coloradokatchoo Reviews

The Incredibles (2004)

An Amazing Message Over Looked

[9/10 · 16 December 2004]

I am tired of reading reviews about how an animated film is too violent for children, deals with mature issues like segregation or death, or is simply "too grown up" for small children. Since when did we decide to water down the truth for children, and when exactly are they old enough for certain issues, and why is it animation means it's suppose to be for children. Animation has allowed movie makers to break molds, has allowed them to do things that could not be done with regular actors or locations. We use CGI to accomplish effects we otherwise couldn't do, why is the art of illustration not considered on the same level as the art of computer graphics? I don't feel that just because something is made for children it should be dumbed down and I don't believe that an adult is too superior to watching something that is animated. Stories geared toward children such as Aesop's Fables or the fairy tales of the brothers Grimm, and Hans Christian Anderson, were told to teach life lessons; don't cry wolf, be happy with what you have and don't trust strangers. These are lessons, and stories, that were not watered down, that showed to what evil depths greed, slothfulness and envy, just to name a few, could take hold of in a person.

The Incredibles does not shy away from being real; it has an amazing message for both adults and children. The message I saw over and over again in the movie but could not find in a single review was how society was oppressing people to be no better than someone else. We seem to be headed towards embracing mediocrity, Harrison Bergeron, the short story by Kurt Vonnegut that was later turned into a film with Sean Astin, is the perfect example of someone smart being held back because it would hurt the dumb kids feelings to know there was someone better than them. The Incredible's attacks this head on, in one scene the villain Syndrome (voiced by Jason Lee), who has no real super powers but invents rocket shoes and remote controlled robots, tells Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) that he plans on killing all the truly empowered people and, using his inventions, become the only super hero until he's had his fun, at which time he will sell his inventions allowing everyone to become special "which of course means no one will be".

Mr. Incredible and his wife, Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), have three children. Daughter Violet (Sarah Vowell) can make herself invisible but only uses it to hide from a boy she likes, she's been broken down in spirit to feel like there is something horribly wrong with her and that she should be ashamed for being empowered with this amazing gift, to her it is a curse. Violet's younger brother Dash (Spencer Fox) on the other hand is angry with not being allowed to play in sports, because of his super speed, even though he promises not to show off. Their character development is some of the most in depth I've seen for "children" in a film, in part because it's real, they face death and failure and they rise above their shame and anger to become real heroes.

This movie is funny, it was honest, and it was one of the best films of the year. There is real development, there are real issues and real messages and at the end of the film I wanted to find the super hero in myself. I don't see why we should deny younger people, our children, the right to see something that is so beautiful just because of its honesty.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)

You Can't Always Go Back

[3 November 2004]

While my peers were racing to the movies to see such films as Pretty in Pink and Say Anything I couldn't wait to visit my grandparents' farm in southeastern Colorado. In my grandmother's antique cabinet in their 'playroom' were literally hundreds of tapes; movies staring the Three Stooges, the Marx Brothers, Abbott and Costello, and dozens of cliffhangers such as Mystery Squadron and The Adventures of Red Ryder . My love of serials is one of the few things I remember sharing with my father.

So when I was sitting in the theater and the first preview for Shy Captain and the World of Tomorrow came on I was transported back to the safety of my grandparents' home and the love I felt while watching old cliffhangers with my dad.

I was instantly in love with the movie, the beautiful quality of every frame that made the movie appear to be one beautifully illustrated comic book and, of course, the similarity to the campy sci-fi movies of the 1930's. I went home and immediately looked the movie up on the internet.

I was stunned to find out that this was the first film Kerry Conran had directed or written, and that Sky Captain was originally a six minute reel that producer Jon Avnet saw and wanted to turn into a feature length film. The movie itself was first storyboard with crude animation so that the actors would understand what was happening in their scenes since the entire film was shot in front of blue screen. Because there were no actual locations filming only took 26 days instead of an estimated 6 months.

When the movie opened on the 17th of September I was there for one the first showings. The theater was all but empty, only about twelve other people were there, all men, all in their thirties and all alone. I was truly shocked at the small turn out, what about this film had turned off so many movie goers?

The movie began and I felt like a little kid falling in love with movies for the first time all over again. The shuttle references to classic sci-fi movies of the 1920's, 30's and 40's littered the screen. References to King Kong, Forbidden Planet, and the comic book Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. were everywhere you looked. At one point Polly Perkins the feisty reporter played by Gwyneth Paltrow is talking to her editor on the phone saying, 'They're reached Sixth Ave… Fifth Ave…. they're a hundred yards away', a direct quote from Orson Welle's radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds. Even Star Wars was referenced when Joe 'Sky Captain' Sullivan played by Jude Law is instructed to land on the air carrier's pad 327, the same number the Millennium Falcon lands on in Cloud City. By far the greatest reference to past greatness is the appearance Sir Laurence Olivier, who died in 1989, as the villain Dr. Totenkopf, using CGI and archival footage Conran brings back to life one of our greatest actors.

I was in movie geek heaven, for about the first hour, and then my attention started to wonder. In a society of attention deficit the constant motion and flying from one scene to another and the quick, panicked, pace of this movie should have fit in, however I felt teased, as if I was only watching part of a movie, the part that would never have a conclusion. We receive through the dialogue what little character development the movie has to offer, which isn't much, and in the end no one grows, or changes, or even becomes deeper than a character in a commercial.

Looking back at the old serials I realize that the characters remained the same generic, two dimensional characters they were at the beginning, but the lack of development goes unnoticed in an action film less than twenty minutes long. Today the only programs we watch that are less than twenty minutes are situational comedies that parade a host of cardboard characters through redundant stories lines. A two hour long episode is too much, perhaps Kerry Conran should have stuck more closely to the serial format and released the movie in smaller segments, maybe then I would have remained entertained and in love with his homage to old cinema. We are a country that seems to forever be moving forward with little room to go back and even though we sometimes get nostalgic for a simpler film, or movie hero, it's not always possible to pull off with today's intellectual needs.