THE INCREDIBLES

THE INCREDIBLES is a zippy, heartfelt multiple superhero story that manages to be very funny without mocking its subject matter. Director/writer Brad Bird plays with the genre without ever breaking bits off of it (okay, maybe he rips a cape or two).

As we see in the opening sequence, once upon a time, Mr. Incredible (voiced by Craig T. Nelson), his bride Elastigirl (voiced by Holly Hunter), their pal Frozone (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson) and a host of other "supers" protected their secret identities while saving the world, taking on everything from supervillains to cats stuck in trees. But then lawsuits start, people get paranoid and there's a fierce backlash.

Cut to 15 years later. Mr. Incredible is now stuck full-time as Bob Parr, an insurance adjuster who's too compassionate for his own good. Helen still uses her Elastigirl abilities around the house, but she worries that any display of superpowers will trigger bad consequences. This attitude makes life tough for the Parr kids, Violet (voiced by Sarah Vowell), who can make herself invisible and throw up a forcefield, and little Dash, who can run faster than a speeding ... well, you know. Only baby Jack-Jack isn't straining to cover up his true nature.

In fact, Bob actually can't bear to sit back and do nothing, so he and Lucius Best (formerly Frozone) listen to the police scanner for crimes in progress, getting in and out before anyone can catch their superhero identities, much less their real ones. Then one of their evenings out backfires and Lucius doesn't want to play any more, Bob loses his job for being too good-hearted ... and a mysterious woman (voiced by Elizabeth Pena) invites Bob to rescue an evacuated island laboratory from a marauding giant robot.

We can guess where this is going eventually, the superpowered family is going to have to come together, rescue each other and realize they've got a good thing going here but it's a delightful journey, with a wonderfully thought-out universe, a well-motivated villain (voiced with the proper snottiness by Jason Lee), great special effects and witty, enjoyable details, like the tiny designer of superhero costumes, Edna Mode (voiced by Bird), who is quite the diva. The action sequences are fantastically designed, with the CGI form perfectly suiting Elastigirl's versatile skills and Violet's shimmering energy shield.

The characters are also extremely likable, with Nelson and Hunter playing it big but straight, which makes it all the more amusing we enjoy hanging out with them. As with Bird's earlier, traditionally animated THE IRON GIANT, we're in an environment that suggests the '50s, which has been meticulously and humorously envisioned in both its "real" and science-fiction aspects.

The movie's message gets a bit garbled at the end, as after all the exhortations about the need to be yourself and do your best in the face of others who insist on conformity, there is a suggestion of don't ask/don't tell in the ending. However, THE INCREDIBLES is overall a winning synthesis of technological splendor, mutant magic and family bonding, a blend that's incredibly hard to resist.