听 Animation house Pixar has gone from strength to strength since Toy Story in 1995, setting themselves apart with keen character sense and streetwise humour. Even so, superhero yarn The Incredibles flies high above the pack with its "wickedly funny" take on family values and the fight for world peace. Critics and moviegoers were swept up in the excitement and writer/director Brad Bird went on to win the 2005 Oscar for Best Animated Picture.
Is It A Bird, Is It A Plane?
It turns out that Brad Bird is even more animated than his CG creations, but even that might be putting it mildly. In a half-hour Making Of documentary witness him yelling wildly at his minions (who dub him "the 800-pound gorilla"), while his producers explain that he isn't as prolific as he might be simply because, as producer John Walker puts it, "He's a handful." Still it's hard not to like Bird who is clearly fuelled by an extraordinary passion for the work and, fortunately for us, recorded much of his experiences at Pixar in a series of video diaries.
Ten behind-the-scenes featurettes utilise more of this footage, which goes as far back as writing the script. Sit in on Bird's sessions with story supervisor Mark Andrews, follow the evolution of the characters from initial concept art, and find out more about set design, sound design, and even lighting. Altogether these featurettes paint a highly detailed and entertaining picture of production.
In one of two audio commentaries, Bird is once again larger than life. Hold on to your ribs as he recounts the crisis meetings convened over the most mundane matters, eg "The broccoli has moved! There is no continuity on the broccoli!"
There are more laughs to be had in a "lost cartoon" titled Mr Incredible And Pals, which is directed in the style of a 50s public information film. It's funny enough on its own but Craig T Nelson and Samuel L Jackson chip in for a hilarious audio commentary (in character as Mr Incredible and Frozone). "They made me a white guy!" howls Jackson, "And why do I have lady lips!" Two more bonus cartoons, Jack-Jack Attack and Boundin', are also brilliantly entertaining.
Making It Fly
Bird provides intros for six deleted scenes put together using animated storyboards that are fully dramatised with dialogue and music. Among them is an alternative opening that finds the Incredibles hosting a back garden barbeque and a dream sequence, which Bird confesses was "a scotch-tape measure" that he was only too happy to cut.
Get the lowdown on all of the supers in the interactive feature Top Secret NSA Files. It's brilliantly well thought out with the 'Most Wanted' including hapless heroes like Everseer - who boasts amazing microscopic vision, but is unfortunately a germophobe. Other features include six galleries for concept art and Incredi-Blunders, a reel of weird and slightly unnerving animation blunders, eg "Look no hands, mom. Literally!"
Spread across two discs, this is a super-sized package of extras that's lovingly assembled and laugh-out-loud funny. The only drawback is that there's very little contribution from the voice talent. It's a minor criticism though because this DVD is guaranteed to have you stuck to the sofa like superglue.
EXTRA FEATURES
The Incredibles DVD is out to buy on Friday 18th March 2005.
