Genre: animation

The Incredibles

Written and directed by Brad Bird

Starring the voices of Craig T.

Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson, Wallace Shawn

and Jason Lee

Classification: PG

Rating: ***

It's a bird, it's a plane, no wait -- it's another fun-for-the-whole-family animated feature! From the makers of Finding Nemo and Toy Story, it's poised to gross box-office bazillions this Christmas season and later in DVD sales, not to mention various other commercial spinoffs, including toys, breakfast cereal and theme-park rides! It's supermovie!

Ah, yes -- you can sneer, but you can't hide from the power of The Incredibles. Not only is this a rollicking cartoon joy ride for all the little Olivias and Spencers in your life -- it's a solid film in its own right. The smarter script and stronger range of performances than most high-budget blockbusters clogging theatres these days make you wonder why the live-action feature isn't already obsolete. What studio would want to deal with a petulant star when they could cast Elastigirl (voiced by Holly Hunter), a shape-shifting superheroine who'll never need Botox, or the self-deprecating, Herculean Mr. Incredible?

Not that all animated superheroes are perfect. Indeed, this is the charm of The Incredibles, a movie about a cosmically gifted family living in a world in which superheroes have become a persecuted minority. Thankful for all their good works in the past, the government takes pity on the Incredibles and protects them as part of the "superhero relocation program." Our extraordinary family is forced into an ordinary existence. Mr. Incredible moves his wife and kids to the burbs and gets a dead-end job as an insurance broker.

Stifled by the banality of family life, the Incredibles are cracking up in the normal bourgeois manner. Their speed-demon son, Dash, whines to be allowed to try out for the track team while Violet, the awkward adolescent, spends most of her time honing her ability to disappear. Meanwhile, Mom uses her hyperextending limbs for housework while Dad shuts himself off in his study after dinner to relive his glory days of putting out fires and heading off train crashes.

When Mr. Incredible is tempted out of retirement for one last mission, he deceives his wife and sets out to save the world once and for all. Things go awry when the dastardly villain turns out to be a crazed former fan (Jason Lee), a bad guy so disillusioned with his own mediocrity, he is determined to exterminate all superheroes.

As the plot unravels in familiar comic-book fashion, the Incredibles are drawn out of their ho-hum lives into the spectacular realm where they belong. The result is a story that weighs the benefits of normalcy and excellence. In a culture of relativism and celebrity worship, the Incredibles' dilemma is a universal one: Is it possible to live a normal life while also being super? And if everyone is ultimately super, what does it mean to be normal?

Not that Olivia and Spencer will care. They'll be too busy looking forward to the super breakfast cereal. But that's just normal.