The Incredibles.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Watched "The Incredibles" again last night. Man, that was a great movie, especially if you're a super-hero fan like I am. Beyond the obvious high points of story and animation, I liked the bright, late '50s, early '60s retro look of the piece. Comic fans know that the early '60s was the dawn of the Silver Age of Comics (Marvel in particular), and I think that was a subtext for the narrative.
Another subtext (a pretty big part of the story, actually) was how America kept trying to make the Supers be normal. You can see that in the American electronic music scene (what little there is of it). People in the USA keep trying to pump up these no-names, but diminish the true crowd-rockers and real talents (*cough*). It's like Mr. Incredible asks the villain Syndrome; "You killed real Supers--so you could be a fake one?!"
Heaviness.
I loved the music, too. Very jazzy, reminiscent of prime James Bond. You can hear bits of "Dr. No," "You Only Live Twice," and "Goldfinger" in there. How cool would it be if they got this guy to actually do the next James Bond flick? That would be genius.
In fact, all kinds of '60s Hanna-Barbera stuff is in there if you're a big kid like me and can recognize it (or if you've got Boomerang). Syndrome's manta-ray ship, for example, is the original Phantom Cruiser from "Space Ghost" painted black. The Omnidroid is basically the Spider Robot from "Jonny Quest." Even Syndrome's control bracelets are Space Ghost's Power Bands.
Loved the extras, too. There's a "Mr. Incredible and Friends" cartoon from '60s in there, or I should say, a cartoon made to look like it was made in the '60s. Really authentic. It had the human lips superimposed on a cartoon face, like "Roger Ramjet."
Yes, I'm a comic book/cartoon/movie nerd.
Didn't like how Frozone was the only black Super, though. But I guess I should be glad there was even one ;-) Maybe there's a message there, too; when you're an exceptional black person, a lot of times you're the only black person there. In a class, on a plane, in the workplace, in a room.
Pretty deep for a Pixar flick, huh?
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