First Term Paper Outline: The Incredibles

Introduction

A. Animated Feature Film:  The Incredibles (116 min)

B. Thesis- Although this Pixar film presents a creative world of endless possibilities, the physics found within The Incredibles goes well beyond the natural laws, so that the audience invests itself into the fantastic, yet believable, story about a family of superheroes.

Body Paragraphs:

1. Exaggerated Paths of Action and Timing

- Timing of car chase in the beginning between Mr. Incredible and the robbers is inconsistent. Mr. Incredible is traveling at almost 65+ mph down a city street where in one shot he notices a little old lady asking for help and is a good 10 feet away, then in the next shot looks as if he is about 30-40 feet away.

- Mr. Incredible stops the two robbers when their getaway car collides with a tree Mr. Incredible throws down in front of them. The collision would easily send the two robbers out of the front windshield, yet their upper bodies simply lay out of their respective windows and they weren’t even wearing seatbelts.

2. Frozone’s Ice

- Frozone’s ice beams and pathways generates massive amounts of snow out of the water in the air. However, once the ice melts a few seconds afterwards, there is no trace of any water in the city einvironment.

- After the police officer is frozen by Frozone in the bank robbery scene, his whole body is frozen yet his eyeballs can still move.

3. The Lava at Syndrome’s Layer

 - At Syndrome’s secret Volcano layer, Mr. Incredible fights off one of his prototype robots near a pit of molten lava and successfully dodges a hit causing the robot to fall in the lava.

-The rate at which the robot hits the lava is very cartoon like where it falls at a rapid rate but only creates a small splash of lava. The robot also pops back up very fast, holds, and then slowly sinks down into the lava.

Conclusion

-The laws of physics are broken often, yet subtly, throughout the film.

-The subtle breaking of these natural laws is what makes Pixar’s films so appealing and believable to audiences. It creates world much like our own but with a bit of cartoon elements here and there to remind you that you are in a different world with familiar qualities to our own world outside of the movie theatres.