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My friend Alyssa is okay with the recently announced Monsters, Inc. sequel, but would rather see Pixar give the sequel treatment to The Incredibles:
The Incredibles also is a movie about a standard-looking metropolis that’s secretly full of extraordinary people. But the questions The Incredibles raise about how talented people fit into and alter society are wider-ranging (as well as questions of aging, romance, and Anna Wintour Parody), more deeply-explored, and I think ultimately more interesting than the way Monsters, Inc. explores how children are becoming more jaded at younger ages. And the commentary on the superhero genre was simultaneously witty and useful. I want to spend more time in that city, and on those issues.
I agree with Alyssa’s take on why we need more Incredibles (and Lord knows I’d like to see more Frozone), but I don’t think Pixar should use a feature-length film to return to the universe of The Incredibles. Given the subject matter — superheroes — the large cast of characters and the ready made plot lines, I think it would be far more interesting to see The Incredibles return as a half-hour television series. With the Parr family officially in the superhero business, the question of “what makes a hero” isn’t just relevant to Bob Parr, it’s important to the whole family. A television series just seems like a much better way of exploring that from the perspective of each family member. And that’s to say nothing of the fact that with television, there’s much more time delve further into the awesome mythology of The Incredibles universe.
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I generally agree with that post. However, one thing that really bugged me about the Incredibles was how, at the end, the boy (Flash or whatever his name was) starts competing in sports and wins a race by going slow and then speeding up at the finish line to win. He and his parents seem happy at this turn of events. But: how could this (a) be “sporting” in any sense of the term, since he’s guaranteed to win and (b) at all fun or fulfilling to him as a child?
That part always really, really bugged me.
I was more bugged by what I saw, perhaps unfairly, as the movies anti-gadgeteer stance.
“If everyone is special, no one is” isn’t actually true if you allow for specialization. The main baddy was certainly a villain, but not because he tried to give everyone superpowers. That part of his plan was awesome.
However, I think it’s entirely possible to address these points in subsequent Incredibles work. The writing and characterization is good and expanding the range of quality characters would allow for more people to sympathize with even if they aren’t the creator’s favorites, that’s the great thing about good art. Having a TV series would probably be even better for that purpose.
Jamelle: I have very, very good news for you. Namely, that Brian Michael Bendis’s Powers comic series is being turned into a pilot for FX. If you’re not familiar with the property, go hit up Amazon. It addresses the questions that you and Alyssa flag as interesting, within a context similar to the one set up by The Incredibles, but through a noir/police procedural lens.
dag and greg point to some of the problems with The Incredibles. I really like the movie, but there’s no denying that its politics and moral are a mess of Randian nonsense. Perhaps that’s excusable in a superheroic context, but it’s a lousy thing to present to kids as a life lesson.