I AM THE LAW! (Geek Week 2004, Part 1 of 4): "Dash Like!"

Hi friends, I’m running out of time for a legit post of normal to abnormal ramblings, so instead, you’re going to get your first in what might just become a Four-Part I AM THE LAW! Geek Week spectacular.

Up first: The INCREDIBLES

Wow, this year in movies has been positively gangbusters. Just this calendar year, I’ve seen the following really great to exemplary films in the theatre:
Spider-Man 2, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Big Fish, Garden State, Troy, Van Helsing, The Villiage, Dodgeball, and Shrek 2. Not to mention plenty of highly regarded films I’ve not seen, like the third installment of Harry Potter, The Passion of the Christ, Kill Bill Vol. 2, Hero, The Grudge, and Mean Girls. And also some theatrical releases I’ve already caught on DVD or OnDemand, like Miracle and Hellboy. Truly an amazing year (not to mention what’s still yet to come, like, Alexander and Ocean’s Twelve).

Now, I certainly realize that I’m probably the only person I know who could possibly find a way to like every single movie on that list. Truly, films like Van Helsing, Troy, and Hellboy all had their faults, but they were all entertaining in their own way. In fact, in a summer that lacked a true guilty-pleasure type Bruckheimeresque bullets and badassedness flick, Van Helsing quenched that thirst with some good ol’ fashioned cheesy fun. Troy, likewise, effectively told one of my favourite stories, without taking too many liberties with the source material, and Eric Bana gave one of my favourite performances of the year.

So why this trek down memory lane? I mean, I already OWN Big Fish, and both Spidey and Eternal Sunshine will be mine soon. I mean, one of my first big posts around these parts was my utter drooling all over Spidey deux, right? How could anything deserve this kind of setup? Well, face front, true believers, becaue The Incredibles DOES.

While Eternal Sunshine got me in my heart, Big Fish in my tear ducts, Shrek 2 my funny-bone, and Spidey just gave me an overwhelming feeling of excitement, awe, and pride in a comic book movie that just lit the world on fire, no movie this year has captured my undivided attention and, most importantly, my imagination, like The Incredibles. Not only is this the best computer-animated movie of all time, not only is one of the top five comic book movies of all time (with, in no particular order, Spidey 2, X2, Superman, and I can’t think of a fourth right now), but it’s just hands down one of the best movies I’ve ever seen.

Top to bottom, there’s nothing to not love. First, the animation blows anything you’ve ever seen totally away. From the entirely magical waterfall, lavafall, and action sequences to the masterful way in which emotion is created in each and every one of the characters, this movie just doesn’t feel animated. The entire world becomes real, almost tangible. The “camera angles” are action packed, melodramatic, and captivating, everything a comic book brought to life should be. While Dash is running across water and dodging bullets I found myself on the edge of my seat. I found that I wanted to be Dash. In essence, this movie made me feel like I was about 8 years old, had no comic book experience at all, and just found out what a superhero was. Coming from me, that’s really saying something. I mean, just the fact that I’ve seen every one of these superpowers before should mean something, right? It should make it less magical for me, I should be stuck in the fact that every character is a knock-off of some better known hero, but I’m not. Reed Richards, the Elongated Man, and Plastic Man have all had Elastigirl’s power for more than 40 years, and yet they found innovative, fun ways to use her stretchability. Violet’s invisibility and force fields are SO Sue Storm, yet, in a moment I won’t ruin for you, when she and Dash first team up, I saw the coolest use of these powers ever. And Dash. Man…I want to be Dash! As he’s running and punching and fighting and learning what he can really do, as he finally gets his chance to NOT HOLD BACK, he just loves it all to hell, chuckling at himself in a cocky way that’s not arrogant, it’s just fun.

I can’t say enough about the voice talent in this movie, either. I’m a Craig T. Nelson mark going all the way back to “Coach” and he certainly brings the goods to the role that probably had the most depth, most difficulty. Though I by no means have ever liked Holly Hunter in ANYTHING in my entire life, I thought Elastigirl was the coolest mom of all time. Dash and Violet, two rookies, were amazing, and their characters were the easiest to relate to, in no small part due to the job their actors did. Samuel L. was Samuel L, which is always good enough for me. But far and away the BEST performance of all was the diabolical insanity of Jason Lee as Syndrome. Though a PG rating kept him from proclaiming that he is still in fact a F*CKING DEMON! He brought so much humour and anger and cockiness to his role in the very little screen time he was given, that you can’t really say enough about how fantastic of a job he did.

Character, story, action, WIT, this movie had it all! But you don’t have to take my word for it. I saw it with both Lara and Drew, two decidedly NON-GEEKS, and they both really enjoyed this. The Incredibles is the best all-ages movie of the year. I give it my highest possible recommendation to go see, you will NOT regret the decision. If you want a night of just high-octane fun with some smart laughs and a little bit of true-to-life family drama, this is your movie.

My only complaint? They should have gone the distance and named Mirage “Miss Tessbocker” just for shits and giggles. Otherwise, I’ve got nuthin’. Now go see the damn film!

FINAL VERDICT: One the year’s three best, with Spider-Man 2 and Eternal Sunshine, this is NOT to be missed.

-apk