What's to "Get" about "The Incredibles"?

Beefy white dudes with lantern jaws, physically maximally strong yet beleaguered by a harpy wife and daughter (WOMEN), great suburban provider but struggling titanically in the outside world, wife looks like Pickles, he smacks her on the but like Shrub, wife is wrapped up wither her vaccuum cleaner, SHE is irresitibly hot after him not so much him after her (he's got Duty to do), he excises a would be kid sidekick and heads right to the marriage vows...

Is this a wingnut epic or what?

So... didja see it?

Question is, what's good about it? What am I not getting? It sets off my wingnut radar. All the tension, stress, bickering in it (and that's just the family), plus that satiny red costume on the dude that makes his beefiness just way repulsive, and was that a FRENCH dude at the beginning that got exterminated?

The ability for a family of four to live comfortably on a single income is something we lost forever under Reaganomics.

be careful about reading too much into a movie.

Sometimes it's just a cute movie.

Ad I think elastic-girl was a hell lot more assertive then you let on.

It's a cute story about utimately having to be who you really are. You can be nothing else, nothing less.

Accepting someone else's veneer of expectation about you leads to mental health issues, which the chidren symbolically work out. They realize their powers are nothing to be ashamed of, and in fact are their true source of power.

We don't have superpowers, but we all have some powers, a.ka. talents, that when expressed properly work for the good of you and your community.

Check it out, it even hints at how lifestyle choices should not be a mark of shame.

You could just as easily say it is about extraordinary people struggling to fit into a dull, conformist society. A tale of outsiders rejected by the masses because they are different.

Remember in the movie the government seems all too happy to let the "supers" disappear. They are all being killed off and the government (under who's care these people have been placed) doesn't notice? Or perhaps doesn't care?

Ultimately this movie could be said to be about being true to yourself despite the costs.

But it's by the same guy who did "The Iron Giant" which was a Liberal 10 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Sometimes it's just a cigar, ya know?

I think some reviews were overrating it but I enjoyed it.

It wasn't as good as Finding Nemo or Shrek 1.

My favorite parts were at his day job with that evil, greedy boss.

and Wallace Shawn was so wickedly evil as the boss character

If you really are drawing those type of conclusions from a movie made by Hollywood liberals that's seeking to do nothing but entertain, you might have some problems.

Chill out and enjoy it, stop trying to over-analyze.

Some might even say "simplistic". I know nothing about the political background of the makers of this thing. Just looked in on it because of the buzz. I'm not into fanatasy animation or even fantasy live action. When Crouching Tiger was hot, I saw it, I think I "got" it as a medieval thing of adventures. But seeing people "fly" through the air and hopping and slicing and dicing did absolutely NOTHING for me, even apart from just plain visual beauty.

That said, I looked at half of this current thing, had no intention of buying into any story line, left to get something and never went back. So I won't be enjoying it. I didn't like the look of the characters, got only vibes of tension and stress from it, and if there is a message that is uplifting, I can get that message in other formats/media/packaging that is more palatable to me.

That said #2, it's a big leap from "Chill out" to "you might have some problems". I asked originally for a friendly explanation of what I wasn't "getting". Now I know the question was irrelevant.

Very flat. Boring characters. Poorly edited. Way too predictable. Nothing original.

The best part about the film was the three minute short about the dancing sheep before the picture.

and by the way, where is my last CatWoman when I really need her?

its in some article in the NY Times today:

Wrong-headed liberalism seeks to give trophies to everyone just for existing," he said. "It seems to render achievement meaningless. That's a weird goal."

He sounded very much like Professor Colangelo, who says that children want to compete and can cope with defeat a lot better than adults imagine. "Life hurts your feelings," Mr. Bird said. "I think people whine about stuff too much. C'mon, man, just get up and do it."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/21/weekinreview/21tier.html?pagewanted=2&oref=login

We can be wrong. I think he has a point. It's like the grade school, some years back, that wanted to ban competitive sports like dodgeball from the playground. There was some wrong-headed liberalism.

"Wrong-headed liberalism seeks to give trophies to everyone just for existing," he said. "It seems to render achievement meaningless. That's a weird goal."

Yet, he voted for Bush. Go figure.

It's supposed to be fun. Just take at face value and stop being so negative.
Duckie

:bounce:

movie was funny my 5 year old liked it

Funny dialogue, good plot and a happy ending.

I see where you might think it's a wing-nut movie, but even if it is it's still pretty good.

hell, most animated movies don't feature "intact" families.

Look at Brad Bird's previous movie "Iron Giant" and try and call him a 'wingnut'

He wasn't beleagured by his wife and daughter...he was beleagured by a dead end job, where he was forced to do what he thought was immoral work.

BTW....the woman was a much stronger character than him, and he used his wife and kids as his guiding light to carry him through the doldrums of his daily grind. He was a loving husband and father who hated his job...I've been there...I can relate. It sometimes distracts you from what's important, your family. He forgets this, and then learns this lesson in the end.

Also, many of the things you don't like are typical superhero stereotypes, and the movie was making fun of those...did you notice he got a beer gut later on in the movie?

I used to watch a lot of cartoons and read comic books when I was a kid. This movie parodies a lot of them in a lot of ways, and does so effectively. The monologueing thing was hilarious.

IMHO, it was a fun movie to watch, but different people have different tastes.

In these tough times, where us liberals are on the ropes, it's hard not to look into everything too deeply. I do it way to much myself. However, I think that's what you did this time. I think it was just meant to be a fun movie for both parents who used to be comic book buffs and cartoon fans, and the kids. I don't think any political statement was trying to be made ... other that insurance companies are evil.

all these posts about me analyzing too deeply---no, I'm shallow. This thing just didn't grab me, like, in a soundbyte. Dead-end-job----well, what was that Michael DOUGLAS (whom I don't like) movie, "Fall Down" or whatever-----I like THAT kind of treatment of a theme.

Anyway, thanks for your kind tone. I'm REALLY superficial. My choice of a great movie is something like "Topsy Turvey" which NOBODY has ever seen, a REALISTIC thing about the INTRICATE workings of Gilber-Sullivan, with the cast ALL talented AND frail.

CATWOMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!