Movie of the week: “The Incredibles” SPOILERS!

Expectations were pretty high for this movie since not only is it a Pixar feature but also has been hyped for more than a year. And I’m not really surprised it couldn’t keep up with those announcements of being the new “hit” for the makers of “Finding Nemo”. A long way to that, I’m afraid.

Firstly, the film takes quite some time of its 121 minutes running time to finally get anywhere, and the overall structure isn’t modelled very well. Most of the action is crammed in the last 20 minutes which makes “The Incredibles” seem unbalanced to the point of being two different movies rolled into one (family comedy and super heroes on the lose). The characters, especially Mr. Incredible, stay shallow and are motivated rather poorly – take Helen (Elastigirl) for instance. Why would she, who said herself “Leave the saving of the world to the men? I don’t think so”, be content with a simple existence as housewife and mother? And if Mr. Incredible is such a super hero, how come he never even has the slightest doubt as to who is hiring him? “Could you come to our secret island and destroy a fighting robot gone mad for us?” – “Sure, no prob! I don’t need to know who you are or what you do!”

While the points above don’t help “The Incredibles” at all, there are certainly some aspects which earn it some sympathies. First and foremost, the likeable characters, where again I have to mention Elastigirl – once she kicks into action, she rocks! The kids were cool, too, and I instantly loved Edna “E” Mode the minute she appeared on screen – “I used to design for gods, dahling!”. Also worth an honorable mention are the really well-done environments like the volcanic island (and the spectacular lava beds!) or Syndrome’s hidden lair, which, by no coincidence at all, looks like in a good ol’ James Bond movie.

All in all, harmless, fluffy fun – mildly amusing.

3 out of 6 Meeps – average