The Incredibles

"The Incredibles" is a 2004 American computer-animated comedy superhero film written and directed by Brad Bird (I really need to pay this guy more attention) and was the sixth film produced by Pixar Animation Studios, it was only recently that a sequel has been confirmed, with Brad Bird reiterating his interest in returning as its writer and director.

The film focuses on a family of superheroes who are forced to hide their powers and live a quiet suburban life. Mr Incredible still yearns to help people and go back to the good old days, and so it is one day that a mystery figure contacts him, giving him that exact opportunity... Bird, who was Pixar's first outside director (So it's no surprise seeing how this was considerably one of Pixar's more unique films), developed the film as an extension of 1960s comic books and spy films from his childhood and personal family life.

Seeing that Brad Bird's own team (Particularly a core group of people that had worked on the "Iron Giant") originally worked mainly in 2D, upon being brought into this project, a lot of them had to make the shift to 3D, including Bird himself. While there were most definitely issues faced as they tried getting themselves adjusted to such a different type of animation, there were of course a lot of positives too... which I will save for the other post on the limitations of 3D modelling and animating.

While we know that the designs and art style used in most of Pixar's films are already pretty cartoony and exaggerated (Because what is the point of making them realistic in the first place when we WANT to watch an animated film? I suppose the most realistic looking designs I have seen from them are the human characters in the "Toy Story" series, the later ones that is), "The Incredibles" definitely took it a step further.

The art style for this film was heavily inspired by the retro style that was used in a lot of advertising at the start of the 1950s, this style that was often called Eames-era after the Eames brothers, it also seem to relate to Euro Saarinen and the Mobilist Alexander Calder, it was very "space age" (Think "The Jetsons") with modern boomerang and globular forms, and it is now considered retro hip. It is just so interesting to see how it all translates into 3D, considering how flat and vectorised the graphic style actually was, by successfully being able to give it that extra dimension while still remaining pretty faithful to the original art style.

Geometric shapes are once again taken into consideration when designing characters from the inside out. When looking at it from a psychological perspective, it is interesting how various characters types are associated with certain types of shapes (Sharp and angular features are most of the time associated with villains, or antagonistic characters while softer and rounder looking characters are normally friendlier), as shown below.

While it was a superhero film, the story didn't necessarily focus on how superheroes were treated as the outcasts of society (One of the most focused upon themes in the superhero genre), but on the mediocrity they find themselves getting involved in with the supposedly helpless civilians they dedicate their lives to help and protect, which was probably why Syndrome was regarded as such an interesting and overall well received villain (He's still ugly as frag though...).

I hate repeating myself (Since I probably said this in all my other research posts... though that's my fault for only choosing to write about good ones), but "The Incredibles" is another fantastic example that features a very diverse cast of characters, families can be designed in a way where the designs of the children can be copied and pasted off the designs of the parents themselves, but here "The Incredibles" were able to make each one of them their own unique individual, while still showing that they are related to one another. I could go on with just how wonderfully designed the female characters are, but I wouldn't want to get too creepy about it, especially when it comes to Elastigirl, whom has drawn in her own crowd of fanboys (And fangirls) for her curves alone.

It was also interesting to see how Mr Incredible and Elastigirl gradually changed over the years once they got married, started raising kids and a lived a seemingly more peaceful (If not dull) life, we could see that they were slowly getting out of shape (Especially in Mr Incredible's case), without it being too sudden or obvious.

Aside from the family, we are of course blessed with characters like Edna Mode, whose design and character are both incredibly funny, eye catching, unique... strangely relatable when it comes to us artsy types, and overall incredibly memorable (Even the concept art for her makes me nearly double over in laughter). Edna Mode was clearly just one of those characters that was incredibly fun to design, seeing that the designers could just let lose without the fear of having to make her attractive (At least she's huggable).

Sadly, there wasn't an image that included Mirage along with the other characters, but hey, she deserves just as much love. She was definitely designed to be one of the show's more attractive characters, and she really is, with her exaggerated slimness that makes her look so sleek and elegant (Which made her vaguely resemble a femme fatale, even though she actually wasn't written as one). And rest in peace, Elizabeth Pena, your sultry voice suited the character perfectly.

Clearly a lot of thought was put into the designs of the characters in "The Incredibles" during its development, from the retro art style it was based on, down to the insane exaggeration of their features and body shapes to distinguish what personality traits each of them had and what role they truly played. 

And so, I believe I have grown to appreciate this film more as compared to when I had first watched it as a kid, and I look forward to the sequel once it is released.