Incredible!

So I saw The Incredibles on Friday and it lives up to its title. It’s not typical Pixar, other than the fact that it’s digitally animated, an incredible story, and what you really want to go to the movies to see. It’s a little more violent (hence a PG rating), maybe just a little darker, but still tremendously funny and a celebration of the human spirit.

Just recently I spent some time reading The Essential Spider-Man comic books, and marvelled (if you’ll excuse the pun) at how brilliant Stan Lee was at creating these stories that drew you into the human side of the story, and also provided the slam bang action that you probably originally bought the comic book to see. I was constantly amazed at how often I was drawn into the soap opera side of the plot. Would Aunt May forgive Peter when his girlfriend told her off for coddling him? Would Peter remain with Gwen Stacy, or run off with the totally hot Mary Jane?

Well that’s what The Incredibles most reminds me of — one of the classic super-hero yarns of the best Marvel Comics days. Where the heroes are constantly torn between the life of the god they find themself to be, and the life of the human that they still are. And Pixar leaps the tall building of movie magic in a single bound of the drawing pad.
I think one of my favorite lines from the movies goes something along the lines of “Remember, your secret identity is the most important thing you have.” The film does this wonderful job of creating a metaphor for real life in the lives of superheroes. Your identity is the most important thing you have; best you recognize who you really are, and live your life that way.

Go see this movie now! You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll believe you can fly. In a metaphoric sense at least.