Genre:
Action | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

Director:
Brad Bird

Writer:
Brad Bird

Cast:
Craig T. Nelson, Samuel L. Jackson, Holly Hunter and Jason Lee

MPAA Rating: PG (for action violence)

Runtime:
115 min

Summary:
Known to the world as superheroes, Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl, Bob Parr and his wife Helen were among the world’s greatest crime fighters, saving lives and battling evil on a daily basis. Fifteen years later, they have been forced to adopt civilian identities and retreat to the suburbs to live “normal” lives with their three kids, Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack. Itching to get back into action, Bob gets his chance when a mysterious communication summons him to a remote island for a top secret assignment. He soon discovers that it will take a super family effort to rescue the world from total destruction.

“No matter how many times you save the world, it always manages to get back in jeopardy again. Sometimes I just want it to stay saved! You know, for a little bit? I feel like the maid; I just cleaned up this mess! Can we keep it clean for… for ten minutes!” – Mr. Incredible

Disney•Pixar’s 2004 computer animated film The Incredibles, which snagged two Academy Awards, including best animated feature, was nominated for best musical or comedy motion picture at the Golden Globes, and won a 2005 Hugo Award is set in a world where people with superhuman abilities, called “Supers” really do exist. Two of these super-humans are Bob Parr / Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) and his wife Helen Parr / Elastigirl (Holly Hunter).

Whilst saving a citizen who is falling from a skyscraper in the heart of the city, Mr. Incredible crashes into the building and catches a criminal in the act of a major robbery. Just then, Mr. Incredible’s biggest fan, a red-haired, freckled little kid named Buddy Pine (Jason Lee) shows up, and despite being repeatedly told otherwise, insists he is Mr. Incredible‘s sidekick, IncrediBoy. Buddy’s arrival interrupts the apprehension of the supervillain Bomb Voyage (Dominique Louis) and his antics end up causing major damage to the city in the process.

The citizen that Mr. Incredible was saving from “falling” from that skyscraper wasn’t actually falling, he was purposely jumping to his death. The prevention of his suicide by our hero, brings about a frivolous lawsuit for saving the life of someone who wanted to commit suicide, which sets off a chain reaction of spurious lawsuits against all of the Supers.

As people come out of the woodwork to sue the Supers, the Parr family, along with every other Super, including Bob’s friend, Lucius Best / Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) are required to take part in the government’s Superhero Relocation Program, which sees the superhumans granted amnesty from their past actions if they promise to cease their super-heroic operations, hide their abilities and live “normal” lives.

Fast-forward fifteen years later and Mr. Incredible, now known only as Bob Parr is trying to survive living as an insurance claims adjuster, while Elastigirl, now known only as Helen Parr, is adjusting to life as a housewife and the Mother of three new Supers, the baby whose name is Jack Jack Parr, their elementary school-aged son Dashiell ‘Dash’ Parr (Spencer Fox), who can run blindingly fast and daughter Violet Parr (Sarah Vowell), who can become invisible and create protective force fields.

Frustrated by their now mundane lives, Bob and his buddy Lucius team-up for bowling night, where (unbeknownst to Helen) the two actually drive into town, listen to the police scanner and secretly fight crime and help people under the cover of darkness (and ski masks).

One day at the insurance office, Bob becomes frustrated by lack of compassion that he’s encouraged to display to customers in need of help and the inhumanity of his boss, Gilbert Huph (Wallace Shawn) and proceeds to first strangle, and then throw him through the wall… make that about six walls. Bob then loses his job and heads home a depressed and shattered man. Once he reaches his home, there is a non-descript envelope on his desk containing what now looks like an iPad. When he picks it up, a scanner verifies that his voice is indeed that of Mr. Incredible and then proceeds to scan the room to make sure that he is alone, so that it can deliver its message.

The message is from a mysterious woman named Mirage (Elizabeth Peña), offering him a job destroying a prototype robot that was being developed as a weapon, and now has run amok. Bob accepts the offer, as the handsome sum they offered him can make up for his current status of being unemployed. After mutilple robot destroying gigs from Mirage, Bob has to visit the brilliant, fashion designer to the Supers, Edna ‘E’ Mode (Brad Bird) to patch his now decades old costume. Edna does him one better by creating him and (without their knowledge) his entire family, brand new Super Suits.

When Mr. Incredible ventures out to the next job, wearing his brand new suit, he finds out that the robots were all a test to create a robot that could in fact destroy him, and his employer (Mirage) is actually the assistant to a new supervillain by the name of Syndrome.

“You sly dog! You got me monologuing!” – Syndrome

The original DVD release is likely the last time that I’d watched The Incredibles, and all this time later the film has proven to be fantastically written movie, with impeccable voice acting and animation. The Incredibles truly has (so far) stood the test of time. Because of the video and audio quality, along with the cornucopia of extras on the Blu-ray, I think I enjoyed the movie even more now than I did the first time.

Now, on to the list of everything that’s included in the combo pack and my overall star rating for The Incredibles (Four-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy).

DISC 1 (Blu-ray) contains the feature film, along with the following:

• Director Commentary is an audio commentary featuring Producer John Walker and director Brad Bird.
• Animator Commentary is an audio commentary featuring the Supervising Animators.
• “Boundin’” is a Pixar short that features optional audio commentary by director Bud Luckey. The short itself features DTS 5.1 sound.
• “Jack-Jack Attack” is yet another Pixar short. This features Dolby Digital 5.1 sound.
• “Jack-Jack Attack Exploded” is a visual commentary featuring director Brad Bird, Story Supervisor Mark Andrews, Character Designer Teddy Newton and Animator/Voice Actress Bret Parker.
• “The Incredibles Revisited” is an all-new roundtable discussion featuring writer/director Brad Bird, Producer John Walker, Story Supervisor Mark Andrews, Supervising Technical Director Rick Sayre, Production Designer Lou Romano, Character Designer Teddy Newton & Animation Supervisor Tony Fucile. This proves to be very enjoyable and worth the watch.

DISC 2 (Blu-ray) contains additional bonus materials.

• “Paths to Pixar: Story Artists”
• “Studio Stories: Gary’s Birthday”
• “Ending with a Bang: Making the End Credits”
• “The New Nomanisan: A Top Secret Redevelopment Plan”
• Deleted Scenes
• “Incredibles Teaser”
• “Classic Content”
• “Making of The Incredibles”
• “Story”
• “Character Design”
• “E Volution”
• “Building Humans”
• “Building Extras”
• “Set Design”
• “Sound”
• “Music”
• “Lighting”
• “Tools”
• “Mr. Incredible and Pals”
• “Mr. Incredible and Pals Commentary by Mr. Incredible and Frozone”
• “NSA Files [Audio + 21 Stills]”
• “Who is Bud Luckey?”
• “Vowellett – An Essay by Sarah Vowell”
• “Art Gallery”
• “Easter Eggs”
• “Publicity” including Character Interviews and Trailers.

DISC 3 (DVD) contains the feature film in Standard Definition, along with the two shorts “Boundin’” and “Jack-Jack Attack” as bonus material.

DISC 4 (DVD-ROM) contains the Digital Copy of the film

I had originally watched The Incredibles when it was released in theaters, and then againt at home when it first arrived on DVD and I don’t think it has ever looked even remotely as good as it does on Blu-ray. The detail, clarity and sharpness, along with the vibrancy of all the colors really left me awestruck.

The audio on the Blu-ray is equally impressive. Disney has included both a Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track, as well as a DTS-HD 5.1 track. The film’s original Score by Michael Giacchino (Lost, Fringe) sounds amazing in DTS-HD 5.1 and the dialouge is never overshadowed by the immense score and myraid of very realistic sound effects present in the film.

The standards that Disney seems to be adhering to in regards to the quality of their Blu-ray packages are something that every studio should have their eye on and at the very least mimicking, or attempting to exceed (good luck with that).

I Give The Incredibles (Four-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) Five out of Five Stars.

 

 

The Incredibles (Four-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) is available now. You can order your copy at Amazon using the link below!

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