The plot in a nutshell
Mr. Incredible is one of many amazing super heroes saving lives every day.  But what happens when those he's saving don't appreciate it anymore?  Worse yet, they outlaw it?  Forced to sell insurance to support his family - his wife, the ex-Elasti-girl, super speed son Dash, Violet, his daughter with the powers of invisibility and force fields, and Jack Jack, the baby who seems to lack powers beyond the average - the 'normal' life is slowly killing him.

But real evil is never completely gone, and when an old nemesis returns with a diabolical plot, only The Incredibles can save the day.

When I was graduating from High School, a group of parents tried to end a tradition.  Students had always worn different colored tassels, depending on their GPA.  They wanted this to stop - the argument was it made the other kids feel bad, because their grades weren't as good.  Rather than celebrate individual accomplishment and hard work, they wanted to celebrate mediocrity.

That's a key ingredient in this film, a pretty complicated subject for a 'kiddie' movie.  There are other key ingredients as well - the crushing weight of the adult routine life, family relationships, being thankful for what you have, and others.  The story line is well done, with much more depth than any previous Pixar film.

However, that might be it's undoing for some.  People go to a film expecting something, and if they get something different, they often dislike it, even when it's well done.  I'm afraid that may happen here, where people will expect laugh a minute superhero parody, when in reality, this is a much better film.

No one can argue with the beauty of this movie though.  Every scene is lush and detailed, again, more so than any previous Pixar work.  Were you amazed by the blowing hair of Sulley?  Than be prepared to be blown away here.  The jungles, underwater scenes, cars and planes - everything has such an amazing realism, and yet never loses the slightly cartoony feel.  You'll quickly forget your watching a completely fabricated world, and many of the sets and scenes should be studied by action film makers to see how it's supposed to be done.

And that's where this film also works extremely well - as an action film.  I expect there will be some complaints that the first 30 minutes are too slow, and that we see too much of their 'regular' life.  That's called story telling - these scenes allow us to better understand and appreciate the characters, especially the family, once the big action starts.

When it starts, it really starts.  Several key scenes are simply amazing, and at one point I realized, as Dash was running from the evil henchmen, bullets spraying the water around him, the camera zooming in and looping back out, that this was a better James Bond movie than the last 10 years of James Bond films put together.

We get to see a family go from fighting each other, to fighting together.  When you first see them kick ass and take names as a single group, and strike a fleeting fighting pose as one, you'll feel the same triumph they do.  This is an excellent movie about family, and at the same time, each member gets to be an individual story.  There's someone everyone  can relate to, and I have to admit that after seeing Elasti-girl in action, I have a much greater appreciation of the whole stretching super power.

The voice acting is excellent, and you'll love all the main characters.  Some of the ancillory ones, especially Edna, are hilarious, and she stole every scene she was in.  Syndrome (voiced by Jason Lee), was another well done voice, and fit the character extremely well.

It will be interesting to see the eventual comparisons with the Fantastic Four next year, since many of the same powers are included.  I'll call it early - The Incredibles eats the Fantastic Four for breakfast.

Rating - Go to see it.
This is a flick for kids 8 - 14 or so predominately.  However, it's solid family theme, and it's focus on the mother and father roles, will also appeal to parents beat down by a world they aren't all that happy with.  Younger kids will find the first half fairly slow, but will probably love it on DVD, where they can rewatch the exciting scenes ad nauseam. 

Currently, my favorite Pixar film is Monsters Inc, followed closely by both Toy Story's.  But this might very well become my favorite once it hits DVD and I can digest it further.  By the way, I'm thinking that Batman and Superman might want to rethink the whole cape thing..

Spoiler Laden Thoughts
I'll talk about the plot now in more spoiler laden depth...

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There are several very well thought out plot points in this film, and never once was my suspension of disbelief interfered with by some goofy plot hole or stupid idea.

Let's start with why superheroes are banned.  Litigation?  That's perfect!  Sure, good samaritan laws actually cover this, but it's a movie, and we all know how much we fear lawyers as a collective whole.

Syndrome's origin?  Perfect!  Rather than realize he IS special by being brilliant, he has to try to be someone he's not, a superhero.  Clearly, he didn't confab with Edna on his suit design.  I also loved the whole running joke on super villains monologing, and how even Syndrome falls into the trap.

Ah, and what about Jack Jack, who is clearly got some serious superpowers.  At first he seemed elemental, switching from fire to steel, but what was up with the monster version?  And yet the family doesn't yet know...

The ending was certainly perfect for building a franchise, but alas, this film is still part of the Disney/Pixar relationship, which means Disney has control over any future sequels.  There is a rumor out there that Steve Jobs could be taking over at Disney though, and if that happens, who knows...maybe the mouse will learn how to have fun once again.