(Originally posted on
I adore the movie The Incredibles. It just pushes all the right buttons and throws all the right levers. With two exceptions.
With the imminent arrival of The Incredibles 2, I thought I should revisit the first one and examine its two flaws. Mind you, I still love the movie, but these two jumped out at me. Both are slightly nitpicky, but still significant.
Everyone’s Super
My first gripe is not unique. I’ve seen others point it out as well. A primary theme of The Incredibles is that exceptionalism should be celebrated. When dragged down by the “everyone’s a winner” mentality, no one can be “super”. It has been suggested that this is actually a nod to Ayn Rand and Objectivism. Director Brad Bird has denied this, saying it’s merely a frustration of creativity stifled. I assume he’s being genuine and harbors no Objectivist tendencies, although I have no great complaint if he does.
Anyway, the villain of the movie, Syndrome (voiced by Jason Lee) starts off as Mr. Incredible’s (voiced by Craig T. Nelson) would-be sidekick. He has no powers, but is an inventive genius. When rejected by Mr. Incredible, he turns his inventions to villainy.
This is supposed to be a metaphor for ordinary people dragging down the truly exceptional. The problem is, wouldn’t Syndrome’s inventive genius be considered something “exceptional”? Are only physical gifts meant as the metaphor?
Moreover, Syndrome states that he’ll later sell his inventions so that “everyone can be super”. Again, this is meant as a metaphor for muddying the waters of exceptionalism. But wouldn’t sharing amazing gifts with everyone be a good thing? Do only the elite get to experience it? I mean, at one time only wealthy people could afford cars, televisions, etc.
Later, Syndrome is defeated by his own robot since simply having powerful gadgets doesn’t make you a hero. Perhaps this was the point?
I get what Brad was doing here, but this element of the metaphor can be jarring. It still works, but the discontinuity occasionally brings you out of the story. Not a fatal sin, but a little vexing.
Am I over-thinking a cartoon? Maybe, but The Incredibles is a pretty smart, surprisingly adult cartoon. The bar’s been set pretty high.
Mirage’s Change of Heart
I haven’t seen anyone else point out this, however: Mirage (voiced by Elizabeth Peña) is an accomplice to a serial killer.
Mirage is Syndrome’s femme fatale assistant. She helps him with his company and his plans for his would-be superhero career involving a killer giant robot. Pretty standard character, somewhat reminiscent of a James Bond girl villain.
The twist comes when she gets a change of heart after Syndrome allows her to be threatened with death by Mr. Incredible during a moment of rage. Her sympathies lie with The Incredibles after that and she aids them in escaping and stopping Syndrome. She becomes an almost sympathetic character.
I say “almost” because she’s literally an accomplice to mass murder! She had lured dozens of other supers to the island lair before to be killed by Syndrome’s robot prototypes. We know this by Mr. Incredible finding the corpse of one superhero and evidence on Syndrome’s computer of dozens of other killings. Mirage herself lured Mr. Incredible to the island lair with the intention of him dying at the claws of the latest robot.
Now, since she’s had a change of heart, everyone’s okay with that?!
“I’m really sorry I helped this psychotic serial killer murder all these heroes, but I’ve seen the error of my ways.”
Umm…no. But we don’t see her face any justice. Nothing is mentioned. I like to think that there’s a deleted scene where she’s rotting in maximum security prison, but apparently not.
Why did this oversight slide by Brad Bird? Not sure, but I think it’s because the whole movie has a sort of “unstable” feel to it at times. The movie occasionally flickers between a more “cartoony” feel and a more adult serious feel. I do know there was a deleted scene where Elastigirl’s (voiced by Holly Hunter) old friend “Snog” doesn’t just lend her a jet, he pilots it for her–and dies when it’s destroyed. Pretty dark stuff.
Maybe they just didn’t know where to put Mirage tonally.
Either way, it’s still a great movie. Can’t wait to see Incredibles 2.
