Starring (the voices of): Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Jason Lee, Samuel L Jackson

Released:26^th November 2004

Cert: U

Pixar’s latest outing is set in a comic book world where super heroes (and villains) are rife and an accepted part of everyday life.

Mr Incredible (Nelson) is one of those heroes but the good times come crashing down when he successfully saves a suicide attempt and gets sued. Things go from bad to worse and eventually all superpowers are outlawed and heroes are forced to try to live a ‘normal’ life.

Many years later, ‘Bob’ Incredible is still yearning for the golden age; his wife, Elasti-Girl (Hunter), is worried about their marriage and their children who, in turn, are having enough trouble with normal kid stuff without needing the social embarrassment of super-speed and invisibility.

Mr Incredible is then given a secret super-mission which turns his life around. Unfortunately, at the point that his life comes into jeopardy and new super villain, Syndrome (Lee) threatens the safety of the World, it also gets his family involved too and they have to overcome their fears and bond to become the ultimate super team.

The animation is brilliant, of course, as is to be expected and they have excelled in the human department (even though they aren’t realistic humans) with textures, movement and expressions.

Their powers are excellently depicted the most stylish being the son’s super speed and Mrs Incredible’s elasticity - the best part being the trials and tribulations of Elasti-Girl and a sequence of locking security doors.

The comedy mainly comes from their interaction as a family; at first the normal domestic crises but taken to another level (son and daughter squabble whilst mum gets into literal knots trying to keep them apart); and then later acting as a bone fide super-team but still suffering from the handicap of familiar conflicts.

I would go out on a limb here and say that I think this is too old for the very little ones; whereas Toy Story and Nemo had immediate child appeal I think superpowers are aimed at older children and us parents who were into Marvel and DC. The other element is the family conflicts; are children likely to spot the comedy in parental bickering and teenage angst? It’s quite a relatively heavy plot too; why the heroes have to hide, why the children dislike their powers, where Syndrome comes from and why he’s doing what he is. There are even deaths for goodness’ sake! Disney goes dark.

Too much exposition allows the kids to get distracted so leave them at home and catch it during an evening showing.