They're Incredible!

Lately, I just don't want to turn on the news anymore. I hate getting news from Iraq, and in the last couple of weeks there have been some local sad stories about messed-up families that have left me depressed.

So when I asked a committee of twenty-somethings what movie I should see Thanksgiving weekend, I was glad they suggested something light: they said I should see The Incredibles. Mind you, these are the same sages who thought I'd like Memento (shudder) but usually they read my taste pretty well, and I'll save you the suspense: Incredibles is a big ol' thumbs up. Pixar has done it again.

Take the Jetsons, throw in some Superheroes, a liberated stay-at-home mom (think about it, that's actually a pretty 21st century concept at the movies), some very entertaining machinery, and a bad guy who for sheer petty creepy badness tops most of the over-the-top baddies on screen this year, and shake, don't stir (yes, there's a whiff of James Bond in there too). That's The Incredibles, a frothy broth of pop culture with enough grown-up fun for the grownups, but without a lot of wink-wink-nudge-nudge humor that makes the parent of an eight year old wonder if they really want to answer the question the joke will produce. (You parents out there, you know what I mean.)

If you hate superheroes, cartoons, happy endings, and fun, by all means, give this movie a miss. But otherwise, cheer yourself up this holiday season by trading Christmas at the mall for the Incredibles in the cineplex.