The Michigan Daily discovered in April 2005 that several articles written by arts editor Marshall W. Lee did not meet the newspaper's standard of ethical journalism. Parts of these stories had been plagiarized from other news sources. Although the article below has not been found to contain plagiarism, the Daily no longer stands by its content. For details, see the Daily's editorial.

Sure the animation was groundbreaking, the writing superb and the voice talent unmatched, but when an upstart studio from southern California released a quirky, smart, family-friendly comedy named “Toy Story” nearly a decade ago, very few Friday-night filmgoers suspected that they were sitting in on history. Nobody knew that a cowboy called Woody and a spastic astronaut named Buzz were going to spark a celluloid revolution.

Flash-forward eight years to 2003 and the release of “Finding Nemo.” Heralded as one of the finest American films in recent memory by nearly every critic on the planet Earth, Pixar Studio’s fifth feature film wowed audiences to the tune of $339-million in domestic box office and an Academy Award for writer-director Andrew Stanton. Suffice it to say, expectations for Pixar’s next film were rather astronomical.

But then came Brad Bird, the man behind Warner Bros. critically acclaimed 1999 flop “The Iron Giant,” and his big-hearted story about a family of reformed superheroes struggling to live like normal folk in suburbia. “The Incredibles,” Bird’s four-year labor of love, hit theaters with a vengeance last fall, earning more than $630-million worldwide and garnering a Best Animated Feature statuette for Bird and his Pixar cronies at February’s Academy Awards.

The story goes something like this: After decades of dutiful service and valor, America’s superheroes are being ousted by an ungrateful citizenry. Lawsuits force the flaxen-haired Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) and his wife Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) into a superhero relocation program that leaves them stranded inside the confines of their pastel, suburban-tract home. Mr. Incredible, known to his new friends and neighbors as the mild-mannered, clock-punching claims adjuster Bob Parr, is now sporting a bulging beer-gut and a repressed-hero complex big enough to make any ex-quarterback jealous.

But when a mysterious summons sends Mr. Incredible back into action, the Parr family must band together in order to fight off the evil-doers and once again save the world.

To put it plainly, the movie is simply superb. Bird’s script is a smart, incisive and surprisingly ruthless invective against America’s growing obsession with mediocrity, and the story of a disquieted suburban family coming together to save the world — and themselves — from imminent destruction is a message so timely the film hardly needs all off its brimming wit and warmth to cut straight to our hearts. The animation is top-notch — the characters look like hand-drawn comic book heroes plucked into the digital third-dimension — and the action sequences are filled with the kind of edge-of-your-seat urgency and suspense that Michael Bay could stand to learn a lot from. The picture on the DVD is bright, clear and brilliant, and the sound is crisp and theater-quality.

Similar to the treatment that made “Finding Nemo” a smash hit on DVD, “The Incredibles” is packed with generous special features — everything from commentaries and deleted scenes to storyboard art, bonus bloopers and even an all-new animated short “Jack-Jack Attack,” but it is undeniably the feature that makes this disc worth owning. Bird’s assessment of the intricate script-to-screen process is insightful, and yes, the bloopers are actually funny and cute, but at the end of the day all that really matters is the movie, which is simply incredible.

Ratings:

Film: 5 out of 5 stars

Picture/Sound: 5 out of 5 stars

Features: 4 out of 5 stars