Movie Musings: Disney and More

Simply Incredible

On November 5, 2004, Disney and Pixar released a film called The Incredibles. The film told a story about a family of superheroes, despite attempting to live a quiet suburban life, team up for an adventure to save the world from evil. On the way, they discover what makes themselves unique both individually and as a family. It was the very first film that Disney produced with Pixar that told a story in which the main characters were humans, and it won two Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature and Best Sound Editing. And on June 15th, 2018, the family Incredible will finally be coming back to movie theaters in Incredibles 2 (2018). Many of the cast and crew members from “The Incredibles,” have worked on other films for the Disney Studios as well, both before and in between production of the “Incredibles,” films.

Craig T. Nelson was the voice of the family patriarch Mr. Incredible in “The Incredibles,” otherwise known as Bob Parr, and he will reprise his role for the sequel. Before he lent his voice to Mr. Incredible he won one Emmy and received four Golden Globe nomination for his role as Coach Hayden Fox in the ABC sit-com Coach (1989-1997). The same year that “Coach,” went on the air, he appeared in the Touchstone Pictures film Turner & Hooch (1989) with Tom Hanks and 20 years after that, he was in Touchstone’s The Proposal (2009) with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. Nelson also played Dr. Rovinsky in Soul Surfer (2011), and in addition to “Incredibles 2,” he has a part in the upcoming comedy Book Club (2018) which reunites him with Diane Keaton, whom he worked with in The Family Stone (2005) and Mary Steenburgen who played his wife in “The Proposal.”   

Holly Hunter provided the voice of the fiercely independent, though loving wife and mother, Mrs. Incredible, and she also will voice the character in the sequel. Before lending her voice to Mrs. Incredible, like Craig T. Nelson, she acted in two different Touchstone Pictures film also. She played Penny Wharvey McGill in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), opposite George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson and then she played Mona Camp in Moonlight Mile (2002) opposite Dustin Hoffman and Jake Gyllenhaal. In “Brother,” she was directed by Ethan and Joel Coen. Having been roommates with Coen brothers in the early 1980s, Hunter’s first leading female role was in the Coen brothers’ romantic comedy Raising Arizona (1987). The same year, she starred in Broadcast News (1987), which earned her first Academy Award Nomination as Best Actress. (Her “Broadcast News,” co-star Albert Brooks, was the voice of Marlin in Finding Nemo (2003) which was released the year prior to “The Incredibles.”) She lost that year to Cher in Moonstruck, though she won six years later for the film The Piano (1993), making her the only “Incredible,” to win an Oscar.

Samuel L. Jackson voiced the Incredibles best friend Frozone, and he will be back for the sequel as well. Jackson was the narrator for the Disneynature film African Cats (2011). He is known for portraying the role of Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe including the films: Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), The Avengers (2012), Captain America: The Winder Soldier (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Avengers: Infinity War (2018). He also portrayed the character in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013-present) and will do it again in the upcoming films Captain Marvel (2019) and Avengers 4 (2019). Jackson is also known for portraying Jedi Master Mace Windu in the Star Wars prequel trilogy: The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002), and Revenge of the Sith (2005). He received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar Nomination for his performance as Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction (1994).

Jason Lee lent his voice to the character of Buddy Pine, who grew up to be the villainous Syndrome in “The Incredibles.” After voicing the main antagonist in the film, he voiced the heroic Underdog in the live-action/CGI animatronic Disney film Underdog (2007). He also acted in Buena Vista’s Enemy of the State (1998) opposite Gene Hackman and Will Smith, Touchstone’s Mumford (1999), Mirimax’s Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back (2001), Jersey Girl (2004), the last two both of which he starred opposite Ben Affleck. While he will not be returning for the “Incredibles,” sequel, he will have a part in Disney’s upcoming sequel to Wreck-It Ralph (2012), Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 (2018). He also received two Golden Globe nominations for his role as Earl Hickey in the NBC comedy series My Name is Earl (2005-2009).          

Brad Bird is the writer/director of both “Incredibles,” movies. In addition to winning the Best Animated Feature Film for the first “Incredibles,” he won a second Best Animated Feature Oscar for Ratatouille (2007) and directed the “Incredibles” short film Jack-Jack Attack (2005), which was released as a special feature on the ’05 DVD release of the first “Incredibles.” He was the voices of Edna Mode the superhero costume designer in “The Incredibles,” and Ambrister Minion in “Ratatouille.” Besides animation, he also has directed live-action films including: Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011), the fourth film in the series, and Disney’s Tomorrowland (2015). He made his film directorial debut with Warner Bros. The Iron Giant (1999). (Both “Iron Giant,” and “The Incredibles 2,” featured caricatures of Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston who were members of Walt Disney’s “Nine Old Men.”)

Michael Giacchino composed the music for both “Incredibles,” movies. Before writing music for movies, he began his career writing music for short films and video games such as: Gargoyles (1995) and The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). His music made its feature film debut in the film Sin (2003) with Gary Oldman and Ving Rhames. He reunited with Brad Bird to write the music for “Ratatouille,” “Tomorrowland,” and “Ghost Protocol.” Besides his collaborations with Bird, he has also written the music for a variety of classic Disney animated and live-action films including: Up (2009) which awarded him the Oscar for Best Original Score, Inside Out (2015), Zootopia (2016), and Coco (2017). And he wrote the music for Marvel’s Doctor Strange (2016) and Spiderman: Homecoming (2017). Outside of Disney, Pixar, and Marvel, he wrote the music for Star Trek (2009), Jurassic World (2015), and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018).

“The Incredibles,” is one of Disney/Pixar’s best films. Whether or not the sequel will be as “incredible” as the first remains to be seen. The contributions that each of these people made to the first film made it an absolute blockbuster.