Did I love the movie? Of course I did. First, it was by Pixar, and you can't go wrong with Pixar. The more than I think about, the more I think that everything done by DreamWorks has been shite in comparison. I chose A Bug's Life over Antz - the first time both companies came out with similar fare, but I didn't see the latter, which was DW's debut foray in CGI. Pixar already had Toy Story - a resounding success, no contest. The only DW CGI flick I've seen is Shrek, and I was let down because they used up all of the best jokes in the adverts. I skipped Shrek 2, for the usual reasons (no one to go with, not interested enough to be desperate and either go alone or do the kinda gay thing). I loved Finding Nemo, and when I found out about Shark Tale (back when it was still called Sharkslayer)...well, initially I was kinda blown away by the big-name cast, but as it gained more exposure...nah. At the cinema, they had the trailer just before the movie started, and it just made it suck even more in my eyes. That lame MC Hammer parody was just the icing on top of the lameness cake. In contrast, when I saw the trailer for The Incredibles attached to Finding Nemo way back in June 2003, I loved instantly, and couldn't wait for it to finally show up over a year later.
Second, The Incredibles is about comic book-esque superheroes, and I love comic book superheroes. Though there were tons of nods to prior comic books and comic book movies (but considering Pixar's movies take over a year to develop, I don't know if that railway bridge scene was an intentional homage to Spider-Man 2 or not, considering the latter just came out a few months ago), the main thing is the execution, and the execution was fantastic. More violent than I'd expected, but then again I guess the opening scene in Finding Nemo where the mother fish dies was the tip of the iceberg. As someone who's accustomed to seeing people walk out from explosions in PG violence-oriented cartoons, it was a bit of a shock to not find that here. But either way, if you have a choice between seeing this and Shark Tale...no contest.
After the film, me and Yoga felt compelled to buy Happy Meals at McDonald's, just to get the movie tie-in toys on offer. They had eight choices, but considering from the long queues - a sizable portion of which had no doubt just saw the movie too - we figured getting Mr. Incredible would be a long shot. My alternate choice would've been Frozone:
"Posed for action, Frozone was once known as the "coolest" superhero on the planet. His superpower allows him to create ice from moisture in the air. Creating a giant snowball, this super cool character, rolls off to help his friends in McDonald's Happy Meals."
...but they didn't have him either. In fact, all they had were four choices, two of which were Elastigirl and Violet. Typical trend in action figure demand: the male characters always get snapped up, the females are left on the shelf. The other two were Jack-Jack and the Incredibile, but a vibrating baby and a car weren't too appealing. So Yoga chose Elastigirl:
"The super suburban wife, Mrs. Incredible (aka Elastigirl) has returned to superhero status along with her super stretchy, superhero skill. This Happy Meal figure's ability to stretch is incredible."
...and I picked Violet:
"The daughter of The Incredibles, shy, teenaged Violet appears to be ready to take on the latest battle of good versus evil. When the Happy Meal figure is activated, Violet showcases her superhuman invisibility force field complete with the glow-light band. Violet is ready to make her superhuman "appear"ance at McDonald's."
As it turns out, it looks like I got the coolest, even though the Violet action figure doesn't do much in terms of action. In fact, it just stands there motionless on a pedestal. The pedestal, on the other hand, is where the magic happens. Like it says above, there's a plastic see-through band that circles above the figure from one end to the other. At the base of the pedestal is a button - keep squeezing the button repeatedly, and the gyroscope which holds the band starts spinning. But that's not the cool part: the cool part is that the band is battery-operated, so just flick the switch, and the light comes on. Combine that with the gyroscope effect, and...well, I guess it'd be better to show you, and at the same time mark this return to blogging after a long absence with the first-ever picture I've posted here:
The kick-ass Violet
Technology rules.
