DVD Release Date: March 15, 2005

Cast: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson, Jason Lee, John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn, Sarah Vowell, Brad Bird

click here to buy this DVD from Amazon

By Ken Shallcross

On March 15th everyone will have the chance to own one of the most fun Pixar films to date, as two-time Academy Award®-winner The Incredibles hits shelves in a Two-Disc Collector’s Edition. Written and directed by Brad Bird (The Iron Giant), the film is 100% pure family fun and an adventure for all ages. Packed with an incredible amount of exclusive bonus features, this DVD is a must buy for families and animation lovers alike.

For those that have not yet seen the film or have forgotten the story, here’s a recap: Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) is a superhero; or at least he used to be, until a surge of lawsuits against superheroes (submitted by the people they've saved, no less) forced the government to hide them in witness protection programs so they could lead “normal” lives as every-day working class heroes. Now 15 years later and known as Bob Parr, Mr. Incredible lives with his wife Helen (Holly Hunter), formerly known as Elastigirl, and their three children Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack. Bob is an insurance claims specialist, and like the rest of us normal folk, he's fed up with his pushy boss and his immoral profession. So naturally, when he is offered the chance to play the role of hero again, he jumps at the opportunity. Unfortunately, his mysterious new boss turns out to be an old nemesis and the new job a trap. It’s going to take a super family effort to rescue both Mr. Incredible and the world from total destruction…

This latest release from the Pixar studios recently took the Academy Award® home for both Best Achievement in Sound Editing and Best Animated Feature Film of the Year; this is definitely the studio’s greatest effort yet. The film is a family adventure and comes across as a blender concoction of Spy Kids, Indiana Jones, James Bond and X-Men. The digital animation and 3-D worlds are superb, the story is entertaining, the characters are unique and lovable, the jokes are funny and the adventures are captivating. Aside from the “incredible” Parrs, the film has two other noteworthy characters: Samuel L. Jackson’s “Frozone” and Jason Lee’s villainous “Syndrome.” Overall, the movie comes as a high recommendation for families… or just anyone who likes a good movie.

The Incredibles is presented in its original theatrical Widescreen presentation (2.39:1), and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. The video has been transferred from the original digital source and it looks fantastic… er, uh… incredible. Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround EX sound tracks are included in English, French and Spanish and really bring this film’s award-winning sound to life! Subtitles in the same three languages are also included for the hearing impaired. Packaging for the Two-Disc Collector’s Edition is pretty standard: a regular clamshell case holds two DVDs and inserts, and is protected by a cardboard slipcase. As with all Disney releases, a nice DVD Guide is included that gives a short summary of the more significant extras, as well as disc details. There is also an advertorial insert that includes a $3 coupon for the new Bambi Special Platinum Edition DVD. As I said before, The Incredibles is pure family fun and a wonderful adventure for all ages; toss in the DVD Guide, a high-quality digital video transfer and superbly sounding Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround EX, and this DVD gets an A for film content and presentation.

As with all Disney releases, The Incredibles Two-Disc Collector’s Edition comes with a multitude of in-depth and entertaining extras. There is a lot here and much of the material is worthy of multiple viewings. Following the format of other Disney two-discers, the first disc contains the film and commentaries, saving disc two for all the bonus features. Included on both discs are 1-minute introductions by writer/director Brad Bird; disc one also contains a THX video and audio optimizer and a bunch of sneak peeks. Here is a quick look at all the main bonus features that are included in the set:

• Audio Commentaries – There are two feature-length audio commentaries included on the DVD. The first one is recorded by Brad Bird and producer John Walker; it’s is pretty standard as far as commentaries-by-the-mastermind-of-a-film go. The second one, however, I think is more fun to listen to, due in part to the large number of participants. In total, 13 of the key Pixar animators that worked on the film, including the “Three Caballeros” Tony Fucile, Steven Hunter and Alan Barillaro, sat in on this commentary. A lot of good info is delivered and I hadn’t heard a commentary with this many people before; it’s quite interesting and everyone has something to contribute.
• Jack-Jack Attack – This hilarious 4½-minute short was created just for the DVD and takes a look at what really happened while Kari was babysitting Jack-Jack, while the rest of the family was saving Mr. Incredible.
• Deleted Scenes – There are six deleted scenes, including an alternate opening for the film. The scenes are introduced and explained by Bird and story supervisor Mark Andrews, which really adds depth to them. You can view them back-to-back with a ‘play all’ function; total time is about 35 minutes.
• Making of The Incredibles – This half-hour behind-the-scenes look at the creation of The Incredibles follows Bird from his first day at Pixar up through the completion of the movie. You’ll meet many people that worked on the film; some were inspired and some went a bit crazy, but all helped to take computer animation further than it had ever been before.
• More Making Of The Incredibles – This excellent ‘part 2’ behind-the-scenes really takes viewers in deep by covering aspects of story writing, character and set design, animation, sound, music, and more. All total, this feature runs just a bit over 40 minutes.
• Incredi-blunders – This brief extra is a collection of “bloopers;” it runs less than 2 minutes.
• Vowellet: An Essay By Sarah Vowell – This 9-minute featurette introduces viewers to the real-life person behind the super, Violet Parr. Sarah is a history buff and quite entertaining.
• Art Gallery – Over 100 stills cover different phases of story, character design, set design, color scripts, lighting and collages.
• Publicity – This section runs 13 minutes and includes character interviews and assorted trailers.
• Mr. Incredible And Pals – This 4-minute short is a never-before-seen “lost” cartoon featuring Mr. Incredible, Frozone and their rabbit sidekick, Mr. Skipperdoo, as they battle the evil Lady Lightbug. A second option allows you to view with hilarious commentary by the actual Mr. Incredible and Frozone, as they watch this cartoon for the first time.
• NSA Files – You can spend a lot of time in this well-put-together section as you are given the chance to check out the official National Supers Agency files on all the other supers. There are voice files and team rosters as well.
• Boundin’ – This is the Academy Award®-Nominated short that played in theaters as an opening for The Incredibles. The 4½-minute cartoon tells the story of a dancing lamb and a wise old jackalope. It was written, directed and sung by Pixar’s Bud Luckey. Audio commentary by Bud is also available.
• Meet Bud Luckey – This nice 4-minute featurette introduces viewers to one of Pixar’s legendary animators, who not only wrote, directed and voiced Boundin’, but also was the man responsible for bringing us Woody in Toy Story.
• Easter Eggs – There are a lot of hilarious Easter Eggs hidden on disc two. I won’t tell you where or what they are, but here’s a hint: Patience is a virtue in the menu screens.

The skinny: The Incredibles is a fun family adventure that is suitable for kids of all ages. Pixar has done it again, and turned out a classic story that will entertain for many generations to come. Jam packed with quality extras, The Incredibles Two-Disc Collector’s Edition is a worthy purchase for just about anyone, including fans, families and animation lovers. A definite solid A all around.

DVD Film/Edition Presentation Score: A
DVD Special Features Score: A
DVD Overall Score: A

Click here for the "Incredibles" DVD page