The Incredibles (2004) - 26 questions

Question: I have three questions. One: When the superheroes are fighting the robot at the end, why couldn't Frozone just freeze it completely? Surely that would've been a whole lot simpler. Two: After Violet and Dash are saved by Mr. Incredible (before they're crushed while under the robot), right after it shows Bob flying through the building. It cuts shots, and there is some green floating stuff in the background. Can someone explain to me what it is? Three: After Violet snatches the remote while invisible, the robot falls to the ground, due to the crossed arms, and when Violet is running to her family, in the background, the robot raises his arm to his head, and waves it up and down. What is it doing?

Answer: Three questions? Three answers! First: Frozone couldn't completely freeze the robot because (as seen in the movie) freezing doesn't work! Frozone tried several times and the robot easily broke free. Second: the "green floating stuff" are green tree branches and leaves in the foreground of the robot. Slow the DVD to frame-by-frame and you'll see it! Third: The robots arm moving up and down was an involuntary mechanical jerking movement due to it crashing. Much like "shaking it off" after you fall. It had a mechanical spasm.

Question: Three questions. Is there anything from Cars in The Incredibles, just like Nemo in Monsters Inc, Mr Incredible in Nemo? Is the Pizza Planet Truck in this movie? Is the Brad Bird who worked on this movie that same Brad Bird that can be seen in the end credits for the Simspons?

Answer: Three answers. (1) Yes, the Hudson Hornet can be seen in the background during the final fight against the Omnidroid, just as Frozone extends his snowboard. (2) Yes, it appears on the highway as the Parrs travel towards the final battle. (3) Yes, it is, Bird worked on the Simpsons from when the show started in 1989 until about 1997.

Question: The trivia for Toy Story 2 said that Andrew Stanton has a voice in every computer animated film. Who does he voice in this movie?

Answer: IMDb just says additional voices, nothing specific.

Question: What are supers? Are they an offshoot of humanity, or an evolved breed of humanity?

Answer: It's never stated.

Question: What exactly ARE Jack-Jack Parr's powers? I don't get it.

Answer: Jack-Jack is a changling. He can be anything he wants to be, hence his changing into various things.

Question: How is Dash Parr able to run across water?

Answer: If any object can move across the water quickly enough, the weight isn't transferred completely. In some Scandinavian countries, they actually DRIVE very quickly across water in adapted vehicles. If the character of Dash could actually run that fast, it is feasible and possible for him to run on the water's surface.

Question: Can someone please explain to me what Violet says when she frees them from the prison? No matter how many times I see this movie, I still don't get it.

Answer: She says "Well, I think Dad has made excellent progress today, but I think it's time we wind down now". It's a joke, pretending to be winding down a counselling session, based on the fact that her father has been baring his soul a bit while imprisoned.

Question: As I have a region four disk, does anyone know a website that has the "Vowellet : An Essay by Sarah Vowell" essay on it?

Answer: You can find the 9 minute video of this on YouTube.

Question: Pixar has only two rules for what to put in their film: The Pizza Planet truck must appear, and John Ratzenberger must have a part of some kind. Though I have found both in Pixar's other five films, I have not spotted either in this one. Where are they?

Answer: The Pizza Planet truck can be seen on the road when the family arrive in the van towards the end of the film. Ratzenburger shows up right at the very end, voicing the Underminer. Pixar actually have a third thing that shows up in each film - the code A113, which refers to a classroom used by animation students at the California Institute of the Arts.

Question: Near the beginning of the film, there is a character named Bomb Voyage who speaks French with English subtitles. What does he say in the French version of the film?

Answer: He says the exact same thing, and in French, but they used a different actor (the actor in the English version speaks with a highly exaggerated and ridiculous accent). Oddly enough though, they kept the English subtitles.

Question: Why does Mr I so often say "showtime"? Is it a reference to another movie?

Answer: Many superheroes have catchphrases; "Showtime" is his.

Question: I have a collectors edition DVD, and on the second DVD it says the first DVD has a thing called "Cars". I couldn't find it. How do you get to it?

Answer: On the Region 2 discs the Cars trailer is located directly off the main menu. On some versions it plays automatically when you put the disc in, so long as you don't press any buttons on the remote.

Question: What year is this movie meant to be set in?

Answer: The only specific dates mentioned in the film are the death dates that Edna mentions for a couple of supers during her rant about capes - both of those are in the late fifties. Both of those heroes are visible at Bob and Helen's wedding, putting their wedding somewhere around 1956 or 57. The main body of the film takes place fifteen years later, putting the action in the early 1970's.

Question: In the big family fight scene at Nomanisan Island, I never understood what Violet was doing with the force field. Could someone explain?

Answer: In that fight scene, two of the enemy blade-fliers are approaching from one side - Violet has set up her forcefield in their path to stop their cannon fire, buying time for her parents to deal with the other fliers first, before turning their attention to the ones that Violet is blocking, rather than having to focus on all the fliers at one time.

Question: What exactly is Bob's job at the start of the film? I know it's something about insurance.

Answer: Bob works in the claims department, dealing with clients who are making a claim on their insurance policy, deciding whether their claims are valid and paying out (or not) accordingly.

Question: Is Vowellet - An Essay By Sarah Vowell on the UK DVD? On Disc One, on the index, it is listed in the Disc Two section but I can't find it anywhere on Disc Two.

Answer: No, despite its appearance on the Disc 1 index, it appears to be missing from the second disc. On the Region 1 DVDs, it appears as a menu item in the "Behind The Scenes" section, but it's been taken out on the Region 2 discs. The most likely explanation is that, for some reason, they were unable to include it on the Region 2 discs, but simply forget to take it off the disc 1 index.

Question: If you go to "Index" on Disc one of the DVD, it lists that on Disc Two there is a feature called "Vowellet : An Essay by Sarah Vowell." However I have searched and searched Disc Two, and I can't find it. Can someone tell me how to find it?

Answer: It is in the 'behind the scenes' chapter.

Question: At the very end, when the boy walks up to Violet, Violet is talking to another girl and saying something that sounds like "Why do they even have to have cheerleaders." Given the film's many political correctness references, is this also a reference to something?

Answer: Traditional cheerleaders are very un-pc for many reasons. They are basically popularity contests, promote beauty/thinness as an ideal, etc.

Question: Why was the password "kronos" written in the underwater cave? And how did Mr Incredible know that was the password?

Answer: It was written there because Gazerbeam had used his powers to carve it into the wall before he died; that's why Mr. Incredible had to align his point of view with the dead man's. When he got to the password screen, he just assumed - correctly, as it turns out - that Gazerbeam would have found it out, and used his last dying moments to leave it behind for someone else to use.

Question: The theme of Greeks comes up a few times in the film. First in Edna's house, on the wall behind the door is a giant Greek mural and the statue outside is a stylised Greek soldier. Then later at the end of the film, there is a close up of a sign reading 'The Spartans' with a hoplite helmet. Is this just coincidence?

Answer: Possibly, but it's probably because the first known "superheroes" came from Greece. Achilles, Hercules etc.