FILMBRATS - REVIEWS

After a bunch of lawsuits come out, superheroes are forced into hiding. Now, they’re stuck living normal everyday lives all the while sitting on their powers. Unable to help the world, Mr. Incredible is becoming increasingly depressed. However, his wife, Elastigirl, is perfectly happy being the Mary Tyler Moore stay-at-home mom type. So, Mr. Incredible, sneaks behind his wife’s back to fight crime and eventually finds himself captured by an evil supervillain (as if there’s any other kind). Now, the rest of the family has to come to the rescue to save him and the city. Can it be done?

Here’s the latest effort by the Pixar bunch. Once again, the animation is pretty good. Even though, I’m sure the methodology and techniques have improved this time around, “Monsters, Inc.” looked better to me. This stuff doesn’t look bad at all, but we’re dealing with imaginary monsters as opposed to cartoon humans. I know there’s a line of realism you don’t want to cross in a movie like this and the people look a heck of a lot better than they did in “Toy Story,” but the detail really popped out at me with “Monsters, Inc.”

I probably liked “Finding Nemo” the least of all critics, but still found it entertaining. One of my main criticisms of it was that it wasn’t as funny as it should have been. Here, the movie isn’t exactly all that funny either. However, you don’t have professional comedians in the key roles. You have comedic actors delivering their lines amazingly well, but the lines themselves aren’t that rip-roaring. However, the story is extremely solid. The characterization of the family works very well and writer/director Brad Bird adds a great “everyday people” relatable element to the superheroes. Even though the people have super powers, you can still related to the core emotions and feelings and to the scenarios where you wish you had those powers. It’s a tough job to juggle the cartoony side, the real/emotional side, the funny side and the action side, but the film does just that.

Welcome back, Coach. Craig T. Nelson is perfect as Mr. Incredible. Wallace Shawn is hilarious as the boss. The rest of the cast didn’t exactly impress me. They weren’t bad. They did what they had to do, but they hardly stood out. I was surprised with Nelson’s acting here. He seemed to understand the character more than the rest of the cast. He didn’t punch it up or exaggerate anything. That kind of performance is pretty tough to find in a children’s cartoon.

This is one of the best movies Pixar has made. Like I said, the storyline is great. The characters are fun. The movie is occasionally funny (the ending is hilarious). And best of all, it’s not overdone. It’s a great family film that the kids have to love. My guess is the parents will too. If you thought “Finding Nemo” was good, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Simply put, incredible.

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