Mr. Incredible more) Said boss survives whether he deserves to or not, but the U.S. government isn't too happy about Bob revealing his powers. Now obviously jobless, Bob gets a mysterious invitation (Which self-destructs) to a place called "Nomanisland" (Okay. I've got to admit, THAT'S kind of clever. No man is an island...), where he has to beat up a giant robot.
        After that, everything seems to go great for Bob. He gets back into shape, Edna Mode gives him a new outfit, and Syndrome gives him lots and lots of money (Have you ever noticed how many times a Disney "Villain" character will actually HELP the protagonist before revealing how evil he/she is? Weird.). Unfortunately, it isn't long before Syndrome also tries to KILL Mr. Incredible, and Helen eventually goes after him (In the process, revealing she suddenly knows how to fly a plane). Dash and Violet sneak aboard the plane, leaving Jack Jack with a friend of Violet's. Okayyy. So Violet has FRIENDS now. The beginning of the film kind of suggests she's too shy to have a close enough friend who could babysit her little brother, but who knows? She might have just hired a random sitter. Anyway, the plane goes boom, Helen turns into a lifeboat which Dash paddles to the island, and Helen tells the kids that the people around won't take it easy on them just because they're kids. Frankly, I would've thought the fact that they blew up a plane that had them in it would have made that obvious, but whatever. Anyway, Helen goes off and leaves her kids all alone on this place with the scary guard guys she just warned them of in order to rescue her husband. This next part is where I REALLY have issues with the movie. 
        Things between the kids and the guards get a little too "kill-or-be-killed" for MY liking. At least five guards literally die while trying to kill Dash, who feels absolutely nothing about their deaths. "Valuing life is not a weakness, and disregarding it is not strength" Riiight. And the part where that one guard is trying to shoot Violet, who only seems to be able to turn invisible? Scary AND evil. Seriously, this puts that one guard almost at a higher evil level than Syndrome! Why would he want to kill her so bad? She sure doesn't LOOK threatening. I've seen TOOTHPICKS with more definition than her limbs! And then, she's saved by- DASH?! Okay, that's just insulting. It's not enough the little brat showed off by outrunning the bad guys in their vehicles and that he caused their deaths, he's also got to steal the heroic moment from his big sister? Sure, Violet then unleashes her power by creating larger bubble force fields, but still, it would've played better if she'd stayed invisible, gotten shot at, and then gotten so scared that it pushed her too far and screamed while sealing the guard in a giant force field. Anyway, Dash and Violet join forces into some speedy hamster ball thing, and join up with their parents to beat up and dominate even MORE guards until Syndrome sucker-zaps them. He could've killed them off then and there (For the kids' sake, I'm glad he didn't though), but like any villain, he'd rather lock them up and tell them his evil plan about unleashing a giant robot that he has a remote to.
        Somehow, Syndrome's prison can be thwarted by Violet's force field power (Honestly, I think Violet has the coolest actual powers in the movie, but I think it would've been better if Mirage came along and freed everyone again), and the family go get a jet to try and get to the city to battle this giant robot (Which is good, since Syndrome gets beaten by his robot almost instantly. Seriously, any resemblance between him and Superman is an insult to Superman. Heck, super-GROVER from Sesame Street would make a better hero than him.). Rushing to save the day, Mr. Incredible wants to do the fight alone, saying that he's not strong enough to lose his family again (Which was supposed to be significant since strength is kind of his thing), but Helen assures him that having his wife and kids join him in this attack on a giant malevolent robot would HELP him and in no way endanger the lives of everyone. The giant robot shows the limits of the power of Violet's force field by literally bodyslamming her that only ends up exhausting her, at which point, Mr. Incredible covers their escape by prying the huge thing away with his entire body. 
        Anyway, as you can predict, this family of heroes works together to destroy the robot and gets celebrated and actually accepted as heroes for saving the day (Yeah. No duh, civilians. You NEED superheroes to save your ungrateful butts from huge disasters like that robot. This is why you shouldn't friggin' OUTLAW them!). However, the robot is destroyed in the same way Mr. Incredible destroyed it earlier even though Syndrome theoretically upgrades the robot every time it's destroyed. Anyway, with his master plan ruined, Syndrome finds the best course of action to be "Try to kidnap Mr. Incredible's baby", which he somehow knows about now. As I talked about above, THAT didn't end well, and Jack Jack gets rescued, with Mr. Incredible throwing a friggin' CAR at Syndrome. It would have made things a little more interesting if Syndrome used his magic finger power (Okay, he calls it "Zero Point Energy", but magic finger just sounds funnier) to deflect the car, but instead it blows up his jet and gets him sucked into a jet engine. "Valuing life is not a weakness and disregarding it is not strength." Seriously, the movie doesn't believe that, and Mirage's main point was what she said next: "The next time you risk a life, risk your own!" (Sigh) Anyway, in addition to Syndrome dying a horrible death, Bob's entire house gets blown to smitherines when the jet crashes. Neither of these things is a problem, apparently, and a kid on a tricycle commented on how awesome it was.
        Moving on, the family goes to a track meet for Dash, where they encourage him to get second place and then talk about how proud they are. Also, Violet is suddenly no longer shy now. I'm guessing because she was involved in a deadly adventure that had a positive ending? Because it's not like almost getting shot on the island was traumatic or anything. Whatever. Anyway, the movie ends with a new mole-like villain (Called The Underminer) that comes from underground, and attacks the city for basically no reason, showing that trouble follows the family now, and the movie ends on a cliffhanger as the family all put on their superhero masks (Which, by the way, are tiny little raccoon masks that logically couldn't hide their own identities anyway). 
        Anyway, in conclusion, the movie had a distinct effect on me at the time, and years before I came up with my seven main furry characters, I came up with an idea for a superhero universe starting with an animated movie named "Good Bad Guys", which was kind of a cross between The Incredibles and the not-yet-made-at-the-time Megamind. I'll let you know about that superhero universe in another post. I've done a lot of creative thinking with that one. However, this post has gone on for long enough if not too long. So, until my next post, thanks for clicking!   
           
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