Pretty incredible
THE INCREDIBLES (Cert. U)
Mr. Incredible saves a suicidal man as he jumps from a high-rise building. But the man doesn't want to be rescued and successfully sues Mr. Incredible, causing the forced retirement of superheroes everywhere.
Fast forward a few years and Mr. Incredible and his wife Elastigirl (now calling themselves Bob and Helen) are trying to raise a normal suburban family. But Bob can't forget his glory years and is lured out of superhero retirement by a mysterious offer.
The first half of this movie is surprisingly grounded in reality, documenting the boredom of the daily grind of work and the mundanity of everyday family life. How we yearn for something new with the grass often looking greener on the other side. So Bob squeezes into his Mr. Incredible costume and is lured into covert superhero work. Surprise, surprise, the grass isn't so green on the other side, and many exciting set-pieces ensue, with the second half of the film looking truly incredible and keeping you on the edge of your seat or chuckling along with the gags... But there's an unusually human side to The Incredibles, which at times slows the pace of the film more than you might like. Yet seeing the pain and anguish that Bob's lies cause to his family is worth going through. His deception isn't glossed over and we get to see the effect it has on his family, which can only be a good thing at a time when moral issues are increasingly fudged in big movies. But, don't worry, it's definitely not a dour film and you will be cheering along with the Incredibles as their fight against evil draws to a satisfying climax.