The Incredibles/YMMV
- Alternate Aesop Interpretation: Behind the friendly family action film, some fans are suspicious of phrases like "celebrating mediocrity" and "everyone is special (so no one is)", as well as the general idea of superhumans being forced to hide their incredible talents for the sake of government regulation and the selfish, (mediocre) masses. Yes, they are indeed suggesting that The Incredibles is Atlas Shrugged.
- Applicability: Some have argued that the movie is an argument for Objectivism, with its theme of the characters being discouraged from living up to their full potential by society. Others counter that the message is "be true to yourself", and point out that if the movie were Objectivist, the Parrs wouldn't be using their powers for altruism. Not to mention that Syndrome the self-made engineering genius and millionaire capitalist is pretty much the sort of person Rand most admired. Word of God says that no higher philosophical meaning was intended.
- Complete Monster: Buddy Pine, better known as Syndrome, is a a superhero wannabe and a true Nobody to Nightmare. Early in the film, Buddy interrupts Mr. Incredible, or Bob Parr while fighting the supervillain Bomb Voyage in an attempt to become his sidekick. His careless actions nearly get himself killed and allow Bomb Voyage to escape, leading to Mr. Incredible rightfully turning him down and crushing Buddy's dreams. Buddy then murders retired superheroes by luring them to his island to use as test subjects against the Omnidroid. Once Bob finds out, Syndrome beats him down with his Omnidroid and has him tortured to interrogate him, spitefully launching a missile at a plane that he knows has his family on it when he believes that he sent for reinforcements. Showing callous indifference to Mirage once her life is under threat by Bob, Syndrome plans to release the Omnidroid on the populace once he's disposed of Bob, then painting himself as a hero by falsely defeating the Omnidroid. Once foiled, Syndrome kidnaps the infant Incredible Jack-Jack with the intent to corrupt him into becoming like him. Selfish, petty, and all-around murderous, Syndrome stood out as one of Pixar's darkest villains.
- It says something about how sick he is that his murders of several supers with the Omnidroid already put him over the Horizon, but it's the extra little things (detailed in Moral Event Horizon below) that really push him into Complete Monster territory.
- Crowning Music of Awesome: See here.
- Darker and Edgier: With gun violence, Electric Torture, suicide attempts, large-scale destruction, bad guys who Would Hurt a Child, and "good guys" who run from the police and lie to their own families, all in the same film, The Incredibles may very well be the darkest Pixar movie yet. Brad's history of working on The Simpsons really comes through here.
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"Really, really little kids should not see this movie. They should wait till they get older. We're getting some reactions from people who were disappointed that their four-year-old was a little freaked out by it. Well, I don't want to compromise the intensity in order to please a four-year-old." |
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- Draco in Leather Pants: Syndrome. Why, fangirls, why?
- Ensemble Darkhorse: Edna Mode. ("And guest.") Also Kari. Syndrome became one to the Pixar staff; he was originally only supposed to be a one-shot villain for the introduction, but they ended up loving his characterization so much that he was upgraded to Big Bad status.
- Family-Unfriendly Aesop: As seen in the page quote for the "main" section. Not that it isn't true, but this is a film made in Hollywood and aimed at kids. Unusual, to say the least.
- Well, it was written and directed by someone who's worked on The Simpsons. That alone was plenty of warning that Family-Unfriendly Aesops were to be expected.
- Fan Dumb: We all want to see a sequel happen, but the fact that Pixar will only make sequels if they have a good story has a curious tendency to slip people's minds.
- Foe Yay: Syndrome is beyond way obsessed with Mr. Incredible.
- Hilarious in Hindsight:
- Disney owns Marvel Comics now.
- Violet is worried that their parents' lives -- or worse, their parents' marriage -- were in trouble. Dash, incredulous, looks at her and snarks that the villains are out to dissolve their parents' marriage. Three years later, One More Day happens in Spider-Man.
- The teacher who calls Dash "a little rat" is played by the same actor who later played Linguini in Ratatouille.
- One of the final scenes features Mr. Incredible throwing a car at Syndrome's head.
- Late Arrival Spoiler: You know the plot twist at the end of the movie? When Syndrome kidnaps Jack-Jack? Yeah, it overlaps with the Jack-Jack attack short, and it seems everyone is perfectly willing to discuss it openly.
- Several people called the Kari phone calls and subsequent Jack-Jack and Syndrome scene a Bonus Materials deleted scene for the DVD on first viewing of the film. Lo and behold...
- Memetic Mutation: NO CAPES [sic].
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"WHERE'S MY SUPER SUIT?!" |
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- Moral Event Horizon: Syndrome doesn't know at first that Bob's family is on the jet he launches missiles at. But when it's revealed that there are people Bob cares about -- and that there are children on board -- he still refuses to call off the missiles, mocking Bob and laughing at his anguish. When an angry Bob then threatens to kill Mirage if Syndrome doesn't release him, Syndrome's response is "oh, what the heck?" When Bob's threat turns out to be empty, Syndrome again mocks him for being weak.
- Mr. Huph smiling and saying "Well I hope we don't cover him" when seeing a man getting beaten and mugged outside his window, then threatening to fire Bob if he ran out to help. Needless to say, his getting thrown through a wall and several cubicles was extremely satisfying.
- Non Sequitur Scene: The "no school like the old school" scene is this for anyone not aware of that they are Frank and Ollie of the Nine Old Men. Even after that, the cameo's still pretty out of nowhere.
- Sequelitis: Incredibles 2 is largely considered a "just okay" compared to the first.
- Uncanny Valley: Averted by the animators intentionally giving the characters cartoonish proportions.
- Also, the animation designs were a shout out to the Rankin-Bass "puppet-toons" of the 60s. Syndrome in particular looks more than a little like Heat Miser.
- What an Idiot!: Even with all the strange happenings with Jack-Jack, Kari hands him over to a complete stranger? Though she did get called out on it. "That baby was exploding! Have you ever seen an exploding baby, mister?"
- What Do You Mean It's for Kids?
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