That's Incredible, Steve!

I just finished reading Walter Isaacson's book Steve Jobs. I had never seen the early Pixar animated films that were done when Jobs took over the company after being fired from Apple. We have been ordering DVDs through Netflix and last night we saw The Incredibles (2004) the sixth film produced by Pixar Animation Studies. Here's my review.

My interest in animation comes from my interest in the computer programs and systems (the RenderMan language and the Reyes rendering architecture, in this case) that were used to create the movie. I'll go into more detail in later posts, but the Incredibles advanced over early animations because there was an all-human cast that required new technology to animate detailed human anatomy, clothing, hair and skin. Skin is a particular problem since it is translucent and required the development of a new technique called subsurface scattering.

The plot of the movie involves the trials of a superhero family who have been essentially put into a witness protection program to hide their powers. The video above (which I think is an out-take since I don't remember it from the movie) shows some of the powers of baby Jack-Jack who is left with a teenage baby sitter (being interviewed by Agent Rick Dicker, who reminded me a little of Richard Nixon in the clip above) while the rest of the family is off fighting the movie's villain, Syndrome. In the end, Jack-Jack does the job for them and the clip above shows some of the powers he used.

The movie starts out a little slowly but is very, very funny. My wife and I both loved it. That's Incredible, Steve!