the "not-so" incredibles

set in the 1950s with art deco architecture and futuristic imagination of the year 2000, "the incredibles" (pixar, 2004) falls into one of those superhero genre, pretty spicy with a dash of family values and dollops of "slash-boom-bangs".

i went to see the movie only because friends of mine said, "fantastic imagination!"; "good quality movie." for a good one hour I was waiting for those comments to really happen. zilch! oh well, animation movies might have lost its grip for those who's been in real life for way too long. IMHO, with "escape from reality" as its main feature, "the incredibles" becomes "the not-so incredibles".

pixar is expected to make their wildest imagination happen, because it's their "raison d'etre". nevertheless, behind the swashbuckling adventures, "the incredibles" left a lot to ponder..

• 50% of the viewers in the theatre where i went were children to adolescents


• 99% of those young viewers laughed and cheered when the bad guys' hovercrafts collided (i dunno what pixar named those hostile flying saucers with spinning blades on its side)


• 99% of the viewers giggled when ednamode (one of the hero) was describing that "superhero capes is bad"; complete with graphic description of grimacing superheroes as they and their capes got sucked by tornado, jet turbines, etc


• 99% of the young viewers applauded when the elementary-school-aged dash (one of the hero) successfully dodged bullets coming out from the automatic weapons of his pursuers


• 99% of the viewers were ecstatic when they saw that trees were cut and rocks fell down during the hot pursuit of bad guys vs the incredibles

human sufferings, chronic poverty, violence, killings and man-made disasters is part of my work. i haven't watched the tv for a year or so for delaying the effect that my work might have on my sensitivity to humanism. (this is a personal rationale to "not having a tv set ) but really, i was appalled at the heavy dose of violence in "the incredibles", that turns into "the not-so incredibles" in front of my eyes.

on the other hand, sure life is hard and hostile. delaying the exposure to daily life harshness out there might be irrelevant, as eventually, children will become adults who later on have to deal with god knows what's out there. behind the veil of loving family that works amazingly as a caring team, there lies a good portion of antagonism.

life is like a coin? it has two sides of everything?

however, having seen the movie still left some bitter taste in my mouth.
i still can't believe that pixar even gave power to jack-jack (the family's baby).