#41: The Incredibles

This movie has permeated pop culture deeper than anyone expected.

I can't say anything about this movie that you probably haven't heard.

It's only flaw is that it shows its age visually. 

So instead, let's talk about how much this has permeated pop culture.

I'd say this is probably the most pervasive Pixar property out there. Sure, people can quote "To Infinity and beyond," and ... maybe two other lines from Toy Story, but I tell you to quote something, anything, from this movie, and what will you give me?

Probably an Edna Mode quote. As it should be. Or even something that doesn't seem special but sticks out.

"You're in charge, Violet." "What!" "You heard her."

"How are you doing that?" "I don't know!"

And, of course, "Where's my super suit?!"So, why has, what seems to be a truly one off film, lasted so long?

Is it because we have, from the franchise's inception, been starved for a decent Fantastic Four movie, to demand a sequel to this?

And believe me, we're going to get to the latest one.

 I still maintain that the unreleased 1994 version of Fantastic Four remains the best. 

There's been a lot of clamor that "Marvel's First Family just doesn't work on the big screen because they're too family friendly," and as I type this, the part of The Incredibles is on where Bob threatens to crush Mirage.

I've seen this movie two dozen times, I can do this on the fly.

There's also a good balance of what a superhero family dynamic can really be, although it would clearly be different as everyone in the Fantastic Four are adults and are only slightly blood-related.

Maybe because Computer Generated movies were still seen as child's play instead of the medium that it is - it's not a genre. And a movie with more realistic concepts like revenge, hero worship, and midlife crises were, and probably still, are unexpected for an animated movie. 

This is still arguably Pixar's most mature movie to date. Sure, Coco is about death, but that's not a real "adult" concept. The next closest thing is probably the fact that Linguini is Gusteau's illegitimate son in Ratatouille. 

Also, this movie is very strongly framed like a comic book. Have you seen those 'graphic novels' that are really just screen grabs with ugly word bubbles just printed upon a page?

You could freeze this movie anywhere (except in obvious transition scenes) and make a great comic.

This was not so long after the original Spiderman movie, that showed superhero movies could be good, and animated movies could have mature concepts and still be good for children. 

I maintain that this and Coco are the best movies Pixar have ever made. There's room for all narratives, but I wish we saw more movies like this come from them than movies where the biggest problem is being a girl (Brave),  or stringing along people trying to get a nostalgia boner (Toy Story).