Latest / Houselights: A Film Director Podcast / The Incredibles (2004) - Brad Bird | Houselights #139

Transcript

The Incredibles (2004) - Brad Bird | Houselights #139 · Houselights: A Film Director Podcast

0:03
Welcome to the nerd Party. Hello everybody at home, and welcome to Houselights,
0:23
specifically the Bird House, the House of Bird Brad Bird, and we
0:27
are talking about The Incredibles, his first CGI motion picture that came out in
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two thousand and four. This is a Pixar film. This was his first
0:36
film with Pixar and also the first Pixar film and maybe only to be rated
0:42
PG. I can't remember if it's the only one, but it was definitely
0:45
the first one, and this one is I think a big reason why.
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Brad Bird's even in the conversation about why we're doing this chunk this House of
0:55
Bird, like going through his directorial works, and this movie made such a
0:59
huge spla when it came out. I mean, everybody's talking about it.
1:03
Everybody has a favorite character there. I remember there was conversations where it's just
1:07
like, oh man, this is rat at PG. That's a big deal,
1:08
And then you watch it You're like, I totally get why, and
1:12
this is this is going to be an interesting conversation for many reasons, one
1:17
of them being John Mills Kessel Junkie is not present. He had other obligations.
1:23
He has this thing called a family he had to tend to, so
1:27
it is just going to be you and me doctor sci Fi himself Darren Moser,
1:32
who was not present last week. That's right, John got a mysterious
1:36
envelope under the door and disappeared for an unknown reason. We'll have to ask
1:41
him about that when he returns next week, now, Darren, last week
1:48
we did a House of Anderson episode where we did a pickup from a previous
1:53
director that you actually weren't involved with, which was funny because I was off
1:57
grid last week, so I didn't even know you guys are for recording.
2:00
All of a sudden, my podcatcher is like, hey, new House Lights
2:04
episode. I'm like, oh, it's good to know I matter, guys,
2:07
Thank thank you so so much. No, we were in constant contact.
2:09
But that's a great idea to pick up because a lot of those early
2:13
directors that you guys covered their entire works have now produced more, like James
2:17
Cameron has put out another movie. I mean, granted, that's not the
2:21
best example of a director of producing more work, isn't It takes so long
2:25
between films, But so okay, yeah, yeah, we got to kill
2:29
them. Cameron and we we talked with the listeners, and we kind of
2:35
teased that we were going to give you another week of vacation from the Houselights
2:40
because Anderson just came up with Asteroid City, and John and I were going
2:45
to try to see that and then podcast about it and then do Incredibles next
2:47
week. But you know, the stars did not align. We weren't able
2:52
to see Asteroid City. And you know, I just missed you so much
2:55
that I wanted to talk about Incredible. I would love to talk about Asteroids
3:00
City. So I think we could still pick that up at some point.
3:02
I think the three of us could talk about it. I mean it's I
3:07
I don't dislike Wes Anderson, but Asteroid City does look interesting to me specifically,
3:14
you like long time listeners know that's that's definitely his wheelhouse. A West
3:19
Darren sci fi take, like what could that be? Where were you,
3:23
Darren? Where where were you when this movie came out? Oh? I
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thought you were talking about my vacation. I'm like, it's a little personal,
3:30
Trian. I didn't plan on sharing that, but no, two thousand
3:34
and four, did you see this in theater? What we were wearing?
3:36
What were you thinking? What's going on? Oh? Yeah, I mean
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this is you know, Pixar is on its meteoric rise where you're just cranking
3:43
out hit after hit. There's still i think, doing only one a year
3:46
at this point. Um. But yeah, so o four, I'm in
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I'm in college, you know, we're I'm a film student, so of
3:54
course I'm gonna go see this movie in the theaters. And yeah, you
3:59
were right, this movie, like it's so interesting. I really at some
4:04
point I want to make sure we talk about not in a negative way,
4:08
but talk about kind of the kind of movies we're getting from Pixar now,
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and this which is in that kind of like I said that beginning media arc
4:16
rise, because like you said, they brought in Bradbird, he's the first
4:20
outside director to Pixar. And everything I'm reading about this movie is this was
4:27
a movie he had to tell. He wanted to tell he had this nugget
4:30
of an idea of this superhero family. And it shows, it shows in
4:35
every frame that this is a story that he was passionate about that he wanted
4:41
to he had to tell, like he would, you know, draw it
4:45
with a cran and a flipbook if it got it out like and but he
4:48
got this chance from Pixar, which is kind of surprising as so far as
4:56
his previous directed film was not financially successful, which usual usually you either have
5:00
to wait a long time to get back let back in, or you have
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to know the right person. I think there's a little more of the ladder
5:06
to bring him into Pixar. But yeah, so back to OH four,
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like you said, yeah, I think a bunch of us just went and
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saw it in theaters because it's the year's Pixar movie. They had shown that
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it's worth seeing that year's Pixar movie, whatever it is, because it's going
5:23
to be something different, Meaning the previous year you had, you know,
5:27
bugs, and you had toys, and you had you know, more likely
5:30
you were going to get something fresh and new every single year, and it
5:34
was always going to be something you weren't expecting and it'd be fun to tell.
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And even just the posters which were very minimal, like it was just
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the eye, not the eye like in your head, but like the incredible
5:46
eye on the letter logo. And I remember seeing that, I'm like,
5:49
I don't I don't know what that is, but it looks interesting, but
5:55
it has it has the labeled Pixar on it, so it must Pixar.
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The big old red poster with the gold and white eye in the middle and
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there's little Pisar at the bottom, and you're like, okay, I'm sold,
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and you know, movie tickets or five dollars so I can afford to
6:09
take a chance on Those are the days, I know. But what about
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you? Where were you in O four? Were you starting your family already?
6:16
Did you have your helln bar by your side or not? In two
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thousand and four like you, I was that was the beginning of my freshman
6:26
year like I was. I was in college like you in two thousand and
6:29
four, but I was. I graduated in May of two thousand and four
6:32
from high school, started in August for college, And I honestly don't remember
6:39
much about seeing this film. I had to have seen it, right,
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Like it's one of those where you're just like, of course they saw Like
6:45
when I was in college, I saw almost everything in the theater because you
6:48
had some summer job on a ranch in Texas and you were never near a
6:53
movie house, Like, I can't imagine you're not seeing this. Yeah,
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that's the thing is that, like I was in a college town that had
6:58
nothing to do. There was there was. It was a rinky dink Collegetown
7:02
in the middle of nowhere, and there was nothing. There was a crappy
7:06
mall, a steak and shake in a movie theater. That was it.
7:10
And so like, unless you just want to just hang out at Union at
7:14
the Union, you know, you you would go see a movie. So
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I'm pretty sure I saw this in theater and it was. This is one
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thing that like I wanted to talk about the history real quick of not the
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full history, but when you're talking about like hit after hit, like just
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just here's a little lead up to The Incredibles ninety five, Toy Story ninety
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eight, A Bug's Life ninety nine, Toy Story two, two thousand and
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one, Monsters Inc. Two thousand and three, Finding Nemo, and then
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two thousand and four The Incredibles and all the holy crap are amazing. Yes,
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every single one of those was a massive hit. And like you said,
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Brad Bird was the first outsider because with those movies that I mentioned,
8:00
you had Lasseter, you had Stanton, you had Unkorage, you had Doctor
8:05
h Silverman. You know, like those those were the people that they were
8:09
Pixar like if that they were the creative force. All of those men were
8:13
the creative force of Pixar. No, obviously, you know there's thousands of
8:16
people that it takes to hit this film, but they're the head. They're
8:20
the ones who's founded the studio. And on top of that, Brad Bird
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is the Brad Bird with the Incredibles. It was the first and only time,
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barring its own sequel, who was the director who wrote the story and
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the screenplay. He's the only one who's done that in the history film.
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It was his. This is very much Brad Bird. And like like you
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talked about with um Iron Giant being such a you know, a failure,
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even though it was a commercial failure, even an even though it was an
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artistic success. His He had a friend and John Laster, and in Laster
9:00
asked him a couple of times to come over to Pixar, and he kept
9:03
saying, He's like, no, I'm doing this. You know, I
9:05
gotta think with Warner Brothers. No, I'm doing an Iron Giant. And
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then when you know they failed to promote Iron Giant, brad Bird said all
9:11
right, I'll come over and Lasseter just said, okay, like we want
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you. We know that you know what you're doing even though you haven't done
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CGI before. What's the story you want to tell? And Darren, just
9:24
like you said, Brad Bird said, this is the movie I don't want
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to make. This is the story I gotta tell. And Lasseter was one
9:30
hundred percent behind him. But then they had to pitch it to the bean
9:33
Counters and they said they told he told him how how long it was going
9:39
to take to make and how much he was going to take to make,
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and they're like, but he put it in under budget, under time and
9:48
it costs less than Finding Nemo, and it was yeah, it's just uh
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they it hit it out of the park. Well, yeah, yeah,
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let's talk about the money in this technical because I think a couple amazing things
10:01
is one we say started making this movie. He came over to Pixar in
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two thousand, four years before this movie comes out. Because that's the thing
10:11
is like these movies take years to make. They're overlapping the production cycles so
10:16
that they can release. At this point, they're still kind of every year
10:20
to one to two years you're getting at Pixar movie. It's not quite the
10:24
one to two per year that we kind of have now. But so yeah,
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so not only are they having the forethought to be like, hey,
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we have a pretty good well of stories that we're telling right now, but
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we have to keep that cycle going and you have to invest in it or
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we're going to run dry and you're going to have like a five year period
10:45
where you have no Pixar movie and you can't have that. But on top
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of that, you have something like The Incredibles. And I think what the
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pain Counters were probably reacting to was we're doing humans. This is the first
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film that do humans. And so you have skin, you have hair,
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you have water, you have cloth, and those are all really hard to
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do. And Pixar has this talent of like, well, we'll invent the
11:11
technology on the way as we get there, because we have to. It's
11:15
the mother of necessity to get us there. And yeah, I mean,
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granted, okay, rewatching this movie here in twenty thirteen, it does feel
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early Pixar has a vibe. Now, it has a look. It's not
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a bad look, but their current stuff has so much detail and depth and
11:39
color that just wasn't possible in O four. It doesn't mean it's bad,
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it's just it feels a little rubbery, feels a little cartoon you will,
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yeah, which again you know, it works. It's not it's not like,
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oh well, we need to throw this in the you know, dumpster
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because it just looks like you know, Plan nine. It's not that.
12:03
But it's really funny when you compare like one time I did a double bill
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with my daughter of Toy Story and then Toy Story four. Oh my gosh,
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and it's hilarious. The first one just walking around at a bright day
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sunlight, the shadows, Oh my gosh, there's no depth, it's just
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and then you look at Toy Story four, which was which when that came
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out, that was the most advanced animation of anything, like of any of
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any of its peers. Uh, just that the style that they chose,
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that even shot it in an they even you know, quote quote shot it
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in a war a death of field. I like every shot had like like
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the I've just picturing when they're in the shop and there's like the little moats
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of dust in the air, and here's just like, yeah, pick Toy
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Star one is like you know, or four is like hold my bag.
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Toy Story one, just take a look. This gorgeous cinematic anamorphic shot.
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I remember when the second one came out. Incredibles two came out in twenty
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fifteen, which is also a huge jump, huge jump from two thousand and
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four to twenty eighteen. I remember, like I saw a meme where someone
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took a picture of par of mister Incredible. It was like it was a
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film still that they released in promotion of the movie, and then it was
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a high resolution still, and this dude zoomed in as far as he could,
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and he zoomed in on his on his sweater, and you could see
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millions of fibers on his sweater, you know, from this one film still.
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And you're like, this is why it took fourteen years, right exactly.
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It's and yeah, I mean that. I mean we'll get to it
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when we eventually cover Incredibles too in a couple of weeks, but yeah,
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that'll be another interesting comparison, especially with the direct equal to this movie.
14:01
But numbers wise, like you were asking, this budget is around ninety two
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to one hundred and forty five million. I don't have an exact number,
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but that's a lot in two thousand and four, Like, that's a lot
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of money. That's a lot of money. But it made six hundred and
14:18
thirty one million worldwide. It made so much money. It did really,
14:24
really well. And I'm sure they bought a couple more, you know,
14:28
buildings for Pixar's campus or something like that. But yeah, I mean,
14:33
and we talk about like that meteoric rise, but it is really only possible
14:37
because of continued success. I mean, you look at another another house like
14:43
Don Bluth, who is doing okay and is making movies, but they're not
14:50
getting this five times six times seven time return, which you can then turn
14:54
around and invest in the technology in the people in the capitol, and you
15:00
need that you otherwise you don't become Pixar. You don't, you know,
15:05
blow up in that regard, because this movie is sitting on the budgets and
15:11
the or the box office of the previous to fund that R and D for
15:16
cloth, sim and water and all of that, and they're keeping that snowball
15:22
going. And one thing that actually was used on the development of this movie,
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since you were talking about it, was I cannot remember the name of
15:30
it, but it was a new lighting software program that they themselves developed where
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you could adjust the lighting in a scene and see what the shot would look
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like in a tenth of a second. Before that program was written, it
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would take twenty to thirty three seconds to night and day for it to render
15:50
out. I mean, as someone who is you know, like you've worked
15:54
behind the scenes, I've worked behind the scenes, you know, like when
15:56
dealing with editing or animation or anything like that. Going from thirty seconds to
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a tenth of a second is an absolute money saver, game changer. I
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mean, I'm not saying anything revolutionary here, like people who are you know,
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people who have office jobs. You know, like if say, like
16:12
if a word document took thirty seconds to save as opposed to a tenth of
16:15
a second, you'd feel it throughout your day. It would ripple throughout your
16:18
day with everything that you do. And just imagine doing that constantly an animation.
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It's that, you know. To bring it back around to Brad,
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I think looking at this and looking at a lot of what he did in
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The Iron Giant, one of the big things in The Incredibles is storyboarding.
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I think he had them really storyboard out, and not that other movies don't
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storyboard, but especially with animation, especially since you're literally going to only animate
16:49
what is in the shot. Storyboarding is so important to get that vibe and
16:56
pacing and motion and energy across I've seen. I've seen some animatics of like
17:04
the part where Dash runs on water and fights the bad guys, Like that
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sequence has been shown in many of the behind the scenes and really shows that
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shot for shot of what we eventually get. And especially with this, not
17:22
only a director moving to Pixar, but he's also moving from two D to
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three D animation. Right. That's huge, which is huge because some people
17:32
don't make that transition and or they're like, we have to do it the
17:36
way that I did it in the two D world, and it takes eight
17:41
times as long and isn't financially viable. One thing that I really appreciated when
17:45
I read about this, when I appreciate about Brad Bird, is that when
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he went to Pixar and you know, Laster went back for him and they
17:53
told him, they told him how long it would take and how much it
17:56
would it cost. Him the Being Encounters Gasp. One thing he said was
18:00
give me your your male contents, Like give me people who are tired,
18:07
who you think you're going to lose at Pixar. People who think are going
18:10
to quit, move on transfer give me those people, give me people who
18:15
aren't satisfied in their jobs. And we're gonna give him a challenge, because
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we're exactly because we're going to give him a challenge. And so brad Bird
18:23
knew how to work with artists and he knew that like going like even though
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talked about that last time with Iron and the way he approached characters and animation
18:34
and how he was a leader. I think that's his biggest strength, just
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in that one little story shows how much of a leader who he is with
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the artistically minded. Because even though Pixar started in ninety five and this is,
18:51
you know, two thousand, when he starts on Incredibles, it's only
18:53
running, it's only been up room running five years. But yet they've already
18:59
established themselves. Although I guess technically sorry that they did start before ninety five
19:03
because that's when Toy Star came out, so obviously a company before. But
19:07
yes, it's a very young company at that point, yeah, a very
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young company. But yet they've already established themselves with a specific style. And
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and you know, I don't know what to say, and and so that's
19:22
not making a words Tristan. That's enough for some people to get a little
19:27
frustrated because they're not doing anything new. The idea that this is their first
19:32
movie with people, not like not toys, but what does the parish?
19:38
Yeah, like that hasn't been defined. How caricature do they become? Because
19:45
they are caricatures and they I think that's smart because you need to stay on
19:49
firmly on this side, the good side of the Uncanny Valley. And so
19:55
I mean, yeah, we all look at Bob Parr and we're like,
19:56
there's no way that man sitting in a car like he is. He's right
20:00
huge, he's not going to exist in real life. But now you're but
20:03
it works if you have the final Fantasy um CGI movie that went for really
20:10
within, Yeah, yes, thank you, Spirited Within like that you watch
20:14
that Spirits Within, but yes, yes, oh I think you can bind
20:18
Spirited away. I did, and yes the Spirits Within, yeah, which
20:22
was but that was like firmly like photo going for photo real and yeah,
20:30
and it's now firmly in the Uncanny Valley even though it's trying to go for
20:34
photo realism. And so with incredibles, like we talked about even though it
20:38
came out in two thousand and four, and you're just like, oh,
20:41
this this can't even compare to the type of animation that they're doing today.
20:44
It's still okay because it has its own style. With Final Fantasy, Uh,
20:49
you're like, ooh, this is really really dated. Like this is
20:53
right. I mean, there's cinematic animation in video games that look better than
21:00
that movie did, which again, granted, I mean technology marches on we
21:03
just talked about Pixar does that to a point, so it's not like that
21:07
is its own fault, but yeah, it and coming up with that stuff.
21:11
And again, I you know, like you said, when this movie
21:15
came out, everyone was talking about They're talking about that retro future sixties look,
21:19
and you know, just the like it was this new world and it
21:26
was, but it was like you were reading a comic book. It's like
21:29
Metroville and like the superhero names all sounded ridiculous, like it wasn't trying.
21:34
It's interesting kind of comparing it to where Marvel went. Where Marvel went very
21:38
like realistic, not as much in the visuals, but in the world,
21:45
like there's still a government and money and the internet and all this like real
21:48
stuff. This was like and this car transforms into another car and all this.
21:55
You know, it's more fantastical because that's a comic book. It's a
21:57
it's a fun story. I really do love. I think when people think
22:03
the Incredibles, it's it's kind of ubiquitous with retrofuturism, you know, as
22:08
you were talking about, I feel like that's kind of a mainstay of this
22:11
picture, and this is what it stands out. This is one reason why
22:17
it stands out from the rest, not regardless of it being about humans and
22:19
not fish or toys or monster monsters, but like the retro futurism, the
22:27
whatever it's called Gooby, you know, like an art architectural style googie.
22:33
Yeah is it Googie? It's right, not Gooby. Um, I've made
22:38
some Googie art pieces in laser cintacrylics, so yeah, I've I've looked nice.
22:44
But I know what you mean that kind of like it's not art deco,
22:48
Like that's a very different style, but it is like things are kind
22:52
of drippy and a lot of ovals and triangles and those kinds of shapes.
23:00
Yeah, it's one of those things where you know it when you see it,
23:02
And this is definitely one of those things. And uh, you know,
23:04
brad Bird was inspired a lot by the nineteen sixties spy film and Bond,
23:10
I mean Bond, like right and do you see it right all over
23:12
and they tried to speaking of Bond, they tried to get John Barry to
23:17
do the music of the Incredible, which is okay crazy to me apparently,
23:21
I mean, and he did an amazing work, so I don't really want
23:26
to see what he did, but that's cool though I was gonna say it
23:29
was just like Giacchino or Giachino Giaccino, I don't know, um he uh,
23:36
I mean, he straight up did his best John Barry impression. He
23:37
did, you know, with with with doing this film. And so it's
23:41
interesting that they got John Barry, that he did some demos, but yet
23:44
it didn't work out. But then they got somebody to do with John Barry
23:47
impression. Yeah, that's true. Now that I'm kind of thinking of direct
23:49
Bond music, like I couldn't tell you the name of the film, but
23:55
like kind of like when he's skiing or like those action sequences or Bonds trying
24:00
to get away, that kind of brass music riff you get in the background.
24:06
You get a lot of that in The Incredibles. Like it you could
24:11
edit if you were a skilled editor. Um, you know, Bond clips
24:15
over Giaquino's score and it would fit. It would totally fit. One of
24:19
my favorite audio Easter eggs was when Elastic Girl is in the jet, the
24:26
Leer Jet not Leer jet, um, but the jet. Yeah, there's
24:30
the jet. It's the same kind of skull stream. I think it was
24:33
the same kind of jet that was in Goldfinger. And when we first see
24:37
that, we get a little bit of James Bond, like we get it,
24:41
like it's a little it's not just an homage. We actually hear a
24:45
few bars from from James Bond, from John Barry's work, and it's a
24:51
nod an homage if you will. To a Yeah, even though I said
24:56
it was more than homage. You have a director who loves the era,
25:00
you have a composer that loves you know, those films. Like that's the
25:04
kind of story I think, honestly, there's It's interesting. There's almost something
25:11
visceral about a movie where the audience picks up on that, like it's almost
25:17
subconscious where you can tell the love and energy that was put into something like
25:22
it doesn't feel manufactured. It feels like birthed and created in a in a
25:29
way, and it's almost like, again, I couldn't tell you what that
25:33
is or where in the image I'm seeing that. It's a kind of an
25:38
all or nothing package kind of feeling. But do you do you to get
25:41
what I'm saying. I totally get what you're saying. And one thing that
25:45
really, uh that is my go to example of the opposite of that is
25:51
the movie Public Enemies by Michael Mann. It was starring Johnny Depp, and
25:56
you know, it's a gangster film that takes place in like twenty Chicago or
26:00
something like that or twenty it might have been Los Angeles check out or yeah
26:04
that that time. Yeah, gangster era everything guns and caps and all that
26:10
stuff. Absolutely Um. Michael Mann was an early adopter of digital tape and
26:18
then UM on digital recording and everything like that. So like, if you
26:21
look at UM, I'm totally blanking now, But like if you look at
26:26
um Collateral, you know, like that was shot on digital tape. That
26:30
has a really distinct and really cool documentary type style and it's set in modern
26:37
day La and it's shot at nighttime, and so it's kind of serves a
26:41
feeling with public enemies. He did the same thing, but yet it takes
26:45
place in the in the in the gangster era, and so your brain does
26:52
a complete disconnect. Even though we are smart and we understand that we're watching
26:57
Johnny Depp, not this gangster, and we know it's not a documentary,
27:02
it doesn't but feel it doesn't feel real. It doesn't feel right. It
27:06
feels like someone's there with a camera crew, not you. It's the audience
27:10
seeing what's happening. It's kind of the difference of watching an eighties cone in
27:15
Sword and Sorcery versus like a modern hundred twenty frame shot, you know,
27:22
Sorcerer pick It's it's almost too clean, Like it's like stuff in the old
27:27
time needs to have grain and age to it, and it's like you can
27:33
make it where it's like this looks like a soap opera. It doesn't look,
27:37
you know, like it's too evenly lit or it's too but yeah,
27:40
well again, you like you're talking about lighting. I mean, I always
27:45
love the stories of Pixar as they're developing, of because Brad talks about you
27:51
know, when he came over, he's like, the interfaces are very complex,
27:56
and it's very like it's difficult to make the shot, to make it
28:00
do what you want. And and so I think it's good having someone like
28:03
Brad or other new directors come in periodically to be like, hey, well
28:08
if we made this tool, do this, this and this, or the
28:12
rig for the character have manipulators here, here, and here, it makes
28:18
our job ten times easier because we're bringing this experience. And it's that's what's
28:23
so great about Pixar. I mean, not that other companies don't do it,
28:26
but but Pixar has that innovation of you know, yeah, several times
28:32
during a production, they are also inventing better ways to tell those stories,
28:37
not just tell them in the story, but tell them in the tools that
28:41
they use to make the CGI. It's always a fun story to hear.
28:45
So with this story, I mean, we're thirty minutes in and we haven't
28:49
even really talked about the plot. But that's okay because we're bragging on Brad
28:56
Bird. We're talking about all about Brad. Then we probably have an and
29:00
any other time that's good, it's true. So I think this is this
29:03
is one of those films where if you're deep in superhero culture, and this
29:07
was before the boom, right superhero sate, So it's post Sam Ramie,
29:14
Spider Man, but pre Iron Man, Marvel Superdom. This was even pre
29:18
Batman Begins. Like this was a year before Batman Begins came out, So
29:22
like like this is this is right before the boom, but you know,
29:26
it's it's it's starting to get more and more popular. But if you're if
29:30
you're steeped in superhero culture, because if you're you know, if you're a
29:33
nerd who actually like reads comic books and you know, reads Marvel Civil War
29:37
and you know, stuff like that, Uh, you understand that this is
29:41
this is a this is a type of storyline that has been told several times,
29:48
but it's always interesting to see it in a different setting or in a
29:49
new way, where it's the idea that superheroes um are more of a liability
29:57
than they are a savior. You know, like, you know, are
30:02
you going Comics always hand wave that away, they're like, oh, and
30:04
then Batman goes back to his cave and nothing bad happens, but he smashed
30:08
up you know, downtown Gotham and who's got to clean that up? Like
30:12
it never deals with that. Well, what I'm saying is is that sometimes
30:17
comics do deal with that, but that's the crux of the story. You're
30:19
right that comics often do kind of wave that away, but then when it
30:25
is talked about, it's it's a it's a it's a universal world fighting.
30:29
The incident of the superheroes good sued for property destruction and damage and that literally
30:34
kicked. That's what That's what's the hook, because otherwise you're like, oh,
30:40
superhero movie, all they got married or they're fighting, and then all
30:41
of a sudden you get that news flash of like a superhero has been sued
30:45
and superhero in court, and that's where you're like, oh, this world
30:49
is going to be different, and I'm interested in what they're going to do,
30:55
and then you get the rest of the story. So yes, and
30:56
I think that's that hook is what makes it interesting. That's that's the hook
31:00
that really brings you in because it's funny how they make the opening scene,
31:07
like the prologue, if you will, kind of feel a little more fifties
31:11
ish. Yeah, it doesn't feel which it should. It should not,
31:15
which should the sixties but then once we get past it and he's working insurance
31:19
and everything like that and he's driving around, we it feels more like the
31:22
sixties, you know, like it would have been easy to just go this
31:26
is this is the stick, this is the feeling, this is the vibe
31:30
of the movie, and do it all throughout. But to kind of go
31:33
back and sh the history of Mister Incredible and the Lastic Girl and it feels
31:37
like even further beyond our own world is really a really nice attention to detail
31:44
and something that you would see from the director of The Ironge Giant. Oh
31:48
definitely, yeah no, and you have again you have that retro future vibe
31:55
it again. Just overall, it's a well told story. You get great
32:00
establishment of the characters early on. It's a relatable story. I mean,
32:06
we're not superheroes. We don't have superhowers, but we are fathers, we
32:08
have families, we have children, we have dreams and aspirations, we have
32:13
jobs. Like in a lot of ways we can relate to all these characters
32:17
even though they're superheroes. They still punch the clock and have kids that fight
32:22
in the car and like. So it is not like sometimes movies can't make
32:27
that connection with a superhero because they're just so far removed from everyday life or
32:32
anything remotely realistic. But that's not the case in this movie. You get
32:37
you understand Bob's kind of frustration of I have this power, but I'm stuck
32:43
in a most soulless, crushing insurance job, like they make it really apparent.
32:49
But yeah, and then you can just the way the story flows and
32:54
even just the powers, like I love the powers the family has, and
33:00
brad Bird has talked about it's the you know, I mean, we could
33:02
all say, oh, well, he's Superman and she's you know, mister
33:06
Incredible, like we could. It's very fantastic fourish in kind of uh,
33:10
but but it's it's deeper than that. They gave it a couple of passes
33:15
and I love you know that Dash is the super hyper energetic boy and it's
33:20
like, yeah, because that's a boy, you know. And and Helen's
33:22
the mom pulled in a million directions that has to like I love the literally
33:29
and figure literally and and so what is driven to create these abilities? And
33:35
Frozone is just too cool, you know, they're all they all matches.
33:38
So it's it's very well done. Like you said, it is one of
33:42
the best superhero movies, regardless of animation or anything just period. In general,
33:47
it is a great superhero movie. Speaking of cool, one of the
33:52
reasons why Frozone was voiced by Samuel Jackson is because Brad Bird said, I
33:59
wanted him to have the coolest voice, and they went with one of the
34:02
coolest guys, and so they had Samuel Jackson, and he just this was
34:06
his first voiceover role, which is crazy, okay, because in two thousand
34:12
and four, I mean, like we're in twenty twenty three, m and
34:15
Sam Jackson has been working NonStop since the eighties and and even even by two
34:21
thousand and four, he's just in everything. And to the idea that this
34:24
is his first voiceover role was just mind blowing to me. But that was
34:29
one thing that really, I know, this is an obvious thing to say,
34:32
but the voice cast really sets this movie apart, because I can't picture
34:38
Mister Incredible with anybody else's voice than Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter.
34:46
I mean, I love Holly Hunter, and I love Holly Hunter's voice,
34:50
but to me, Holly Hunter is Holly Hunter like you could not you could
34:54
like Harrison Ford or any other character that like transcends their role. And she
35:00
has such a distinct voice that she has. You know, she has that
35:06
voice. You know, it's just like it just kind of kind of talks
35:08
out the side of her mouth. It's just it's just so great. I
35:12
love it. I love her so much. She's one of my favorites.
35:15
But you could call a lasted girl Holly Hunter in the movie, I would
35:17
still be okay with it. I'd be like, yeah, no, no,
35:20
that makes sense. And Jason Lee got the role because of his him
35:24
playing um Azrael and Dogma and being the bad guy in Dogma and one my
35:30
favorite a little bit as Sarah Vowel, who plays Violet. He would listen
35:37
to vow on NPRS This American Life, and he's and he thought to himself,
35:43
she would make a perfect Violet. And she'd never acted before, and
35:46
he called her up and tried to convince her to do it, and she
35:51
was on the fans. She's like, I don't know, I'm a journalist,
35:52
I'm a critic. I don't know if I, you know, could
35:54
do a movie. And they took one of her This American Life segments animated
36:00
it around her voice sent her that clip in order to convince her to do
36:05
it. And that's what a bit of overtime or whatever it was to like
36:09
to seal the deal because they knew what they had to do well. And
36:14
I mean, speaking of voices, I love the you know, the Edna
36:17
mode story as we've all heard of, where they tried it with different people
36:22
and then you know, eventually Bradbird, the director or the writer, the
36:27
everything lays down a scratch track of like, okay, she's just sound like
36:30
this, and then everyone's like, well that's the voice, Like just use
36:34
that and it's hilarious, it's a funny, it's a great voice. Well
36:38
even Lily Tomlin, like they wanted Lily friggin Tomlin to do it, and
36:44
she heard the scratch track and she was the one who said, why on
36:47
earth do you need me? Just use the scratch track? And I had
36:53
zero for years years, I had zero clue. It was Bradbird who did
37:00
like, yeah, it's it's so different and distinct, like you would never
37:05
put that voice with that face ever ever, And I she Edna has one
37:10
of my favorite lines in cinema history, and it's I never look back Darling.
37:15
It only distracts from that. Now, Yes, I was thinking that
37:19
exact line when you said the best line. I'm like, that's yeah.
37:22
I also love where she's like, yes, couple, a couple, a
37:23
couple of couple we'll talk to about and it just it's it's character. It
37:30
is. It's one of my favorite characters. I love like her segment when
37:34
she's showing elastic girl all the suits, like everything like that. That's my
37:38
favorite part of the movie. My absolute favorite part of the movie is Edna
37:42
emote. It's kind of the most Bondish too. It's that's the cue.
37:45
She is the cue, She's of this movie. You're right, that's a
37:50
good point. And then all is just look of shock of like what have
37:53
you done? Like why did you make all of these? But then Elizabeth
38:00
with Benioff, who did Mirage, who suddenly no longer with us, she
38:02
died at the age of fifty five. Um, but Mirage was a perfect
38:09
ambassador to the world of bond I feel like you have this comic book movie,
38:15
you know, at the beginning, like you you have this comic book
38:17
movie at the beginning, and then you get thrown into this retro futurism of
38:22
what's going on, you know, like it's not really comic book film anymore.
38:27
They're down on their luck. It's become a family drama. Not literally,
38:30
don't take me too literally here. But then you get introduced to Mirage,
38:34
who transitioned to adventure and yes, Bob the call to adventure, Like
38:38
the she navigates, um, mister incredible to the island, which is very
38:45
bond and the price, you know, like Volcato Island Layer, Like you
38:51
can't get more bond than that. You can't get more bond than that.
38:53
Yeah, And so I feel like her that that's sexy just to misstill InCred
39:00
you know, like that, like she was built for bond and I'm so
39:02
glad that she was able to do this, Oh definitely. And like you
39:06
said, I also like the fact that you know, she's not she's not
39:13
just this mouthpiece. She's obviously been you know, working with Syndrome for a
39:17
long time, and he trusts her, but like to a point, like
39:22
he's still going to do what he's gonna do, but there is a little
39:25
bit of like she's trying to sway him a little bit, and then she
39:29
finds out exactly where she's ranks in his life as a very high so and
39:36
then obviously she turns and and helps them out, and yeah, just I
39:42
mean, let's talk about cool sequences for a second, because the mister incredible
39:46
figuring out the plan on the supercomputer while Helen is also at the same moment
39:53
realizing like, is Bob cheating on me? What's going on? The economy
39:59
of that? That is just one of the best scenes ever in general.
40:01
It is like the tension is rising, you know, he's like, really
40:07
he's uncovering the plan, not in a monologue, which is kind of nice
40:12
and refreshing, you know, but instead through a very detailed power point presentation
40:16
on the supercomputer, but which I guess is just as bad if you think
40:22
about, like why did you make this? Like did syndrome wake up some
40:24
day and be like, you know what, I forget the plan, barrage
40:28
you make some sort of thing that will encapsulate it in about five minutes because
40:32
anyway, it doesn't matter, you dug you any monologue that I think is
40:38
one of the best lines in general, but like the fact that they are
40:42
transparent enough to recognize that monologuing is a bad thing in the movie itself,
40:46
But I love that sequence, like the music. You know, him realizing
40:52
all of his friends have been killed, which on many few further viewings,
40:57
you realize that all of those friends that we see eliminated were at his wedding.
41:02
They were used in the in the prequel, the kind of the beginning
41:07
shots of the movie, and so these are his friends that he knows that
41:12
have been killed, not just random supersum ah. Such such a good sequence,
41:17
speaking of which, like there's so much of that like that, that's
41:21
the reason why it's rated PG. I remember watching this, I don't remember.
41:24
Yeah, yeah, the death but implied death. But the adult themes
41:30
are in this movie, like dealing with infidelity and and like now granted it
41:35
wasn't real, like he wasn't actually it was perceived infidelity, the perceived infidelity
41:39
in the conversation of cheating and lying within a marriage. And then you know,
41:45
like mister Incredible threatening Mirage, like threatening to kill Mirage, like he's
41:51
the good guy, he's the superhero. But then again, you know,
41:52
he just thought he lost his family, and you know, like he thinks
41:57
he loses his family and then realizes that he just can't go through that again
42:00
he can't like go through that kind of loss, and like, this is
42:04
all really heavy stuff for a kids movie, But the best kid movies don't
42:08
treat kids like kids, Like they don't keep kids like they're stupid or they
42:14
don't understand there are bigger things in life. They may not get it,
42:16
but you you treat it. You always aim at like a higher reading level
42:21
than they're able to get, and they'll, you know, in general,
42:24
but like you're able to you know, they understand. They don't understand everything,
42:28
but they understand what's happening, and the emotion comes through even if they
42:32
don't understand the themes absolutely absolutely, and yeah, i'd say it like the
42:38
the endness stuff is my favorite. The I love the workout sequence, like
42:44
like he's trains, like literal trains, and like he's measuring as waste and
42:50
getting slimmer. And and that also leads into the whole infidelity storyline because you
42:55
see a lot of that in life. He's got the you know, and
43:00
yeah, from the outside like would it would Edna talks to Helen, It's
43:06
like oh yeah, Like and the secret phone call, like it doesn't look
43:09
good on paper, it's it really doesn't but it's it's it's it's so fascinating,
43:16
fascinating to me because of how well thought out and how well directed and
43:22
how well written everything is like this, like every almost every single sequence is
43:28
utilized well. Um, going back, it's not really a wasted minute,
43:32
Like I'd be hard pressed to find a sequence or a scene where it's like,
43:37
oh, they didn't really need this. It's a very tight film.
43:40
I kind of was teetering on my ranking for this film because in my in
43:46
my Pixar list, I'm looking at my Pixar list right now and it's definitely
43:50
in the top ten, Like I have it as number seven in my Pixar
43:53
list. How many roughly are there like twenty ish at this point, Oh
43:58
geez, pop shot. Yeah, I got I'm gonna have to count,
44:02
So I'll just do it like you count for me. I'll say it out
44:06
loud. So Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story two, Monster
44:09
Zinc, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Rata, Tui, Wally
44:15
Up, Toy Story three Cars, two Brave Monsters, University, Inside Out,
44:22
The Good Dinosaur, Finding Dory, Cars three, Coco, Incredibles two
44:29
Story Story four Onward Soul Luca Turning, Red Light Eer, and Elemental that
44:37
just came out last month twenty seven twenty seven films. So out of twenty
44:42
seven films, this is number seven on my list. That's pretty high,
44:49
and like the only ones before it are like, so my ranking is Toy
44:52
Story, Toy Story three, Toy Story two, Monster zinc Wally, Inside
44:57
Out, then The Incredibles. Yeah, that's that's my list, and most
45:00
of us will probably be similar, maybe a slight jumbling of those, but
45:04
they're all probably up there. And so it's hard for me for my star
45:09
ranking because I know you don't do half stars, but like Toy Story one
45:14
and three or five stars for me, and then Toy Story two is four
45:17
and a half. Monsters ranking is a four. But you're not eating to
45:22
rank this amongst I guess it depends on how you're looking at it, like,
45:27
and we've never really gone into the super depth of our rankings, like
45:31
are we ranking them amongst the other brad Bird pictures? Are we ranking them
45:36
amongst like you've like we've said many times, we'll look back at our list.
45:39
It'd be like, Okay, well I gave that a four, but
45:43
this other director did another movie that I also gave a four, but I've
45:45
liked it in a very different way. So it's rankings, you know,
45:50
it's like the points in whose line is anyway, where they also kind of
45:53
don't matter at the same time as we also give them. So if I
45:58
keep going back and forth on this one, because I really enjoy this movie,
46:01
but I throw it up against some when I throw it up against other
46:07
Pixar films, it's hard to give it the highest of honors because I enjoy
46:13
other ones more. But when you look at the love and the care and
46:16
the script and the voice acting, it's just like, man, you know,
46:21
like, like, what's what's missing for me here? And so I
46:24
think I think for me I because I gave Iron Giant a three yea,
46:30
And when I'm looking at my letterboxed, I have The Incredibles at three point
46:35
five. But the stuff that I've talked about you, I feel like having
46:38
this conversation with you, knowing more about the behind the scenes and what Bradbird
46:44
brought to the film, how they made it, and just talking about the
46:46
music and the tempo and the and the vibe and the throwbacks, the homages
46:51
and everything like that, I have to at least give it a four.
46:53
And so I think that's what I'm changing it too, you know, I'm
46:58
I'm changing it on my from three and a half to four, even though
47:04
as a struggle, you know, I just doesn't deep struggle. It makes
47:07
sense though, because it's like that makes sense this viewing. It moved up
47:10
to a four, and maybe next time you watch it through it moves a
47:15
little back down, or another Pixar movies come out, or another Pixar movie
47:19
moves up like that. I mean, they're always evolving. And I always
47:22
felt I remember, you know, one time, going into Blockbuster, ask
47:28
your parents kids about wishing that there was a different kind of rating system for
47:37
films instead of just RPG PG thirteen and such. I wish there was like
47:40
a four or five bracket section whereas like you know, language, you know,
47:46
gore theming and something like that, something that kills me a little more.
47:52
And they eventually did have a little more where they'd say, like PG
47:54
thirteen because and they'd have a couple extra lines saying right, you know,
47:58
drud, sex and violence and things like that. That was a big help.
48:00
That was a help. But I feel like the same thing is also
48:04
kind of tricky with star ratings because we're again distilling down into a single one
48:13
to five number, you know, because you could say, like on that
48:16
list, that you love the story better than any of those other ones,
48:21
even though it's number seven on your list, like you love the story the
48:23
best, or it has the best music, But it has to be baked
48:27
into that singular number, Which is why I think we're all totally cool with
48:31
the numbers shifting and moving up and down. I have the same kind of
48:37
feeling where I gave Iron Giant a four, which is a huge number.
48:42
Is a great film, but yeah, I also look at but do I
48:45
think The Incredibles is not equal or better than The Iron Giant, Like it
48:50
starts to chase its own tail almost in that regard, I gotta give it
48:55
a five. It's it's it's an amazing movie. It sets his career aloft
49:02
as he's handing into this wonderful time with Pixar, as he's cranking out just
49:09
a lot of hits, you know, as we'll get to them. But
49:14
again, I love I'll give it a five, if nothing more for the
49:19
fact that I could always tell this was a story that Brad Bird felt he
49:23
needed to tell, and he would have told one way or the other.
49:28
Honestly, think about this, if the Iron Giant had performed well, I
49:32
think Brad Bird would have told this in two D with Warner Brothers. I
49:37
think I think he would have had to tell it. And if Warner Brothers
49:40
animation was still around, and I mean, if the stars aligned in many
49:45
other ways that did not happen in the prime timeline, but but no,
49:49
but instead we got him at Pixar, and I think Pixar was very you
49:53
know, reaped the benefit of this amazing creative person, and all of the
49:57
movies that he came came after. We have a couple more animated, then
50:01
we're going to go into live action. Bradbird's such an interesting tale of this
50:07
combination. He's had a very interesting journey and but been also very selective.
50:13
I think in what he makes, I don't feel like he's had to make
50:17
a get this to pay for that. It doesn't necessarily feel like he has
50:22
anything that's Oh, you made this because you made us a ton of money.
50:27
This was your what you really wanted to do, and you made a
50:30
ton of money last year, so now you get to make your perfect Peach
50:34
and then that doesn't do well because it you know, nobody actually wanted to
50:37
see that, and it doesn't feel like his career really had that well.
50:40
Actually, I'll hold that in reserve until we get to twenty fifteen, so
50:45
we'll so cole back to that thought a little later. I'm looking at you
50:49
Tomorrowland But but no, but so far, Bradbird, he's incredible, just
50:57
like the movie implies. So speaking of the future, Darren, what are
51:02
we doing next week? Next week, we are continuing our harrowing journey with
51:07
the House of Bird The Bird House, and we're jumping to oh seven because
51:12
remember, guys, it takes a couple of years to make an animated film,
51:15
so we're going from oh four to seven with Rattatui. Thank you for
51:20
showing us how to pronounce it in the trailer. Thank you so much.
51:24
Brad Bird. Here on Houselights, Join the Revolution, Join the nerd Party.