The Incredibles Blu-ray Holly Hunter

(aka "Die Unglaublichen" or "De Utrolige" or "Hum Hai Laajawab")

directed by Brad Bird
USA 2004

“Do it... Do it, man... because this is gonna be so awesome if we get it right.” (Brad Bird)

Trained Disney animator, Bird made a name for himself as the creative consultant on first ”The Simpsons”, then later on ”The Critic” and ”King of the Hill”. What Bird added to “The Simpsons” was not only a distinct style and wit, but references to just about anything. An example: The entire “Shining” episode was composed in symmetric wide-angle shots, because that was what Kubrick did. As “The Simpsons” during Bird became the most seen animated show ever and was hailed as our generations “The Flintstones”, Bird took the consequence and opened the “Springfield Monorail” episode with Homer imitating Fred and singing his version of the Flintstones theme.

Lasseter and Bird originally met during the first CAL-Tech animation class, but then went each to their own. They later met each other back in 1995, where Lasseter tried to get Bird onboard of “A Bugs Life”, but Bird declined. When he later left Fox, Lasseter asked again, but once again Bird declined. He had a contract with Warner to make “The Iron Giant”. But when Warner showed little enthusiasm for Bird, Lasseter once again asked Bird to come onboard Pixar, and this time Bird accepted. Lasseter had only one request for Bird: Make the film you've been dying to make.

For Lasseter this was a dream come true. Not only had he build the todays greatest animation studio, now he also had the most original genius within animation film. As such, the arrival of Bird at Pixar and "The Incredibles" mark the beginning of a new era.

Bird had for a long time had the idea of making an animated superhero film. In fact, the very first drawings for Mr. Incredible were over ten years old. Drawing heavy inspiration from both Marvel’s “Fantastic Four” and Alan Moore’s “Watchmen”, “The Incredibles” is a blast of a film. It may lack the heart of Woody, the charm of Buzz and the magic of Nemo, but it has so much energy and love, that it not only can match them all, it surpasses them. "The Incredibles" is the best film by Pixar yet.

Bird not only understands what film is and can, but is a warped genius, who will do anything, if it supports the story. As such, "The Incredibles" has a far more complex mise-en-scene and editing structure than any other Pixar film before it. For Bird, it is first of all a film, then an animated film. He constantly pushed animators and creative personal to beyond their believed potential, creating the biggest and most complex Pixar production today. While the film doesn't appear to be as complex in animation as for instance "Finding Nemo", "The Incredibles" has more than nine times the sets and demanded greater attention to details and characters than any previous Pixar production. Bird himself says, that all animation is about is to twist reality into a format, where animation makes scenes, which would look silly in reality, great.

But more than just stretching animation film to its very limits and beyond, Bird also encouraged the team to be as creative in any way possible. Thus the film is full of references and in-jokes, the biggest perhaps Bird himself, as the animators drew the villain Syndrome based on Bird. Pixar really used up the entire bisson.

With “The Incredibles”, Pixar once more stretched the limits of what animated film can do. They are in a league of their own. And so is the film itself. Winner of the Academy Award for best animated film, "The Incredibles" is a triumph of imagination and of the greatest living genius within animated film, Brad Bird.

Henrik Sylow

Posters

Theatrical Release: October 27, 2004 (London Film Festival)

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Comparison:

Disney (2-Disc Collector's Edition) - Region 2 - PAL vs. Buena Vista (4-disc) - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Big thanks to Henrik Sylow for the DVD Review!

Disney (2-Disc Collector's Edition) - Region 2 - PAL LEFT vs. Buena Vista - Region FREE - Blu-ray RIGHT

DVD Box Cover
Distribution	Disney Region 2 - PAL	Buena Vista Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:50:37 (4% PAL speedup)	1:55:25.834
Video	2.40:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6.94 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 43,681,679,904 bytes Feature: 29,893,386,240 bytes Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Total Video Bitrate: 24.13 Mbps
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate
Bitrate Blu-ray
Audio	5.1 Dolby Digital English, 5.1 Dolby Digital Danish, Norwegian, Slovenian (dub)	DTS-HD Master Audio English 3834 kbps 5.1-ES / 48 kHz / 3834 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1-ES / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) Dolby Digital EX Audio French 640 kbps 5.1-EX / 48 kHz / 640 kbps Dolby Digital EX Audio Spanish 640 kbps 5.1-EX / 48 kHz / 640 kbps Dolby Digital EX Audio Spanish 640 kbps 5.1-EX / 48 kHz / 640 kbps Dolby Digital EX Audio Spanish 640 kbps 5.1-EX / 48 kHz / 640 kbps Dolby Digital Audio English 320 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 320 kbps / Dolby Surround Dolby Digital Audio English 320 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 320 kbps / Dolby Surround Dolby Digital Audio English 320 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 320 kbps Dolby Digital Audio English 320 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 320 kbps / DN -4dB
Subtitles	English, Danish, Norwegian, Slovenian, None	English (SDH), French, Spanish, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Disney Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 2.40:1 Edition Details: • Disc 1: • Audio commentary by Brad Bird and John Walker • Audio commentary by the Animators • Trailer: Cars • ... • Disc 2: • See Comments* DVD Release Date: March 18, 2005 Double Amarey Chapters 33	Release Information: Studio: Disney 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 43,681,679,904 bytes Feature: 29,893,386,240 bytes Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Total Video Bitrate: 24.13 Mbps Edition Details: • Audio commentary by Brad Bird and John Walker • Audio commentary by the Animators • Trailer: Cars • The Incredibles Revisited: Filmmakers Roundtable (22:06) • Paths to Pixar: Story Artists • Studio Stories: Gary's Birthday • Ending With a Bang!: Making the End Credits • Interactive! "The New Nomanisan" Island: A Top Secret Redevelopment Plan • Plus classic DVD features Blu-ray Release Date: April 12th, 2011 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters 32

Comments

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Buena Vista - Region FREE - Blu-ray (April 2011): I don't think we need to spill over with the superlatives. Simply put - this is a perfect looking and sounding Blu-ray. Period.

The image doesn't have a pixel out of place - colors are tight and richer than SD could support. It is essentially flawless in every area. Audio is as perfect with a brilliant DTS-HD Master 5.1 at 3834 kbps. Plenty of effect separations and the Bond-esque themes fill the room with buoyant bass and resounding depth.

This is my favorite Pixar film - by quite a wide margin. I've used the airplane scene to show case to friends and will continue to do that with the improved Blu-ray resolution and lossless audio - making it a super go-to demo disc.

The package includes 4 discs - a Blu-ray of the film with the commentaries and some extras and a 2nd Blu-ray of more supplements - included as 'new' are listed and described below;

- The Incredibles Revisited: A roundtable discussion with Writer/Director Brad Bird, Producer John Walker, Story Supervisor Mark Andrews, Supervising Technical Director Rick Sayre, Production Designer Lou Romano, Character Designer Teddy Newton, and Supervising Animator Tony Fucile.
- Paths To Pixar: Story Artists: Continuing the popular bonus feature series that viewers have seen on many other Disney•Pixar releases, this exciting new feature showcases multiple Pixar story artists giving viewers exciting insight into their work, their inspiration and the personal paths that eventually led them to a career at Pixar.
- Studio Stories: Gary's Birthday: Trying to make a movie when there are not enough work days and too many birthday parties? This feature showcases how The Incredibles crew solved that problem.
- Ending With A Bang: Making The End Credits: Interview with Director of Photography Andy Jimenez and Character Designer Teddy Newton about the process of creating the end credits for the film.
- "The New Nomanisan" Island Redevelopment Plan: A guided tour of Nomanisan Island, post- Syndrome, pitching the island as a vacation resort paradise.

There is also a DVD and digital copy included.

In our 'Sifting Hope from Hype' article HERE I described The Incredibles as 'The archetypal family has never been so succinctly represented right down to the 2.5 kids. But the twist is that these characters are a family of secret-identity superheroes forced to legally live a quiet suburban life... but of course, circumstances steer another course. This film has so many strengths including three of the best female characters in any film of the past 10 years, but the soundtrack, with riffs from Matt Helm to James Bond, is one of the key elements to its perfect atmospheric enjoyment. Kudos to Pixar for not including (again) the droning nasal crooning of Randy Newman (nephew to the great film score icon Alfred Newman). The animation and voices (Holly Hunter especially) are spot-on and at its core the film deals with universal family issues including mid-life crisis, jealousies, selfless motherhood, precocious pre-teen acceptance, power, friendship and the importance of that precious nuclear unit. Set for an obvious and much desired sequel - THIS is the most equalized adult-appealing-children's-film ever created. And thank goodness it is so re-watchable as my son has forced me to see it over 40 times (I'm not exaggerating!).'

Our highest recommendation. Buy this package.

Gary W. Tooze

***

ON THE DVD: This is an 'incredible' DVD edition. Reference and demonstration quality. The image is completely flawless. A perfect direct-digital transfer. One of the best DVDs of the year.

The English sound is a 5.1 EX Dolby Digital mix and is 'incredible' dynamic. Subwoofer is levitating and rears are stretched to the max. Dialogue is clear at all times. The dubs are however reduced to 384 Kbit/s 5.1 Dolby Digital.

Additional material is to die for. Brad Bird introduces both film and extras, and here he tells us, that what he loves most about DVDs is the extras. And that is visible.

Disc 1 has two audio commentaries. The first is by director Brad Bird and producer John Walker. Here they discuss the development of the story and the film, how they solved certain problems, how they added this and that. Bird is almost hyperventilating from excitement. Incredible commentary.

The second commentary is by the animators Tony Fucile, Steven Hunter, and Alan Barillaro (The Three Caballeros), and just about anyone else. A very technical commentary, talking alot about how to do what, how to render, how to make the characters come to life and so on.

Disc 2 kicks off with a for this DVD especially made animated short about the adventures of Jack Jack with his babysitter, then continues with perhaps the best behind the scenes documentary yet made, some great deleted scenes and rounds off with a tribute to animator Bud Lucky, who also made the oscar nominated short Boundin'.

An incredible treat is the 60-ish crappy animated "The Adventures of Mr. Incredible", starring Mr. Incredible, a white Frozone and their sidekick Mr. Skipperdoo. As if the short was absurd enough, it also comes with audio commentary by Mr. Incredible (who desperately tries to defend the venture) and Frozone (who gets more and more upset about the animators making him not only white, but adding a beatnik voice).

Disc 2 Details:
Jack Jack Attack (4:33)

Deleted Scenes (introduced by Brad Bird):
Alternative Opening (15:02)
Snug (6:31)
Vipers (4:08)
Bob in traffic (2:19)
Helen confronts Bob (3:10)
Helen's nightmare (1:33)

Behind the scenes:
Making of 'The Incredbiles' (27:24)
More Making of 'The Incredibles' (41:02)
Incredi... blunders (1:45)
Artgallery
Publicity

Top Secret:
Mr. Incredible & Pals (4:02)
Mr. Incredible & Pals with commentary (4:02)
NSA Files (complete data on all superheroes)

Animated short Boundin' with optional commentary (4:29)
Who's Bud Lucky (3:57)

- Henrik Sylow

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Disney (2-Disc Collector's Edition) - Region 2 - PAL LEFT vs. Buena Vista - Region FREE - Blu-ray RIGHT

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DVD Box Cover

Distribution

Disney

Region 2 - PAL

Buena Vista
Region FREE - Blu-ray

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