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| Tuesday, November 23, 2004 11:59 AM |
| Incredible Things! And Stuff |
 by Fëanor |
First, some links!
As usual, David Rees has hit upon the horrifying truth: the election is making liberals into Republicans.
Dilbert has hit upon its own truths, though they are more uplifting than horrifying: "You can take my soul but not my lack of enthusiasm."
Last night, poppy and I finally got a chance to go and see The Incredibles. I'm afraid I have not much new or interesting to say about the film. It is very, very good, and the Pixar folks have done it again. I have to say, however, I'm not very impressed with the look of their next film, Cars. There was a trailer for it in front of The Incredibles, and it just looked rather dull and stupid and uninspired.
Another trailer shown in front of The Incredibles was, as I had hoped, the teaser for Star Wars: Episode III--Revenge of the Sith. Oh, yeah. It was good to see it on the big screen, and hear Darth Sidious's nice little evil cackle at the end there in surround sound. I hadn't picked that up before.
I said I probably didn't have much new or exciting to say about The Incredibles--but that's not going to stop me from saying it.
It has fantastic animation, as usual for the Pixar folks, and quite good casting. Craig T. Nelson was great as the voice of Mr. Incredible himself, as was Jason Lee as his arch-nemesis, Syndrome. I also loved Samuel L. Jackson as Frozone (the movie's version of Ice Man; there was also a version of Cyclops named Gazer Beam who was unfortunately never seen alive in the film--and whose name kept making me think he was from the Gayzor Mountains, the inhabitants of which share certain customs, not that there's anything wrong with that) and Wallace Shawn (of Princess Bride fame) as Incredible's nasty little boss at the insurance firm. Brad Bird, the writer/director himself (also responsible for the great (mostly) traditionally animated film, The Iron Giant) provided an excellent voice for one of the film's best characters--superhero fashion designer Edna "E" Mode. And keep an ear out for John Ratzenberger of "Cheers" as the wonderful cameo character The Underminer. The only bit of casting I didn't like was Holly Hunter as Incredible's wife, Elastigirl. Poppy and I both found her voice strangely irritating.
I loved the wonderful visual metaphor of the huge Mr. Incredible squeezed next to the tiny desk in his tiny cubicle at his tiny, nasty little job, and driving home from work squished into his compact car.
But I was surprised that in a lot of ways this film about super heroes owes a lot more to James Bond films than to comic books, in terms of its visuals, its plot, its characters, and even its music. The villain--with his huge secret hideout hidden inside a volcano on a remote jungle island and filled with faceless henchmen--lures Mr. Incredible into a trap and then makes long arrogant speeches to him about his ego-maniacal plan for world domination. That's all straight out of Bond films. The soundtrack, especially during the many action sequences, has a jazzy, funky, brassy sound that would not be at all out of place backing up 007's hi-jinks. There's also plenty of Bond-style gadgetry and espionage.
UPDATE (w/spoilers): I forgot to mention that there's even a hot "Bond" girl named Mirage who's working for Syndrome, but ends up betraying him to help save Mr. Incredible. He does not convert her to the side of good with sex, as Bond would, but there is some sexual innuendo there (which is odd, given that this seems to be marketed as a kid's film--there's also a surprising amount of violence and death).
Another possible influence on the film is Alan Moore's incredible graphic novel, The Watchmen, as The Incredibles is also, like that work, attempting to imagine what would happen if superheroes really actually existed--what would their lives be like? Wouldn't there be consequences for all the damage they cause in the process of saving people? And what if those people didn't want to be saved? Of course, The Incredibles is far more light-hearted and story-based than the brooding thought experiment that is The Watchmen. But I still think there's a kind of connection there.
I also definitely was hearing and seeing the speeder bike chase from Return of the Jedi when those blade-copter thingies were chasing Dash through the jungle. But then again, some part of me is always hearing or seeing some part of Star Wars...
Anyways, not much else going on. As usual, I have a couple of projects for the site that I'm planning to get to work on soon--one new one for poppy and some old ones. I'm looking forward to mouserobot's pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow night, and then actual Thanksgiving dinner at bloginator's place the next day. Oh, the food! Oh, the gorging! Oh, the happiness!
Rock on, y'all. |
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