The Incredibles gets remembered as a family adventure. It is, but the engine underneath is considerably less comfortable: a man in his forties who is bored of his life, lies to his wife, and nearly destroys his family chasing the feeling he had twenty years earlier.
The unusual honesty
Bob is not a good husband for most of the film. He sneaks out, he lies repeatedly, he endangers everyone — and the film does not soften this with a redemptive speech. He is called on it directly, in the middle of the third act, at the worst possible moment.
That scene is the best in the film and it has nothing to do with powers.
The design
Everything is mid-century modern, which is a deliberate choice — the aesthetic of the era when the family’s golden age happened, preserved in the architecture of a world that has moved on. The whole film is set in a nostalgia trap.
Syndrome
One of the better antagonists in the genre because his grievance is legitimate. He was a fan who was humiliated, and he responded by working extremely hard. The film’s answer to him is uncomfortable and it knows it.
The caveat
The “everyone is special means no one is” line has been argued about for twenty years and the film is genuinely a bit slippery on it. Worth noticing rather than ignoring.
Watch it if
You want a superhero film that is actually about being an adult.
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