The Incredibles

Description

Double Disc Set - Special Features After creating the last great traditionally animated film of the 20th century, The Iron Giant , filmmaker Brad Bird joined top-drawer studio Pixar to create this exciting, completely entertaining computer-animated film. Bird gives us a family of "supers," a brood of five with special powers desperately trying to fit in with the 9-to-5 suburban lifestyle. Of course, in a more innocent world, Bob and Helen Parr were superheroes, Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl. But blasted lawsuits and public disapproval forced them and other supers to go incognito, making it even tougher for their school-age kids, the shy Violet and the aptly named Dash. When a stranger named Mirage (voiced by Elizabeth Pena) secretly recruits Bob for a potential mission, the old glory days spin in his head, even if his body is a bit too plump for his old super suit. Bird has his cake and eats it, too. He and the Pixar wizards send up superhero and James Bond movies while delivering a thrilling, supercool action movie that rivals Spider-Man 2 for 2004's best onscreen thrills. While it's just as funny as the previous Pixar films, The Incredibles has a far wider-ranging emotional palette (it's Pixar's first PG film). Bird takes several jabs, including some juicy commentary on domestic life ("It's not graduation, he's moving from the fourth to fifth grade!"). The animated Parrs look and act a bit like the actors portraying them, Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter. Samuel L. Jackson and Jason Lee also have a grand old time as, respectively, superhero Frozone and bad guy Syndrome. Nearly stealing the show is Bird himself, voicing the eccentric designer of superhero outfits ("No capes!"), Edna Mode. Nominated for four Oscars, The Incredibles won for Best Animated Film and, in an unprecedented win for non-live-action films, Sound Editing. The Presentation This two-disc set is (shall we say it?), incredible. The digital-to-digital transfer pops off the screen and the 5.1 Dolby sound will knock the socks off most systems. But like any superhero, it has an Achilles heel. This marks the first Pixar release that doesn't include both the widescreen and full-screen versions in the same DVD set, which was a great bargaining chip for those cinephiles who still want a full-frame presentation for other family members. With a 2.39:1 widescreen ratio (that's big black bars, folks, à la Dr. Zhivago ), a few more viewers may decide to go with the full-frame presentation. Fortunately, Pixar reformats their full-frame presentation so the action remains in frame. The Extras The most-repeated segments will be the two animated shorts. Newly created for this DVD is the hilarious "Jack-Jack Attack," filling the gap in the film during which the Parr baby is left with the talkative babysitter, Kari. "Boundin'," which played in front of the film theatrically, was created by Pixar character designer Bud Luckey. This easygoing take on a dancing sheep gets better with multiple viewings (be sure to watch the featurette on the short). Brad Bird still sounds like a bit of an outsider in his commentary track, recorded before the movie opened. Pixar captain John Lasseter brought him in to shake things up, to make sure the wildly successful studio would not get complacent. And while Bird is certainly likable, he does not exude Lasseter's teddy-bear persona. As one animator states, "He's like strong coffee; I happen to like strong coffee." Besides a resilient stance to be the best, Bird threw in an amazing number of challenges, most of which go unnoticed unless you delve into the 70 minutes of making-of features plus two commentary tracks (Bird with producer John Walker, the other from a dozen animators). We hear about the numerous sets, why you go to "the Spaniards" if you're dealing with animation physics, costume problems (there's a reason why previous Pixar films dealt with single- or uncostumed characters), and horror stories about all that animated hair. Bird's commentary throws out too many names of the! animators even after he warns himself not to do so, but it's a lively enough time. The animator commentary is of greatest interest to those interested in the occupation. There is a 30-minute segment on deleted scenes with temporary vocals and crude drawings, including a new opening (thankfully dropped). The "secret files" contain a "lost" animated short from the superheroes' glory days. This fake cartoon (Frozone and Mr. Incredible are teamed with a pink bunny) wears thin, but play it with the commentary track by the two superheroes and it's another sharp comedy sketch. There are also NSA "files" on the other superheroes alluded to in the film with dossiers and curiously fun sound bits. "Vowellet" is the only footage about the well-known cast (there aren't even any obligatory shots of the cast recording their lines). Author/cast member Sarah Vowell (NPR's This American Life ) talks about her first foray into movie voice-overs--daughter Violet--and the unlikelihood of her being a superhero. The feature is unlike anything we've seen on a Disney or Pixar DVD extra, but who else would consider Abe Lincoln an action figure? --Doug Thomas Review: Got it ! English/Hindi soundtrack version review - Very thankful to Pixar/Buena Vista UK for including the HINDI dubb in the incredibles DVD. As a South Asian, it was delightfull to see the movie in my mother tongue. . The picture quality of the movie was pristine. The English soundtrack was nice 2. The voice talents in the Enlish version that really impressed me was EDNA MODES. The action packed sound effects was really good, which did deserve them 2 Oscars MACHINE WASHABLE, NOW THATS A NEW FEATURE. The new feature in this is movie is the loss of the DTS track, but dont worry, the DD 5.1 is impressive. The second feature is the Hindi dubb track i mentioned above featuring Bollywood actors like SHAH RUKH KHAN as Bob Parr aka My inredible aka hindi Mr. Lajawab n son Aryan Khan as Dash aka Hindi Tez ( meanin FAst). Javed Jafferi plays as Syndrome and is also the hindi script writer. His performance, along with Edna Modes was truly impressive in the hindi dubb. In contrast to the R1 vs R2, my personal choice would be the R2 due to the hindi dubb, otherwise if u want the other extras not available in the R2, get the R1 DVD instead. It doesnt make any difference this time whether u get this from UK or the US/CAN, like previously to other Pixar titles, which were better qualtiy wise in the R2 edits. Though the dvd extras were good, I did found something funny. There is more than 3GB space left in Disc 2. If they could send all the trailers on to disc 1 with boundin short, then we could have managed to put the FullScreen version in it. My younger sister enjoyed the movie but didnt like the black bars at all. You might think I m crazy going for FOOL SCREEN but its just for the kids who dont appreciate the black bars. The extras not added in the R2 version is the "Vowellet: An Essay by Sarah Vowell" and "Character Interviews", which I wanted to see. An INCREDIBLE DVD for the whole family. Review: One of Pixar's better films - For a company that puts out brilliant film after brilliant film, to say that this is one of the best is saying a lot. Superheroes are huge at the moment and the wonderfully told tale of a family of superheroes was enjoyable for everyone in the family. From my 4 year old nephew (the recipient of this present) to my 60 year old father, The Incredibles had something for all of us that kept us giggling and glued to the television. What says it all about this film was that it managed to keep my both of my nieces and my nephew still and watching which says a lot for three children who normally bounce around the house like bunnies who take hourly caffeine injections. On the other hand it also managed to keep my mother awake and watching which is a feat that is almost as impressive for a movie. Overall this is a fun movie that looks great on DVD and can keep the whole family thoroughly entertained for a couple of hours. What more could you want for a family film such as this?