The Incredibles

Brad Bird, the man behind sentimental flop The Iron Giant, was a risky choice to helm the next big Pixar production. After a string of successes (A Bug's Life, Toy Story and the money-printingly meteoric Finding Nemo) the pressure was on to come up with something that would keep the kiddies coming.

The Incredibles is Bird's dream project, a pet he has nursed through construction and rewrites since he was a teenager. It tells the story of a family of supers, who are forced to use their powers in order to save themselves from the relatively un-super, but unfortunately homicidal, Buddy Pine, aka Syndrome (voiced by Jason Lee).

Mr Incredible's (Craig T. Nelson) post-super mundane existence, as an insurance salesman, isn't just a character study; it's an entire subplot. Much screen time is spent watching his growing irritation and anger towards his boss, Gilbert Huph (Wallace Shawn - Rex the Dinosaur, from Toy Story), which explodes in a career-ending punch.

The adult nature of the story, such as the nervous conversation Mr Incredible has with Huph's lawyer, contributes to the film's "dark" labelling. More responsible is the actual loss of human life, which will have you blinking at the screen in dazed bewilderment. For the adults, these more mature moments will be much appreciated and for the target audience it will add to the tremendous displays of action.

The characters are well fleshed out, enhancing the impact their emotions have on us. Samuel L Jackson, voicing Frozone, is a worthy family friend, who doesn't outstay his welcome and serves his strictly comic purpose well. Faultless animation and stupefying action sequences aside, it is the way this simple story has been told that makes The Incredibles so very special.

Witnessing Mr Incredible in his cramped office and struggling out of his car induces a similar feeling of joy that Toy Story did. The originality of the film and the risks it has taken make this an admirable and very loveable family treat.

The only thing that seems to be holding it back is the suffocating genre in which it resides, but this removes very little from what is truly an incredible film.