It has been fourteen years, can you imagine that, since we were treated to Pixar and Brad Bird’s wonderful animated feature film, The Incredibles. Brad Bird was brilliant in the first installment in portraying a wonderful family of superheroes, reluctant, even restricted from utilizing their super power skills in a world that did not accept, promote or reward those who were different and who could offer services that mere mortals could not. So much was there a protection of mundane, of the normal, of that which did not excel in that world, that we understood the very nature of the human capacity for less than one can, for aspiring to inadequate. We were left in wonder and also wondering why we were victims to the system.
After preparing for this film, and this blog, I looked into how the professional critics have reviewed the film. As I am both a Pixar and Brad Bird fan, I tend to dismiss criticism of the collaboration involving Bird, even those who trashed his Tomorrowland film offering. If an animated film is to attract adults and kids, give meaningful messages to both, and to entertain all along the way, I say this man knows what he is doing. Then, there’s the comment on art’s ability, in this case digital animation, to impress and wow. Pixar is a leader and they have taken some pains to wander through the story and pause to enjoy the color, the movement, the setting, all composed of billions of pixels- and no use of reality through actually filming it- to allow us to enjoy their craft and to feel good about the world in which we actually do live. So far, it has set a record for Pixar in this weekend opening take, and post-viewing marks from the audience give it an A+. We see the film this afternoon, which means this is my thoughts on it to now, with an amended version of this blog adding my post-film thoughts at the end of this blog. 
The first film, for us as well as so many other loving fans, evoked excitement, wonder, humor, great messages and left us wanting more. Here we are. In the meantime, Bird has been analyzed for his approach and messages, with some even feeling he was channeling Ayn Rand. I personally think not, if only for the fact that I don’t believe there are any heroes in an Ayn Rand world, let alone super heroes. Bird might support self-reliance, but his humanism surfaces throughout his messages. Rand would have us walk over bodies in the street. None of the heroes in the Parr family would ignore his/her fellow man in trouble. Their family issues are much like ours, their egos, gender issues, adolescent issues, preteen issues, are translate to any family, except that they must deal with powers beyond our normal limits.
I can’t wait to see what Bird’s messages are in this iteration. Critics mention adolescent issues as Violet, loving her powers of invisibility and protection from the outside world under an impenetrable dome (all teenagers can identify with these), is dealing with boy issues and her new found courage to use her young approaching adulthood for the service of good in the community. Bird is no fan of politicians. A quote found along the way.. “Politicians,” someone laments, “don’t understand people who do something good because it’s right.” Another message in the film will satisfy the #Metoo movement, as Helen is the main figure who fights crime, with Bob being the at-home parent raising the kids. He finds the job demanding, which is good, and the methods used to expose and support the superhero Helen in the public arena will send a message up your spine. 
If you caught this blog on Tuesday, it ends here. But, since we saw it this afternoon, my thoughts about the storyline and messages are more substantial as I continue on from here.
Two relationships or issues illustrate what is most interesting about the film to me. As you know from the last film, Jack Jack has powers that are substantial. But, we don’t know what they are- indeed, they are revealed to Jack Jack most accidentally and he is not sure what they are let alone how to control them. By the end of the film, we only know for sure that Jack Jack knows who his family members are, but he is an infant in his amoral stage. Nothing highlights this better than the incident when he stumbles across a raccoon who is rummaging through the family’s trashcans one night. As Jack Jack has learned to work the television remote, his late night viewing at one time brings him to a show with a masked criminal, someone obviously bad. Jack Jack views the raccoon through the window, sees the black coloring masking its eyes, and shifts into attack mode assuming the raccoon to be a criminal, too. The raccoon is smart enough to know that this is not a major threat, or should not be one. Oh is he in for a surprise.
In one of the humorous episodes in the film, this raccoon encounter, for me, also served up one of Bird’s major themes. Here we have man against nature. Man, the infant, is amoral and does not understand what his actions can do, nor does Jack Jack have any conscience about this fact. He simply is in the moment and acting to control the immediate. He is not concerned other than to dominate and show more power than the animal. His powers allow him this conceit. The raccoon is ravaged, defeated and abused, no dissimilarly to man acting in his shortsighted ways to much of nature. The metaphor could be taken simply and literally, or you could be most comfortable making this bigger case.
Another message/metaphor arises out of the narrative around the main villain, the Screenslayer. This individual has the power to numb the human senses and to have individuals fall prey to the spell of the media, or the screen. Once you lock into the image, you will do what is determined by the screen’s message. No one is immune to the power once the glasses are placed over your eyes or you see the message broadcast from a screen. Bird obviously loves gadgetry and the digital world, and works for Pixar, which makes it living using screens. Here he seems like Eisenhower, the military leader who had seen it all in warfare warning of the dangers of being fooled into supporting the false god of the military/industrial complex.
Bird’s worlds are populated by kind humans and a few villains seeking to exhibit power or greed at the expense of the community. Government does not seem to have the answer to confine and restrict the villains’ actions. Superheroes could, but they are forces that are both misunderstood and threatening to the apparatus of government. Rather than utilize a power for good, Bird’s government bumbles through a systemic attempt to regulate and control that which is not really part of government’s purview. The person who best exemplifies how power can be effectively wielded in Bird’s world is the billionaire entrepreneur and media mogul, Winston Deaver. He demonstrates his commitment to his ideals and the methods he feels are most useful in the Bird world to spread the message; he promotes the ideas and individuals through the screen.
The mundane world of mere human endeavor takes over the first third of the movie, which almost becomes numbing. Soon, though, events ratchet up the action, the speed of movement, the intrigue and the complexity of the plot. Once you pass the half way point, there are shifts aplenty to set up vignettes that entertain and move the narrative forward at the same time. Enjoy this one and you’ll leave the cinema hoping you don’t have to wait another fourteen years for the next one.
http://www.vulture.com/2018/06/what-do-objectivist-ayn-rand-fans-think-of-the-incredibles.html
Maine Musing 