James Lileks finally got around to seeing The Incredibles and manages to compare it to Team America and Star Wars in such a simple-yet-profound fashion as to leave me, once more, in awe of his wordsmithing skills:
Then, “The Incredibles.†Which was. Died, went to heaven, etc. Tron me up, let me live in that world; you’ll hear no complaints. More about that tomorrow; I bring it up just to compare it with the other bits of juvenile pop culture I sampled this weekend. “Team America†was made by 17 year old boys who cut class to smoke cigarettes. “Star Wars†was made by a sophomore who was bumped ahead to the senior class because of his smarts, but never fit in and spent lunch hour drawing rocketships in his notebook. “The Incredibles†was made by 30 year olds who remembered what it was like to be 16, but didn’t particularly care to revisit those days, because it’s so much better to be 30, with a spouse and a kid and a house and a sense that you’re tied to something. Not an attitude; not some animist mumbo jumbo, but something large enough to behold and small enough to do. “Duty†is a punchline in “Team Americaâ€; it’s a rote trope in Star Wars that has no more meaning than love or honor any other word that passes Lucas’ cardboard lips. But it meant something in “The Incredibles,†and all the more so because no one ever stopped to deliver a lecture on the subject. Best Pixar Movie Evar.
