Remember how fans were going nuts when word was going around that the Fantastic Four movie was going to treat the FF like a humorous family comedy.
Well, based on the evidence of Pixar’s “The Incredibles,” it might well have worked, because that’s essentially what “TI” is. The powers of the Thing, Invisible Girl, and Mr. Fantastic are all there (albeit switched around somewhat) as is the Fantasticar. Not to mention Iceman and Quicksilver.
Nevertheless, Ti remains wholly original and wholly fun. The first Pixar film that actually could have worked as live action, the sophistication of its script might actually some of the very youngest in the audience who are expecting “Finding Nemo II.” And, frankly, they could have trimmed the script and picked up the pace (for instance, a scene involving young Dash getting in trouble at school could have been trimmed to a ten second flashback and incorporated into the dinner scene, since all the information we learn from that scene is present in the dinner sequence). So know your kid before bringing him or her.
Particularly hysterical is the voice work of writer/director Brad Bird on costumer designer Edna, who looks like the love child of Linda Hunt and Yoda, and gives a hilarious dissertation on something fans have discussed for ages: Why capes simply aren’t practical. The identity of our heroes’ nemesis is telegraphed early, but fortunately it’s then revealed about halfway into the film, so it’s not some climactic Scooby-Doo reveal saved for the end that we all saw coming.
Plus the film makes fun of everything from superhero cliches, such as a villain “monologuing,” to educational cliches, such as mom Elastigirl tells her educationally-challenged son, “Every child is special,” to which Dash sardonically but correctly replies, “If everyone is special, then NO ONE is special.” A savvy comment on the blanderizing of America in which mediocrity can reap great rewards while quality withers on the vine.
Overall a far more “human” movie than a lot of movies with genuine human casts.
As for the FF film, I can tell you with authority (but without going into detail) that it is not at all the goofball comedy as first reported, but instead faithful in tone and style to the Lee/Kirby comics. There’s some major changes in terms of the origin, but less than what they did in “Ultimate FF,” and besides, c’mon–four people trying to get to the moon before the Russians? Just a TAD dated. How do I know this? Because I’ve been hired by Pocket Books to do the novelization of the film. So this’ll be my fourth novelization of a Marvel comics movie.
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