Welcome to Ranked, where I give a surely controversial ranking of a series of films, whose reviews aren’t long enough to warrant separate posts, so I group them all together here.
Today we’re talking about one of the most successful, but thorny directors in animated film history, Brad Bird. To give an idea of how thorny he is, Bird’s next film will be with Skydance Animation, run by former Pixar head and noted creep, John Lasseter. I realize they’re the only people willing to give Bird a Blank Check right now, but yeah, not great…
And note, this will be a large post, too large to fit in one email, according to Substack. As always, you can find the full post on the actual website.
#6:
Five years on I still can barely figure out what to think of this movie. But what I think what it comes down to, is this movie just shouldn’t be good, but it should be great. And yet, it isn’t.
Is it because this movie is about a wondrous place that doesn’t really exist anymore, besides the opening flashback sequence? Is it because what they offer you instead in the journey to get back there, is an incredibly generic adventure? Is it because what the movie is trying to say is incredibly muddled at best? Or is it because George Clooney is weirdly in love with a little girl in this movie?
I know the film still works well enough for a bunch of people, but whenever I even think of this movie, I can’t help but see all the missed potential.
2.5/5 Stars
⭐️⭐️✨
Currently Ranked:
#4/#11 in “Film Adaptations of Disney Attractions, Ranked”
#5:
As much as I watched it when I was younger, which was a lot, the 2004 “Incredibles” movie is kind of hard to go back to for me. Whereas back then, I saw it as a great animated superhero film, now I see less of the fun elements, and instead all the darker elements that are very much there in the film as both text and subtext.
I can still appreciate that film, but it’s a lot less pleasant to watch now than it once was. If nothing else, I think “Incredibles 2”is an extremely fun film that is lighter, but still has some weighty themes in the background.
Sure, the plotting does feel a lot more haphazard this time around, certainly not being worthy of the 14-year gap between movies. That said, the action and comedy is spectacularly well choreographed. And for that reason alone I think it has more rewatchability than any of Pixar’s other sequels this decade.
This is just a great franchise that can be very open and malleable in terms of where it goes in the future. If Brad Bird doesn’t want to make Incredibles 3 that’s fine, but also these films are the most where I tolerate his bullshit Ayn Randian philosophy that made projects like “Tomorrowland” so not fun and preachy.
What exactly is this story about the Screen Slaver and Incredibles’ fight for legalization, did Brad Bird feel like he HAD to tell? And why exactly did he feel the need to pick this movie up exactly where he left off, and end this movie again with Violet never having her date with Tony Rydinger?
If there is an Incredibles 3, I hope we’re able to have a jump in time to see this family working together as a cohesive family unit, finally. Maybe you could do a story where Violet is going off to college and doesn’t want to continue in the family tradition of superheroes? Maybe there can be balance between the darkness of Syndrome, and the forgettable nature of the Screen Slaver.
All that said though, picking up where we left off does give us the film’s best element, Jack-Jack. Although it’s just a subplot, I enjoyed every second of the family discovering Jack-Jack’s ever-crazier set of powers and realizing even this baby can be a contributor to the team, instead of someone who has to be babysat. From the Raccoon fight, to the briefest hints of his ability to travel to other dimensions, these were by far the scenes that worked best for me, and I laughed hysterically every time it got crazier.
I also loved the action scenes more this time around. In the first film, the action was very basic and rudimentary for creative ways to use the powers shown, also being held back by how basic the animation was back then. But here, everything is cranked to eleven, showcasing how crazy an Elastigirl chase can get, or really mixing things up by adding a character that can create portals, which creates all sorts of cool visuals.
Finally, while I critized the overall story, I do think there is a lot more thematic depth here than people are giving it credit for. After all, a lot of the interpretations of the first ‘Incredibles’ came along well after that film came out, and people were able to absorb and study it more.
That reading of Syndrome being an entitled fanboy for instance, didn’t get put out there until very recently. And while I don’t know if this film is that deep, where we’re going to be analyzing it for years to come, there is some good stuff in here.
You can’t tell me there isn’t depth, when characters are debating about following and breaking the law verses what is good and bad, when we’re having that same debate hardcore in America as we re-examine law enforcement in our society. Maybe the film has too much on its mind for any one thing to land, but there is stuff there in-between all the superhero antics and baby having a brawl with a raccoon.
4/5 Stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Currently Ranked:
#12/#26 in “Pixar, Ranked”
#4:
After I saw “Coco,” somebody remarked to me how they thought it was really dark for a Pixar movie, since it has a murder plot, and they show a character get crushed by a bell. Well, after watching this film it’s retroactively a “hold my beer” to Pixar being dark, because this movie is DARK. Characters get tortured, genuinely cry over presumed dead loved ones, grab characters by the throat with violent intent, are under constant real threat of death, and then there’s that whole marriage trouble thing. So yeah, a lot crazier than I remembered.
That said, I still have a weird hangover with this movie, where I watched it so much when I was younger, that watching it years later as an adult doesn’t have that rediscovering factor I wanted. What was different was the tone and animation style since the Pixar of fourteen years ago has aged shockingly rough, as scenes can also feel pre-rendered by today’s standards.
That said, the ways they’re able to contort Helen Parr to be a parachute or a boat still give me a chuckle. Other than that though, the story and dialogue are still engrained in me so much that it simply doesn’t play as well as it once did.
4/5 Stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Currently Ranked:
#11/#26 in “Pixar, Ranked”
#4 in “My 10 Favorite Films of 2004”
#3:
Ratatouille remains one of Pixar's most solid, yet ultimately unspectacular films. It's still an amazing achievement that Brad Bird turned what should be a silly concept into a tale of dreams and the importance of criticism. But most of what separates “Ratatouille” from just being a really well-done film that's fun for both kids and adults, comes in the last 10-15 minutes, leaving the rest of the film to go through rather standard story beats.
Those great parts are really great though, including an amazing voice performance from Peter O’Toole. I never noticed this before because it’s said off screen, but because Ego wrote such a glowing review of Gusteau’s, then it was shut down due to the rats, he basically lost his job and reputation as a critic. So he fulfilled his statement that the most perilous thing a critic can do is stand up in defense of the underappreciated, because it cost him his career. But like the movie says, he seems to be doing alright investing in the new restaurant.
4/5 Stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Currently Ranked:
#10/#26 in “Pixar, Ranked”
#6 in “My 10 Favorite Films of 2007”
#2:
“Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol” will have its own dedicated post, when I run through the rest of the franchise next month. For now though, I’ll say this is by far Bird’s best live-action film, because he’s just making a very good entry in this franchise. It’s perhaps drawled by the subsequent films, but this still has some of the best action set-pieces of the decade, if not in Cinema history.
4/5 Stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#1:
For a career marked by mostly making very good films to great films, it’s interesting that in my opinion Brad Bird never made a film half as good as this again. That’s not to say anything of the quality of “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol,” “The Incredibles,” or “Ratatouille,” all of which are very good to great films.
It’s just that this is his masterpiece. His “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.” His ultimate work advocating peace, and being a good person. Most of Bird’s other films concern extraordinary individuals trying to make the world a better place, but run up against society’s acceptance of them, which is in keep with his Ayn Randian philosophy. This is really the only one of Bird’s films where a character make the choice to be good.
Who knows his exact purposes and origins are, but it’s clear that The Iron Giant was made as a weapon of mass destruction. As the finale slowly unveils what he’s capable of, The Iron Giant himself becomes pretty scary. He’s carrying a seemingly unlimited arsenal of advanced weaponry, and is virtually indestructible. He’s the entire invasion force of “War of the Worlds” wrapped into one machine.
But because of the friendship lessons he learns with Hogarth, The Iron Giant discovers he can be something more. He doesn’t have to be the weapon, he can be the hero. He can be Superman, if he chooses. That’s the ultimate power of the film to me, and always has been.
When I first saw this, I remember my mom taking my little sisters out of the room, because even before the finale, everything was too intense for them. Which by the way, is one of the reasons this film failed initially, and was only discovered later. But for me when I watched it for the first time, when that finale hits and everything escalated so quickly, culminating in Iron Giant making that choice to be good, I think that moment became one of the first times I ever cried at a film. It’s heavy stuff, and it remains even more so as an adult, as you’re fully grasping all the themes Bird is working with.
It’s genuinely-earned life and death stakes in this ostensible kids film. It’s playing off of humanity’s collective fear that the consequences of inventing weapons of mass destruction could come back to kill us all at any moment. That’s still an ever-present fear in the background nowadays, but this was a visceral, often-discussed and prepared-for possibility during the 20th century. Some leader in power would have a bad day, then decide to extinguish all life on earth with virtually no warning.
Take the character of Kent Manley, who represents the darkness of humanity that was fueling the Cold War. Any sane human did not want to launch ‘The Bomb,’ because they knew it would mean the end of all life on Earth. But for the people like Manley, the Cold War represented American Exceptionalism to the extreme, a belief that’s very much a part of our government today. They believe America is best, the white male part of it specifically, and everybody who’s not on board with that fact, is our enemy.
Even though Kent is in a literal cartoon here, he’s never a cartoon character of this idea, like Michael Shannon plays in “The Shape of Water.” Here you get where Kent is coming from, and you’re terrified of him. He’s representative of a very real threat that remains omnipresent in America even to this day.
There’s also great details the character of Kent is given, like he believes in the obviously bullshit American Propaganda that ducking and covering will protect you from the most destructive force ever created by mankind. Even better, he reveals he’s not really in it for the Patriotism, and is instead only in it for himself, and his brand of Patriotism is just extension of that. Again, does that remind you of an entire political party nowadays?
I could probably keep diving into everything the film brings up in its lightning quick 80 minute runtime, but for now, I’ll just say more people need to watch this movie! It has its cult following sure, but it deserves to be remembered so much better as the modern animation classic that it is.
1999 has been an oft-discussed pivotal year in cinema, having so many groundbreaking classics from both old masters and new voices. In making a best films of 1999 list, there’s no shortage of great films to choose from. Yet, more adult films like “The Matrix,” “Fight Club,” “Eyes Wide Shut,” are always the most praised, and have had many people claiming or reclaiming them. This film meanwhile still feels lost in the shuffle. It deserves better than that, as one of the most staggering works in animated film history.
5/5 Stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
An Inductee into “The Five-Star Club”
Currently Ranked:
#1 in “My 10 Favorite Films of 1999”
