Last night, Mark and Aaron and I went to see The Incredibles at Showcase Cinemas Maumee.
I have decided that all Pixar films rock.
First and foremost, though: we had heard that the Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith trailer had come with The Incredibles—not attached to the film, but sent separately, and code named “Sand Dog.” That way, theaters could choose whether or not to show the teaser. Unfortunately, Showcase Maumee opted NOT to show the trailer. (No big loss, though, as we managed to locate the trailer online when we got home.)
Before the movie, there was a Pixar short entitled Boundin’, which was actually pretty amusing. It made us think of the days our parents tell us about, when theaters used to show cartoons before the feature presentation. Of course, it had a moral behind it, as many children’s cartoons do, but it was still pretty amusing. It also made us sit up and take note of the increased technical prowess of the Pixar animation team—the textures were amazing, as were the water effects, and the motion of the characters was even more realistic, yet still cartoony.
As the feature presentation began, we continued to be amazed at the quality of the computer graphics. Throughout the movie, water effects, pyro effects, and hair movement were the main amazement factors. As we got used to the higher quality animation, though, we really got sucked into the movie itself.
It took the plot a while to get going—the first several scenes were just setup and background references. Once the story actually got going, though, it was just as riveting for the grown-ups as for the kids. In true Pixar fashion, there were plenty of adult jokes in addition to the slapstick and kid-accessible humor, and the constant homage/parody of the classic comic-book superhero genre was great.
In places, the grown-ups (at least, Aaron and I) could see where the story was going, and who was going to save the day; in other places, though, we were completely taken by surprise—as in the identity of the main villain.
Overall, I would say this is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a while—although I admittedly don’t go out to movies very often. If you’re in the mood for a funny flick, and don’t mind listening to a few rugrats in the theater, I would highly recommend The Incredibles.
The Disney Incredibles website is pretty keen, too.