The Incredibles is definitely one of the most revered movies of 2004, don't get me wrong. But there are some things about it that really caught my attention now watching it with older eyes.
The plot
For those of you that have not seen it, you really need to fix that. It is definitely a movie we can all agree is worth a watch. I won't go into too much detail here, but I'll give a quick recap of what the movie is about. The movie starts off in the ~1980s in a time where superheroes saved the day all the time. However, as time went on, the normal people began to grow tired of the destruction they made during their heroic actions. Consequently, it became illegal to be a superhero or use any powers at all. (Come to think of it, this is starting to sound like an X-Men conflict rip off). Flash forward to 2004. Mr. Incredible, with super-strength married Elastagirl and had a family of three kids: Violet, with invisibility and forcefield powers and a current high school student, Dash, with super speed and in elementary school, and a baby with unknown powers (at the time). Mr. Incredible now works in an insurance company and has obvious anger and depression issues from not being able to be a hero any more. He gets hired for some secret missions by an unknown company, and he gets to be a hero again. However, it is all a ploy to get him in a quarrel with his new nemesis, Syndrome. Long story short, his family needs to come save him, and they work together as a family to defeat the enemy. Simple, expected, heroic Disney movie, what could you have missed? I'll tell ya...
The Moral
I thought long and hard about what the moral of this movie might be. Here's what I came up with. The enemy, Syndrome, had an interesting backstory. He was originally Mr. Incredibles biggest fan when he was a kid (back in the 1980s). With his genius intellect, he was able to make awesome technology for being a hero. Although he did not have any superpowers, one might argue that his intellect was a power. He wanted nothing more than to be Mr. Incredible's sidekick. However, Mr. Incredible always pushed him away. Now, Syndrome has returned as an adult to seek revenge on Mr. Incredible for always shunning him. He creates a robot that learns from his fights and grows stronger with each fight, a lot like a saiyan from Dragon Ball Z. Syndrome kills hundreds of heroes in training his robot, so it is finally ready to battle Mr. Incredible. However, in the end, Mr. Incredible defeats the robot with his super strength.
Okay, so what does this have to do with the moral? Well, Syndrome studied his whole life, worked so hard to make this super robot. He basically did training montage from Rocky 4 for his whole life to be able to battle the superheroes without having powers of his own. In the end, The Incredibles defeated him with their natural talents and gifts. The moral: no matter how hard you work, you can never be better than the people with natural gifts.
To make matters worse, Syndrome's end goal was to have his robot attack the major city, and he would be the only one that could save the day. He just wanted to be a hero. But, if you aren't born a hero, you'll never be a hero.
The Corrupt Society
The society in which the movie takes place shuns superheroes. In a way, they did this because they were jealous of the abilities of the supers that the average person could never have. Consequently, the society as a whole worshiped mediocracy. There are a few quotes in the movie that hint at this fact. For one, Elastagirl, Mr. Incredible's wife, when talking to her son, Dash, tells him that everyone is special; a common things mothers tell their children. However, to this, Dash responds, "which is just another way of saying nobody is special." This shows the frustration that the supers have to deal with every day pretending to be average when they know they are not. In another scene, Mr. Incredible does not want to go to Dash's graduation from the 4th grade to the 5th grade, because he says its not worth celebrating. I don't know about you, but I didn't have a graduation after every year of school. However, it seems this society praises all the small accomplishments to make them feel special. I don't blame Mr. Incredible; finishing the 4th grade is definitely not worth a ceremony.
You would think by the end of the movie, after The Incredibles use their powers to save the day, they would be accepted back into society and this weird praising over being average would end. But you'd be wrong. One of the last scenes of the movie shows Dash at a track meet, where his parents are telling him to speed up and slow down during the race to make sure he doesn't win! He proudly takes his second place trophy as his parents tell him they couldn't be more proud of him for being average. The message here: do whatever it takes to fit in, even if you're different. Don't be yourself.
Don't get me wrong:
Its still an amazing movie, with a lot of amazing lines ("Where is my super suit?!") that will never be forgotten. However, most Disney movies leave their young audience with a message that makes them better people. This movie is simply an entertaining movie with no moral wrap-up. If you have seen the movie, I recommend you watch it again and look for these things. If you haven't seen it yet, definitely put it on your watch list.