The Incredibles

Mr Incredible, a lantern jawed hero from the golden age. Fighting crime, helping the helpless, even rescuing cats from trees. You just need to ask one question : what would happen in the real world?

He would get his ass sued, of course.

Fast forward fifteen years. The 'supers' have gone underground and retired from costumed duties. Mr Incredible has married Elastigirl and settled down to raise a family in suburbia, working at a job as a loss adjuster in an insurance company where his only opportunity to help the helpless is telling people how to fill in their claim forms.

The only problem, is that the old days are calling him. He sits in his study looking at his trophies and newspaper clippings. He listens to police radio on the off chance of being able to save somebody from a burning building. What will he do when he gets the chance to put on the spandex one last time?

This a fantastic movie.

The animation from Pixar touches new heights, with the scenes set inside a secret base inside a volcano with curtains of molten lava, and the surrounding rivers and oceans being rendered in exquisite detail. More importantly though, the characters have depth and pathos. Mr Incredible and his wife have a strong and believable relationship, and the children act just like real children would, assuming they had super powers that is.

The plot is very much super heroes in the real world, following similar lines to the classic Alan Moore series Watchmen, with the supers reminiscing about the old days whilst a killer takes revenge against them and plots an atrocity. There is even a riff on the theme of why super hero costumes having capes is a very bad idea.

There are plenty of references to spot, but they are not overwhelming. Fans of the Fantastic Four will particularly enjoy the final scene, and there a slightly cruel X-Men visual gag at one point, but on the whole the Incredibles universe stands on its own.

Highly recommended.