Can Pixar Animation do any wrong? Believe the hype, for it seems they can’t. The producers of Finding Nemo and Monster’s Inc. exceed expectation with a rollicking family adventure that is, well, incredible. In a world that no longer welcomes superheroes, Mr and Mrs Incredible have been forced to leave their old lives behind and hide in the suburbs. He finds dull work in a cubical farm while she tries to keep a lid on their incredible kids. All is frustratingly ordinary until a psychotic nemesis plans mass destruction and the only people who can stop him are forced into action. Cue superpowers and snap on spandex – there’s a world to save! Pixar’s first feature to star ‘people’ presents a dazzling array of digital effects under the faultless direction of Brad Bird (The Iron Giant). It’s a spectacle in the truest sense of the word yet beyond the neon-glow The Incredibles is so much more than a whirl wind of noughts and ones: Bird appreciates the strength of story. This is a darker outing for the Pixar people and is better for its cloudy heart wherein lies a human story (super strength and stretchy arms notwithstanding) of family in adversity, and a coming of middle-age. Which is not to say your seven year old nephew won’t enjoy the uproar - in fact the hilarious squabbling is just like being at home - it’s just that you won’t need him as an excuse to go. The Incredibles is an exceptional super-story and convincing family movie all rolled into the lunacy of a Gilliamesque world – a hell of a trick to pull off. // COLIN FRASER