The Incredibles (2004)
Trivia
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Spoilers (22)
Lily Tomlin was considered for the part of Edna Mode, but turned it down when she heard Brad Bird's vocal performance, saying, "What do you need me for? You got it already."
Jason Lee (Buddy/Syndrome) recorded his vocals in four days, while Craig T. Nelson (Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible) recorded his vocals over the span of two years.
Samuel L. Jackson was cast as the voice of Frozone because Brad Bird wanted the character to have the coolest voice.
Helen's use of radio protocol while flying is exceptionally accurate for a movie. In the director's commentary, Brad Bird tells that Holly Hunter insisted on learning the lingo and its meaning. The terminology used hints that Elastigirl has had military flight training. "VFR on top" means she is flying in the regime of Visual Flight Rules "on top" of a cloud cover. She requests "vectors to the initial", directions how to get to the initial landing approach. "Angels 10" is her altitude call, ten thousand feet, this is a military term. Civilian flights use the term "flight level". "Track east" is her direction of travel. "Buddy spike(d)" is a U.S. Military brevity code meaning "friendly anti-aircraft radar has locked on to me, (please don't shoot)." "Transmitting in the Blind Guard" is a call on the emergency frequency where two-way communication has not been established. "Abort" is also a military brevity code, a directive meaning "stop the action/mission/attack." It should be noted that the term "angels", while popular for the first half of the twentieth century, is outdated. As the "present day" story takes place in 1962 and having flight experience clearly took place in the fifties, this is an appropriate term.
In order to give Dash a realistic out-of-breath voice, Brad Bird made Spencer Fox run laps around the studio.
Brad Bird got the idea for this movie in the early 1990s, basing the story on his own experiences trying to balance a career with family.
When Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) is called into Mr. Huph's (Wallace Shawn's) office, at one point Mr. Huph places his hand on a piece of paper. Judging from Mr. Incredible's expression, it seems like this paper is a termination notice. Actually, it is a memo to all employees, letting them know they will be responsible for buying all of their office supplies. It also states that parking will be metered by the hour, and that their electricity usage will be deducted from their paychecks. The letter concludes by saying that Insuricare has "recorded its highest profits in years."
Clothing, with its textures, weaving and stitching, is notoriously difficult to achieve in computer animation. Given that there are over ninety-five different outfits worn by the characters in the film, a tailor was brought in to the studio to explain the intricacies of clothes design. Because of the complexity of calculation the vast number of polygons plus the lighting and translucence, the weave of fabrics are only seen up-close, with lower resolution solid shapes are used for clothing in medium-distance and long shots.
John Lasseter tried to coax Brad Bird to come join him in 1995 when Pixar was working on A Bug's Life (1998). Bird declined. When he left Twentieth Century Fox, Lasseter asked again, but Bird turned him down again, as he had a contract with Warner Brothers to make The Iron Giant (1999). However, when Warner Brothers failed to properly promote the film, Bird finally agreed to join Pixar. Lasseter had only one request for his friend: make the film you've been dying to make. As Bird had been sitting on the idea of making a cartoon about a family of superheroes for over a decade, this movie was the natural choice.
Syndrome's unusual way of walking was supposedly inspired by a Pixar employee who someone had noticed had a very strange walk and commented on it. His or her attempts to curb the strange walk were the basis of Syndrome and his purposeful walking style.
Mirage's (Elizabeth Peña's) toll-free phone number on her calling card is 866-787-7476, an unregistered phone number at the time of the movie's original release. However, when compared to the letters on a typical phone pad, the last seven digits spell out the word "suprhro". The phone number was active as of the DVD's release. It contained Mirage's voice directing you to the movie's website and told you to input the phone number on the site to get access to secret information (including a deleted scene not included on the DVD). The requirement to enter the phone number was subsequently removed and the phone number no longer works.
Brad Bird drove his teams hard to be as creative as possible, insisting on greater attention to details and characters than any other previous Pixar production. The teams responded by pumping the film full of references and in-jokes, one of the most noticeable being the villain Syndrome being modelled on Bird.
Writer and director Brad Bird was listening to Public Radio International and heard Sarah Vowell, a frequent contributor to the Public Radio International program "This American Life". He felt her voice was perfect for Violet even though she had never acted before. To convince her, Pixar animators animated one of Vowell's segments from "This American Life" and sent it to her.
Seen attending Bob and Helen's wedding are (left to right) Gazerbeam, Edna Marie "E" Mode, and government agent Rick Dicker sitting in the front row, as well as Dynaguy, Stratogal, Thunderhead, and Metaman in the pew behind them. The latter four have one thing in common: they're all seen later (for the last time) in flashbacks within Edna's "No Capes!" monologue. In the superhero database on the DVD, it says for those same heroes Edna mentioned, "Died in action, suit malfunction."
The movie's line "You sly dog! You got me monologuing!" was voted as the #15 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007.
In the beginning of the film, when a robber is going through a woman's purse on the roof of a building, a Mr. Incredible Pez dispenser can be seen among the items scattered on the ground.
Edna Marie "E" Mode, the costume lady, is based on an amalgam of two famous costumers. The first is Edith Head ; the greatest costume designer in film history, who won 7 Oscars and garnered twenty-seven Oscar nominations. The mannerisms, mid-century design style and round glasses are based on her. The second is wardrobe supervisor Edna Taylor , on whom the name and hairstyle were based.
Among many other things, Edith Head designed the airline uniforms for the film Airport (1970) . She also designed a line of women's apparel; the Airport Collection, which was inspired by the mid-century modern look of the early sixties, which was also the school of design that inspired The Jetsons (1962) cartoon series and the entire look and feel of The Incredibles. Unfortunately, the clothing designs were a full ten years behind the times and the line failed, with the only source being a department store in Indianapolis. In a way, this paralleled the semi-retirement of Edna Mode. She received a few more nominations after Airport and continued to work for another decade, with her final designs appearing in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982) a year after her passing in 1981.
Among many other things, Edith Head designed the airline uniforms for the film Airport (1970) . She also designed a line of women's apparel; the Airport Collection, which was inspired by the mid-century modern look of the early sixties, which was also the school of design that inspired The Jetsons (1962) cartoon series and the entire look and feel of The Incredibles. Unfortunately, the clothing designs were a full ten years behind the times and the line failed, with the only source being a department store in Indianapolis. In a way, this paralleled the semi-retirement of Edna Mode. She received a few more nominations after Airport and continued to work for another decade, with her final designs appearing in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982) a year after her passing in 1981.
DC Comics objected to the name Elastigirl, due to their character Elasti-Girl. A compromise was reached whereas outside of the film (promotional materials, et cetera) Elastigirl would be known as Mrs. Incredible.
When Edna Marie "E" Mode gives Helen Parr (Holly Hunter) the homing device for the first time in the laboratory, the GPS zooms into the San Francisco area, where the Pixar Animation Studios is located (Emeryville, California) and the old studio building in Point Richmond.
Syndrome's facial features are based on those of writer and director Brad Bird.
In the original script, Syndrome only appeared in the opening scene. When the Pixar animators responded much more strongly to him than the main villain (originally named Xerek), he was moved to that role.
When Bob Parr (Mr. Incredible) returns home from saving civilians from a burning building with Frozone, he is humming the Incredibles theme song.
During development, villain Bomb Voyage was named Bomb Perignon. The famous champagne maker would not provide legal rights for the use of the name, however, so the name was changed.
Writer and director Brad Bird originally conceived this as a conventional cel-animated film when he pitched it. The cel-animated sequences seen in the end credits are a representation of his original concept.
The unusual angular architecture in the film was based on a distinctive style of 1950s space-age futurism known as Googie, often seen in coffee shop, bowling alleys and many contemporary homes of the era. Tiki architecture, another 1950s pop style and often considered a form of Googie, is also exemplified in many of the island sets.
When Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) starts speed skating, his moves are modelled after Olympic gold medalist Shani Davis. Davis jokingly remarked in a Dutch program that he was really upset, because he didn't get any type of money for it. ("Yeah it's me, who else swings his arms like that!")
The stained glass window above the entrance to the church where Bob and Helen get married resembles the I on Mr. Incredible's original blue costume.
When Elastigirl is attempting to discern the location of Mr. Incredible in the island's command center, you see her looking at an energy consumption grid. You then learn that Mr. Incredible is on Level A1, in Cell Block 13, or A113. Previously in the film, Mr. Incredible has a meeting in Conference Room A113 before the second Omnidroid fight. A113 is a frequent Pixar in-joke based on one of the room numbers for the animation program at Cal Arts.
This is the first, and thus far only, Pixar movie NOT to feature a distinct appearance of the Pizza Planet truck. While making this movie, writer and director Brad Bird, who, at the time, was not familiar with the tradition of Pixar's Easter Eggs (since he hasn't worked on any Pixar films prior to this one, being not full time with them), hadn't been thinking about the truck, and was unsure if the animators had snuck it into the film (though he was able to know some other stuff like teasing Pixar's next film, and having a character voiced by John Ratzenberger). Many people claim to have spotted it, but screen caps only show blurry, "Rorschach test" images, and nothing that can be clearly identified as the Pizza Planet truck. Lee Unkrich recently dismissed what people believed to have spotted, and confirmed that the truck does not appear.
Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, two of Walt Disney's Nine Old Men (his team of nine supervising master animators from the classic era of animation), provide voices for their own characters near the end of the film. They also appeared in and provided the voices for the train engineers in The Iron Giant (1999), which was also directed by Brad Bird. This is not the first time Pixar Animation Studios has included references to famous animators in its films (see the trivia for Monsters, Inc. (2001)).
Writer and director Brad Bird's son Nicholas is the voice for the little boy on the tricycle, who also voiced Squirt the Baby Turtle in Finding Nemo (2003). The little boy on the tricycle is named Rusty. This was revealed only in the film credits and in a comic published in Disney Adventures Magazine.
Syndrome's zero-point energy beam is based on an actual physics concept, the zero-point field, demonstrated in 1948 via the Casimir Effect and essential to Stephen Hawking's theory that black holes eventually evaporate. Harnessing the zero-point field would be quite a feat, as it would yield a virtually infinite source of energy.
All four wall clocks in Mr. Huph's (Wallace Shawn's) office show exactly the same time (clocks mounted in this manner typically show the time in different time zones).
Frozone's aftershave is Hai Karate, a real brand of aftershave. In the sixties and seventies it was promoted in commercials indicating that a man would need to be an expert in karate to fend off the women. While popular among many men, it was not considered to be very upscale, but rather hokey and this, combined with the action theme of the product, made it ideal for Lucious.
First Pixar movie to be set through a human's perspective. Their previous movies were set through a toy's, animal's, and monster's perspectives respectively.
As with other Pixar productions, the original trailer for this film featured animation made specially for the trailer, and not appearing in the final film. It was directed by Brad Bird eighteen months before the release of the movie.
To record the Henry Mancini-and-John Barry-inspired jazz-orchestra score, composer Michael Giacchino eschewed standard multi-track recording and returned to the analogue recording methods used for jazz-orchestra recordings in the 1960s. "We were just like, 'Forget that, let's throw everyone in the room, let's pretend we only have three microphones, and let's get it right. Let's just do it.'"
In the early part of the film, there is a repeated theme of pencils being knocked over. Dropping pencils is a standard demo feature of dynamics programming in 3-D design applications.
In order to get the huge crowds and extra characters the film needed, animators created a "standard man" which could be modified to play different roles. For instance, Dash's teacher, the school principal, and the Underminer are all the same character, though heavily modified.
In the Singaporean version of this movie, the company "Insuricare" is translated into "Black-hearted insurance company" if read literally in the Chinese character subtitles.
Brad Bird's turn as Edna Marie "E" Mode was accidental. He had originally voiced the character as a temp track. Subsequent searches for alternate voices proved to be fruitless.
Among the superheroes shown listed in the Kronos database are Universal Man, Psycwave, Everseer, Macroburst, Phylange, Blazestone, Downburst, Hyper Shock, Apogee, Blitzerman, Tradewind, Vectress, Gazerbeam, Stormicide, Gamma Jack, ElastiGirl, Frozone, and Mr. Incredible.
When Bob goes to the kitchen to get another plate for Dash, he is reading a newspaper. Across from the page with the story about Simon J. Paladino disappearing, there is a story with the headline "Crime Scene Reveals No Clues". The first sentence of the body of the story reads: "Last night's shoot-out was no accident. Several men were seen pointing weapons of mass destruction at each other's countries." The rest of the story is about Insuricare and their policy of never paying out on policies.
The scene where Edna Marie "E" Mode recounts the fate of various other superheroes proved to be problematic, in that most of the names chosen for the superheroes in question had already been used or optioned.
This is the first Pixar film to be rated PG by the MPAA; all of that company's previous films were rated G.
Lucius' wife, Honey, who never appears on-screen is voiced by Kimberly Clark who works in Pixar's Human Resources department.
The sound effects of the flying saucers that were being driven on the island is actually the sound of a muffled Indy car.
A new set of outtakes return on the second disk on the Special Edition DVD. But the outtakes are mistakes made in animation by animators, rather than the traditional outtakes where the characters would mess up their lines, as if they were actual actors.
Most of the story takes place in a city called Metroville. It's a combination of Metropolis and Smallville, which are, respectively, the cities where Superman lives and where he was raised. In the beginning of the film (supposedly before they were relocated), Bob, Helen, and Lucius Best (Frozone) are living in Municiberg, another play on Metropolis, both roughly meaning "hometown".
When Buddy (Jason Lee) first meets Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson), he has put on a hero mask and filled in the area around his eyes with a blue marker. A similar technique was used in all of the Batman films to make the eyes of the actor more visible against the black mask.
The name of the island that Mr. Incredible is summoned to, Nomanisan Island, is a reference to the well-known book title: "No Man is an Island", written by Thomas Merton, in turn a reference to John Donne's Meditation XVII, "The Bell": "No man is an island, entire of itself..."
When Buddy (Jason Lee) first enters Mr. Incredible's car, Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) stutters over the boy's name, first landing on "Brody". "Brody" is a character that Jason Lee played in several Kevin Smith movies.
There are strong similarities to another family of superheroes: Marvel Comics' The Fantastic Four. Mr. Incredible (Bob Parr) has super-strength like the Thing (Ben Grimm); Elastigirl (Helen Parr) is able to stretch her body like Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards); Violet is able to turn invisible and project force-fields like the Invisible Woman (Susan Storm Richards); and baby Jack-Jack briefly shows an ability to turn himself into living flame like the Human Torch. Jack-Jack bears an even stronger resemblance to Reed and Susan Richards' son Franklin, a mutant with the power to alter reality. Like Bob and Helen Parr, Reed and Susan Richards are husband and wife, and have children with powers. Like Violet and impulsive Dash Parr, Susan and the impulsive Johnny Storm are elder sister and younger brother. The costumes of the Incredibles are red unitards with black collars, trunks, gloves, and boots with an "i" emblem in the chest area. The costumes of the Fantastic Four are blue unitards with black collars, belts, gloves, and boots with a "4" emblem in the chest area. Both sets of costumes are made to adapt to the wearer's specific powers and abilities. The supervillain that appears at the end of the movie calling himself the Underminer is a dead ringer for The Mole Man, a longtime foe of the Fantastic Four, and the image of the first Fantastic Four cover is briefly mimicked. In fact, makers of Fantastic Four (2005) were forced to make significant script changes and add more special effects because of similarities to the storyline of this movie.
In the opening chase scene, the radio announcer says that the bank robbers are fleeing on San Pablo Avenue. San Pablo Avenue is a real street in Emeryville, California, close to where the Pixar Studios is located. Most of the streets in the map indicator in Incredimobile are also real streets in Emeryville.
When the plane is first seen with Helen flying to rescue Bob, the music seems to resemble James Bond movie themes. The plane also appears to be a Lockheed Jetstar which was used in the James Bond movie Goldfinger (1964).
Edna's explanation of capes getting superheroes in trouble is a nod to the graphic novel Watchmen wherein the character Dollar Bill is killed by bank robbers after his cape becomes stuck in a revolving door.
On the far left of the middle shelf in Bob's home office, the Rock 'em Sock 'em robots who spoke in Toy Story 2 (1999) can be seen.
"Mr. Sansweet", the character who sues Mr. Incredible in the movie's early plot set up, is an insider's homage to Steve Sansweet, a George Lucas associate who handles fan club and memorabilia aspects for the company, and who also appeared uncredited in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999).
EASTER EGG: On the second of the 2-disc collectors edition DVD, wait on the Main Menu for the Omnidroid icon to appear on the upper-right of the screen. It disappears and reappears slowly. The Egg contains a collection of miscellaneous scenes from the movie: all of the buttons being pushed, and all of the explosions.
Jack-Jack, the baby boy, is also the nickname Brad Bird and his wife had for one of their sons.
This was the first film by Pixar, whose lighting was designed with LPICS, a design technology developed in-house. With it, lighting designers could view and make lighting changes, and it would take a tenth of a second to show the new image. Previously, it took two thousand seconds (thirty-three and a third minutes) to do the same task.
Syndrome's island is rendered to resemble Neverland from Disney's Peter Pan (1953).
When Dash (Spencer Fox) and Helen (Holly Hunter) are in the car on their way to Violet's (Sarah Vowell's) school, Helen tells Dash that everyone is special. His reply, "That's just another way of saying nobody is", mirrors a later quote from Syndrome (Jason Lee): "And when EVERYBODY'S super...no one will be."
Upon initial presentation of his ideas for his film, the top brass at Pixar turned pale and said it would take 10 years and $500 million to do. Brad Bird told them to give him their black sheep - the animators who were malcontent and probably likely to leave because they felt that the studio had moved towards a more conventional way of storytelling - as he knew they'd be more open to testing their limits. He was proved right of course; the film came in on time and cost less than the previous Pixar hit Finding Nemo (2003).
In the climactic battle, a car that would resemble future character Doc Hudson from Cars (2006) can be seen in the far left corner behind Bob, facing away from the camera, and the robot.
Brad Bird has stated that the movie is in part inspired by the comic books of Jim Steranko, whose work on "Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." tackled a similar spy/espionage genre.
Quite a lot of German moviegoers were convinced that the look of Mr. Huph was based on actor and comedian Herbert Feuerstein, who provided the voice of Huph in the movie's German version, and who is a dead ringer for his on-screen alter-ego. According to Feuerstein, though, he was cast because he "looked the part".
This is the second Pixar film to feature a nuclear family (mother, father, children) and the first to feature a nuclear family that stays intact throughout the movie (technically, the first movie was Finding Nemo (2003), which started out with Marlin, his wife Coral, and all their "children" (the eggs)).
In the whole movie, you can see 35 explosions, 189 buttons being pressed, and approximately 640 gunshots.
The first Pixar movie to win an Academy Award for a category other than Best Animated Feature (Best Sound Editing) since Monsters, Inc. (2001) (Best Original Song).
In the jewelry store, where a very nervous policeman points his gun at Frozone, telling him to freeze while Frozone explains he "just wants a drink of water" bears a striking resemblance to a scene in Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) in which Samuel L. Jackson, wanting to answer a pay phone, says "I have to answer the phone."
Right before Mr. Incredible beats up the guards, in order to escape the island, you see them watching footage of the city being destroyed by Syndrome's robot. As one of the guards pops open a bottle of champagne, you hear him say, "Every time they run, you take a shot." They are making up a drinking game based on the robot's destruction a rare occurrence of Disney and Pixar showing or referencing drinking.
Mr. Incredible's "secret identity" name (Bob Parr) is a play on "par", meaning average. The choice of the name is also in-line with the mid-century setting. Baby boomers were very familiar with the highly popular host of the Tonight Show during the early sixties, Jack Paar, who was part of the media tapestry that was an integral part of mid-century American culture.
A scene cut during storyboard editing showed Helen getting into an argument about being a stay at home mother and almost exposing her powers to her neighbors before Bob creates a diversion.
When Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) and Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) break into a building, the police show up. If you're not distracted by the cops, then you will see Red the fire truck from Cars (2006).
Nomanisan Island (the island where Syndrome develops his robots) has a name symbolic of the lesson Mr. Incredible learns there. If you break the name apart, it reads "No man is an island", which means that a person cannot work alone, they need help.
Michael Kamen was set to score, but passed away in the middle of scoring.
John Barry was originally hired to score the film in his James Bond-style, but left the project after recording only a few demo themes. Some were used for theatrical trailers.
This was originally developed as a traditionally animated cartoon feature at Warner Brothers. The closure of Warners' animation division led Bird to move to Pixar.
At one point Mr. Incredible is immobilized by guns shooting sticky adhesive spheres. This is not far from reality. A decade before this film was released, demonstrations were held of a device that would shoot a type of sticky adhesive foam. While tricky to operate, the foam worked, but it was never taken beyond that point because it was very messy and the extraction of the test subject was difficult.
Metroville High School's mascot (that Violet Parr attends) is the Spartans, and their colors are baby blue and white, this is the same as Brad Bird's High School in Corvallis, Oregon.
The Parr family's original car resembles a 1950s Nash. Bob's new sports car is essentially a combination of a 1960s Jaguar E-Type (the front), has a hood logo resembling the Lotus logo, and the back end is basically from a 1963 split-window Corvette.
Samuel L. Jackson's first animated film. Later, as well as reprising his role as Frozone in this film's sequels and Mace Windu in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), he'd go onto voice ZOG in Astro Boy (2009), Tendai the Peregrine Falcon in Adventures in Zambezia (2012), Whiplash the Snail in Turbo (2013), and Jimbo the Tuxedo Cat in Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank (2022).
Syndrome's computer Kronos bears some resemblance to Charles Xavier's Cerebro from the X- men comics, films, and television shows.
The eye of the Omnidroid changes colors to match Mr. Incredible's suit. At the beginning, when Mr. Incredible is wearing a blue suit, the eye of the robot is blue. When Mr. Incredible gets the new red suit, the eye changes to red.
The first back-catalogue Disney title released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, done to coincide with the theatrical release of Incredibles 2 (2018).
The enormous stone carving that forms the wall of Edna's entryway is a depiction of the Greek monsters Medusa and Chrysaor, fighting the warriors of Perseus.
The license plate number for Mr. Incredible's sports car is "LR 0415". LR stands for "Lou Romano" and "0415" marks his birthday (April 15).
At one point, Mr. Incredible calls his family life "My greatest adventure". That was the title of a DC Comics series called "My Greatest Adventure", which was most famous for featuring the four-member superhero team the Doom Patrol which has a member named Elasti-Girl, although her power is to alter her size, not stretch.
The name of the principal at Dash's school is John Walker (as seen on the plaques on his office wall), a reference to producer John Walker.
In the teaser trailer, a small headline at the top of the framed TV Guide on Mr. Incredible's wall reads, "Kevin O'Brien: First Artist on the Moon." Kevin O'Brien was a storyboard artist for the movie.
One of the most difficult aspects to animate was Violet's long hair, something the crew only really cracked towards the end of the film's 3 year production.
The character of the teacher, Bernie Kropp, was inspired by a real-life 6th-grade teacher named Bernie Kropp in Brad Bird's hometown of Corvallis, Oregon. In addition, his name and likeness compares to spoof superhero Bernie Krupp A.K.A. Captain Underpants, who is a very stern school principal who hates a couple of his students because of their tendency to play crude pranks on him.
While the name of the island is an obvious reference from literature ("No man is an island..."), there is an actual "Nomanisan Island" on Lake Kittamaqundi in Columbia, Maryland.
when Helen arrives to rescue Bob and punches Mirage, you can see that Helen attempted to punch Bob too, but he dodges it.
The handwritten text that zips by sideways at the beginning of Mr. Incredible's footage interview reads: "Pixar Animation Studios production #50840: The Incredibles, reel 1AB".
Two of the buildings behind Bob's parked car as he talks with Lucius are Luxo Café and Andy's store, named after characters in Luxo, Jr. (1986) and Toy Story (1995).
According to the suit tracking device, Syndrome's island is located in South Pacific, approximately in the same area as the Pitcairn Islands.
The only film that year to be nominated for Best Picture at the Producers Guild of America Awards, but not at The Academy Awards.
Edna is the second female character in a Pixar film to be voiced by a male, the first being Roz from Monsters Inc (2001).
It took a month just for animators to get Bob's hand through the hole that cut his suit's sleeve before he went to Edna to patch it up.
Elastigirl uses the aircraft identifier "India Golf" or "IG". This represents intergovernmental organizations, or groups of nations that agree to cooperate according to a common charter, such as, in this case, nations that agree to recognize superheroes.
Brad Bird always wrote the character of Bob/Mr. Incredible as a Craig T. Nelson-type. He flirted with the idea of Harrison Ford voicing Bob, but always had Craig T. Nelson in mind to do the voice for Mr. Incredible.
When Edna Marie "E" Mode is showing Helen Parr the super-suits she made for the Parr family, Helen (after Edna shows Jack-Jack's suit) states that Jack-Jack doesn't have any powers. Helen's certainty of this, implies that Dash and Violet were showing signs of their superpowers during infancy.
1960s spy films were the main inspiration for Brad Bird.
Pixar were already interested in Brad Bird after seeing The Iron Giant (1999). He pitched The Incredibles (2004) to them and they were more than happy to bring him on board - as well as numerous technical staff from his previous film which had been a huge box office disappointment. Most of them (including Bird) had never worked with CGI animation before and found the process to be hugely liberating.
The filmmakers never specified the time period in which the film takes place (technical director Rick Sayre simply said it took place in "that time"), and the film itself gives conflicting clues as to the year. The newspaper Bob reads during the dinner scene is dated 1962, which would mean the superhero ban was enacted in 1947. However, Edna states in her "no capes" speech that Stratogale and Thunderhead died in 1957 and 1958, respectively, while on hero duty. If heroes were still allowed to perform hero work by the late 1950s, that would mean the film takes place at least in the early 1970s.
The theme from the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), composed by John Barry, is used in the previews for this film. The version used in the first trailer is from the CD "Bond: Back in Action" (Escape From Piz Gloria and Ski Chase). The second trailer uses the remix by David Arnold featuring Propellerheads as it appears on the 1997 albums "Shaken and Stirred - The David Arnold James Bond Project" and "Decksanddrumsandrockandroll"; this second trailer also uses the song "The Planet Plan" from the album "3rd Perspective" by United Future Organization.
This movie and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) share a storyline where superhero(es) are sued for causing more harm to society than good. Holly Hunter was a prominent actress in both films.
The first Pixar film composed by Michael Giacchino He'd later compose Ratatouille (2007), Up (2009), Cars 2 (2011), Inside Out (2015), Coco (2017), and Incredibles 2 (2018).
The first two trailers released on the internet features (a slightly modified version of) the cover version Propellerheads made over the theme from On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969). This can be verified by listening to the morse rhythm in the cover version: They spell the first letters from the original movie title: OHMSS (translated into morse: ---/..../--/.../...)
The school teacher, Bernie Kropp, when finding out Dash is going to go free again, says "This little rat is guilty!" The voice actor, Lou Romano, provided the voice for Linguini in Ratatouille (2007), where he rose to fame working with a rat.
Together Robert "Bob" Parr's name is an oxymoron. Robert means "bright fame" yet Parr is a play on the word "average".
The superhero Downburst was able to fly and to discharge gas, presumably in a rather smelly and perhaps flammable "downburst."
Elizabeth Peña was Brad Bird's first choice for the voice of Mirage.
According to the director's commentary, the joke of Helen stopping mid-mission to look in disappointment at how big her butt has become, was part of Brad Bird's original pitch for the film. Growing up with sisters, Bird found it funny how self conscious they would be about their appearances, no matter what they were wearing.
Joaquin Phoenix was considered for the role of Buddy Pine/Syndrome.
During production, Hayao Miyazaki from Studio Ghibli visited the Pixar Studios and was shown work-in-progress of the film. He thought it was highly revolutionary for American animation.
The appointment of Brad Bird marks the first time that Pixar used a director that was not already part of their company.
The last Pixar film made before John Lasseter was named chief creative officer for both Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar by the start of 2006.
Mr. Incredible's car, at the beginning of the movie, uses an ejector seat to eject Buddy. This is another reference to James Bond, and his many cars, which were installed with ejector seats by Q.
This movie and Ratatouille (2007), both directed by Brad Bird, are the only Pixar films that show the film's title twice in its run time, at the beginning, and the end of the film before the credits.
Considering that this movie contains many Bond references, most obviously the villian's base, and working with a secret identity, the choice of a very James Bond-esque soundtrack makes perfect sense. By further coincidence, portions of the score sound a lot like Casino Royale (2006)'s score, using a music motif very similar to Chris Cornell's "You Know My Name".
Originally was intended to release in 2006, releasing after Cars (2006). But because the film's production had been ahead of schedule, the release date was pushed forward to 2004, while Cars (2006)'s release date was moved from 2005 to 2006 additionally Finding Nemo's (2003) release date was pushed from 2004 to 2003 due to losing to Shark Tale (2004).
The commentaries, by Brad Bird and John Walker, were recorded on September 8, 2004, the same day Frank Thomas passed away.
For the German version of the film, Dashiell Parr's nickname "Dash" was changed to "Flash", which gives an unintentional reference to the DC comics character of the same name, who also shares the power of super-speed.
Once superhero known as "Downburst" has the power of flight and gaseous expulsion defeating enemies with his farts. He had a threat level of 6.5, which made him more dangerous then Elastigirls 6.2 rating threat level.
Syndrome says to Mr. Incredible: "Too late! Fifteen years too late". Incredibles 2 (2018) was released fourteen years after this movie.
One of the background buildings has a sign for Lozano Records, a reference to cast member Albert Lozano.
Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan felt compelled to dub his voice for the Hindi version because his son Aryan Khan was so impressed by a preview of the original movie. Aryan Khan also lent his voice to the character Dash Parr, son of Mr. Incredible. Actress Negar Khan voiced Mirage and funny man Jaaved Jaaferi voiced Syndrome. The dubbed Hindi version, and the original English version, were released simultaneously on December 17, 2004 in India, and distributed by SPE Films.
Shortly after Helen accuses Bob of reliving the glory days, we see a framed magazine cover in Bob's study which is called "Glory Days" with Mr. Incredible on the cover.
At one point Helen ( Holly Hunter ) pulls a plane out of a steep dive and ends up in the water, with the plane sinking. In the film Always (1989), she does the same thing, but as a water landing.
John Ratzenberger (The Underminer) and Wallace Shawn (Gilbert Huph) are actors in the Toy Story film franchise.
Samuel Jackson's character in Die Hard With A Vengeance (1995) had a standoff with a cop similar to the one Frozone (portrayed by Jackson) has in this movie.
The scene in which Helen and Bob argue briefly about which route to take is a nod to Broadcast News (1987), in which Jane Craig also has a propensity for telling cab drivers which routes to take. Both Jane Craig in Broadcast News and Helen Parr in The Incredibles are played by Holly Hunter.
This is the second Pixar film to show real blood (when Bob is attacking the robot he gets cut) the first is Finding Nemo (2003) (not counting what was simply a sample shown in A Bug's Life (1998)).
Besides using John Barry's On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) theme for the film's trailers, it should be noted that the first nine notes of the main melody for The Incredibles (2004) follows the same rhythmic pattern as that of "OHMSS" - just with different notes.
"The Incredibles" makes a brief appearance in Harry Turtledove's novel Crosstime Traffic: Volume 5: The Gladiator. The animation is considered primitive and old-fashioned in 2097 in the "home timeline", but stunningly futuristic in a slightly primitive parallel universe where the Soviet Union conquered the world.
Samuel L. Jackson (Frozone) and John Ratzenberger (Underminer) have also appeared in the Star Wars series on separate occasions Ratzenberger was in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Jackson was in the entire Prequel Trilogy.
During the final battle with the Omnidroid, Doc Hudson from Cars (2006) is seen in the driveway. This was a nod to Pixar's next film.
Pixar's second film where the director or a co-director has a major role, not being simply listed in the additional voices, with Brad Bird as Edna Mode. The first had been Finding Nemo (2003).
As promotion for the film, hosts from Access Hollywood conducted interviews with the animated characters (Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, Frozone, and Edna Mode), in which they reveal in-universe the movie is a biopic of their life story, and not accurate to what really happened. The characters were also dissatisfied with how they were portrayed physically. Elastigirl in particular was unhappy with how big the filmmakers made her butt, and is considering a lawsuit. The interviews can be found on the second disc of the DVD set.
Lucius' wife, Honey, never appears on-screen. She can only be heard talking in the scene where he asks her about his super suit.
Syndrome's security guards intend to start a drinking game while watching the Omnidroid attack as one says, "Okay! Every time they run, let's have a shot!"
Considering that Disney's later corporate acquisitions wouldn't bring Pixar Animation Studios and Marvel Studios together under the same corporate umbrella, for nearly another ten years, this movie contains some remarkable foreshadowing, by Pixar spoofing what its later corporate sibling Marvel was doing. The parallels with Marvel's Fantastic Four are one of the most obvious coincidences in hindsight.
The paint scheme, of the Metroville Union locomotive, is based on the paint scheme that the long-defunct Green Bay & Western RR used on some of its locomotives (ALCo RS-3s and FA-1/FB-1s).
The Parr family and their powers (elasticity, invisibility, super-strength, self-immolation) parallels the powers of Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four. Dash's speed and Frozone's abilities parallel those of Quicksilver and Iceman from the X-Men comics. Frozone's visor resembles that of Cyclops from X-Men. All these characters except for Quicksilver were characters owned by Twentieth Century Fox, and thus Disney did not attain the rights to them with their purchase of Marvel. Quicksilver, having appeared in both X-Men and Avengers comics, was able to appear in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), which also featured Samuel L. Jackson.
when Mr. Incredible watches the secret message, Mirage told him that the Omnidroid v07 had escaped and they needed him to contain it. When he goes to retrieve it, he encounters the Omnidroid v08 instead, which reveals they've created a new model and must have control.
This movie and Spider-Man 2 (2004) are 2004 superhero movies featuring the lead character stopping a moving train.
The conference room table of the conference room that Mr. Incredible enters on Nomanisan just before being attacked by the latest Kronos robot bears Syndrome's logo.
Holly Hunters character is named Helen. This may be a nod to actress Helen Hunt, who is commonly mistaken for Holly Hunter.
The second Disney's computer-animated film to be rated PG by the MPAA, after Dinosaur (2000).
John Barry was approached about scoring the film but he turned down the opportunity as he felt it would be revisiting old themes stemming from his days as the main composer for the James Bond films.
Based on nothing but the increasingly frantic voice messages from the babysitter, the audience is left to imagine everything that was going on with Jack Jack while the family was away. The year after this film was released, Pixar created a short film that revealed what happened. The short is called Jack-Jack Attack (2005) and is available as part of the collection Pixar Short Films Collection: Volume 1 (2007).
In the Italian and in the French versions, Edna Marie "E" Mode was voiced by Amanda Lear.
Pixar's first film not to have a co-director since their first film Toy Story (1995).
In the beginning of the movie, Violet's hair over one eye and mooning over Tony Rhydinger, emulates Stephen King's Carrie; arguably could be considered a "super" in her own right!
Mr. Incredible says to Mrs. Incredible: "You are my greatest adventure". In Up (2009), Carl's wife Ellie writes in the scrapbook: "Thanks for the adventure, go have a new one." This quote was possibly used in both movies on purpose.
When Mr. Incredible is looking all over at his hero pictures, if you're not distracted by him, then look to the left, and you will see the same Rock Em Sock Em Robots from Toy Story 2 (1999).
The first (and to date only) Disney/Pixar film to broadcast on the NBC television network in the USA. All prior and subsequent Pixar films would be broadcast on Disney-owned corporate sibling, ABC.
A113, the class number at Cal Arts Tech was in the movie twice. First, Mirage says "D-Wing Room A113". Second, when Elastigirl is spying on the level system, it says A1 and the number that has the most power is 13.
Disney's first computer-animated film to be produced in a 2.35:1 since A Bug's Life (1998).
The fourth animated film to be the winner of the academy award for best animated feature after Shrek (2001), Spirited Away (2001) (with the english dub release being 2002), and Finding Nemo (2003).
This is the only Pixar film that doesn't have a reframed 4:3 version of the film since Toy Story (1995). As a result, the film's 4:3 version used the infamous pan-and-scan technique while some shots would be in open-matte and off-centered. This is why the film's executive producer John Lasseter invented their reframing process which has been used in their films from A Bug's Life (1998) to Cars (2006).
In the DVD commentary, Brad Bird recounted that one of the biggest problems with the dinner scene was that the animators had to extensively keep track of the food on the table, which was a nightmare. According to Bird, this even resulted in crew meetings, in which everybody got into a shouting match, and at one point, set sequence supervisor Nigel Hardwidge shouted, "Please, can we get back to the issue of the gravy".
This is the first Disney's animated film to be scored by Michael Giacchino.
Pixar's final film to be released in November until The Good Dinosaur (2015). Although it is the last film of Pixar's before the studio was purchased/acquired by Walt Disney Pictures in December 2006 to be released in November.
The nasally whine of the ditzy babysitter Honey Kimberly Adair Clark is indistinguishable from the voice and ditzy prattling style of Mabel Todd who played Dot Marshall in Hollywood Hotel (1937). A great example of this may be seen starting some 18 minutes into the 1937 classic.
The Incredimobile shows strong parallels with the mid-1950's versions of the Studebaker Commander. While the Commander was a compact four-seater, it served as the inspiration for the iconic two-seat Ford Thunderbird, which debuted in 1955.
This is the first computer-animated film rated PG by the MPAA to be produced in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, unlike the other PG rated fully CGI films, which were produced in 1.85:1.
The sixth computer-animated film to be rated PG by the MPAA after Antz (1998), Dinosaur (2000), Shrek (2001), Ice Age (2002), and Shark Tale (2004).
The first animated film produced at 2.35:1 to be the winner of the academy award for best animated feature.
Remains the only Pixar film which lacked a voice of Joe Ranft during his lifetime. However, he was one of the film's additional voice talents.
Michael Giacchino's first score for an animated film.
Disney animated theatrically released animated film after Aladdin (1992) The Lion King (1994) and Hercules (1997). Wallace Shawn, Estelle Harris, and Kelsey Grammer's second animated film together after Toy Story 2 (1999), released by Pixar This is the first and only Disney animated film where the movie title only appears at the end. This wouldn't happen again until Big Hero 6 (2014) released 11 years later.
The only Pixar film worked on by Joe Ranft to have a human protagonist and a PG rating by the MPAA as he passed away between the releases of this film and Cars (2006), as well as the only Pixar film of his to be directed by Brad Bird and composed by Michael Giacchino.
Pixar's first film to be produced in 2.35:1 since A Bug's Life (1998).
The third computer-animated film to be produced at 2.35:1 after A Bug's Life (1998) and The Polar Express (2004).
Spoilers
Helen got the jet from Snug, her old sidekick and pilot when she was Elastigirl. Originally, Snug would have also flown the plane and gotten killed when it was shot down, thus raising the stakes for the characters. The animators convinced Brad Bird to have Helen fly the plane herself, rather than spending money on a minor character for only a few minutes of screentime. The shot of Helen watching the destroyed plane sink into the ocean was apparently filmed when the script still called for Snug's death, explaining her overlong look as the wreckage sinks because, as filmed, it contained the corpse of her friend.
Syndrome's master plan, Operation Kronos, is based on the ancient Greek myth of Kronos, king of the Titans and father of many Greek gods and goddesses. In the myth, Kronos eats all of his children so that none will be able overthrow him and he can remain the world's only king; however, he is ultimately defeated by the last (and strongest) of the gods he takes on, Zeus. Similarly, Syndrome plans to murder all the superheroes in the world so that none will be able to defeat him and he can become the world's only superhero; he is ultimately defeated by the last (and strongest) of the supers he takes on, Mr. Incredible.
Syndrome's name is likely a play on "Hero Syndrome", a mental disorder in which a person seeks recognition by secretly creating dangerous situations and then publicly resolving them, thereby setting him/herself up as a hero (for example, starting a fire, then coming back to "heroically" put it out). Syndrome's plan is to establish himself as a superhero by creating a destructive robot that he alone has the means to defeat, unleashing the robot on the city, and then flying in to "save the day".
After Bomb Voyage blows up the safe, Buddy can already be seen as his future alter-ego Syndrome. As a distorted reflection in the safe door. Actually commenting about his future.
Bob and Helen are married near the start of the movie. Another trivia item noted that the same superheroes who died in Edna Marie "E" Mode's "No Capes!" speech are seated, in costume, during the wedding. Shortly after the wedding, Mr. Incredible is slapped with the first lawsuit, followed by the other lawsuits, that led to the Government Superhero Relocation Program. It can be assumed that most superheroes were still in action prior to the Program taking effect. This would explain Edna's flashbacks showing the supers in uniform when they were killed in action (because they were alive for the wedding and hadn't yet been banned). Having dated Thunderhead's death as 1958 and Stratogal's death in 1957, it can be estimated that the Parr's were probably married around 1955, which would place the main action of the film around 1970 (fifteen years later).
Edna's demonstration of Jack-Jack's suit foreshadows some of his abilities, demonstrated later when he's captured by Syndrome: the suit being able to withstand one thousand degrees, predicts his ability to turn into a human flame, and the suit being riddled with bullets, predicts his ability to turn to lead.
Each member of the Parr family has a major clothing change in the final scene, to reflect their character growth. Bob starts the movie in business attire, then more casual clothing as he returns to superhero work; in the end he wears a combination of the two, finding balance between his desires and responsibilities. Helen wears baggier clothing as a way of hiding her true self; in the end she wears more form-fitting attire to show her return to superhero work and comfort in her own skin. Violet starts with darker clothes to reflect her lack of self-confidence; in the end she wears bright pink to represent coming out of her shell. Dash wears long pants, as he is not allowed to race and feels his individuality is suppressed; in the end he finally gets to race and as such wears the proper uniform. Jack-Jack starts in regular baby clothes, as everyone thinks he is normal; in the end he wears his red jumpsuit to show he is part of the super family.
All of the Incredibles' powers (and Frozone's) reflect their feelings on life. Mr. Incredible wants to be strong enough for everyone, Mrs. Incredible has three kids and a husband who doesn't like his job so she has to stretch in many different directions. Dash is a very active ten-year-old boy, so he has super speed. Violet is body concious and tries to hide by going invisible. Jack-Jack is a baby with nothing but possibility, so ironically he has all possibilities with multiple powers. Frozone wants to be chill and cool.
Inside Robert Parr's cubicle is a danger sign. The image is the lightning bolt of DC Comics' Captain Marvel (SHAZAM!) using the red of his uniform instead of the gold. It is in the distinctive shape of the Marvel family (Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel, Jr., and Black Adam), not that of the various Flash costumes. When Mr. Incredible gets his new fancy car, the emblem on the hood is in the triangular shape of the Golden Age Superman symbol. The black ray-like vehicle that delivers Mr. Incredible to the island is a reference to the Black Manta, an enemy of Aquaman and member of the Legion of Doom. Gazerbeam is a direct reference to both Marvel Comics's Cyclops of the X-Men (the eye-beam/visor) and Daredevil (secret identity of lawyer Matt Murdock).
Just before Bob is nearly killed by the first robot, he lets out a chuckle before using his powers to defeat it. Later in the film, when his son Dash is about to succumb to the flying henchmen, he chuckles when he discovers he can run on water. In both instances, father and son share the same laugh, before using their powers to defeat the bad guys.
When Bob and Frozone are in the jewelry store a police officer points a gun at them it is a rare instance of a Disney/Pixar film showing a weapon being pointed at someone
The short film shown on disc 2 shows Jack-Jack's superpowers and Syndrome entering the home as a babysitter (still in costume).
When Bomb Voyage attaches a bomb to Buddy (later Syndrome), it foreshadows what happens to Buddy (Syndrome) later, when his cape gets snagged by a jet engine.
Syndrome is easily considered one of the darkest and most evil villains in a film by Pixar alongside Hopper from A Bug's Life (1998).
Edna Marie "E" Mode was modelled after Linda Hunt in Ready to Wear (1994).
Edna Marie "E" Mode's speech "no capes" is a foreshadowing of Syndrome's death, as his own cape is snagged on a jet engine.
Studio Trademark - (Self Improvement) Pixar's films have a recurring motif of self improvement. in this film, Bob prefers to work as a superhero alone. In the end, he realizes the importance of teamwork and lets his family help him.
After hearing Mirage's (false) mission briefing about the escaped robot, Mr. Incredible briefly guesses that the machine became too intelligent and decided to stop following outside orders. This foreshadows the finale: the robot realises it is being overridden by Syndrome's remote and tries to destroy it.
One of three films where Pixar's Joe Ranft voiced a character where he's simply listed under Additional Voices. The others being Toy Story (1995) and Monsters, Inc. (2001).
After Buddy indirectly causes Bomb Voyage to get away and a train track to get destroyed, Mr. Incredible gives him to the police to escort him home. Buddy is then placed into a cop car while still wearing his Incrediboy outfit. This foreshadows Buddy's dark future as the criminal mastermind/super-villain Syndrome.
