--- description: Dip into the TIME Archive to relive the superhero magic of Brad Bird's Pixar hit title: 10 years later, 'The Incredibles' is still, well, incredible image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7c6e112383c7dde/6987642af887dc9704e87e32/incredibles.jpeg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # After 10 Years, Still _Incredibles_! by [Richard Corliss](/author/richard-corliss/) ## Richard Corliss Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 5, 2014 12:00 PM CUT  This animated image released by Disney Enterprises, Inc. and Pixar Animation Studios, shows a scene from "The Incredibles." The film is one of the most successful Pixar films. (AP Photo/Disney Enterprises, Inc. and Pixar Animation Studios) This animated image released by Disney Enterprises, Inc. and Pixar Animation Studios, shows a scene from "The Incredibles." The film is one of the most successful Pixar films. (AP Photo/Disney Enterprises, Inc. and Pixar Animation Studios)Disney / AP Images by [Richard Corliss](/author/richard-corliss/) ## Richard Corliss Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 5, 2014 12:00 PM CUT A mopey Pixar hero? That was Bob (voiced by Craig T. Nelson), a former superhero retired into a desk job after an ungrateful city tired of paying for his selfless but expensive exploits. As he flips through his scrapbooks, Bob moodily muses that “Reliving the glory days is better than acting like they didn’t happen.” He’s coping with midlife ennui, as his wife Helen (Holly Hunter) and their kids Violet (Sarah Vowell) and Dash (Spencer Fox) must try being ordinary people for a change — not the preternatural family once known as _The Incredibles_. Then an old villain crosses their paths, the world is imperiled, the old superheroes flex their marvels and, as I wrote back then: --- > “” --- The middle entry in an amazing 11-movie run of Pixar triumphs, _The Incredibles_ followed [_Toy Story_](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,983768-1,00.html "undefined"), [_A Bug’s Life_](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,989666,00.html "undefined"), [_Toy Story 2_](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,992704,00.html "undefined"), [_Monsters, Inc._](http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2047557,00.html "undefined") and [_Finding Nemo_](http://entertainment.time.com/2011/06/23/the-25-all-time-best-animated-films/slide/finding-nemo-2003-2/ "undefined") and preceded [_Cars_](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,1194022-1,00.html "undefined"), [_Ratatouille_](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,1630548,00.html "undefined"), [_WALL·E_](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1855948%5F1863826%5F1863827,00.html "undefined"), [_Up_](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1896737,00.html "undefined") and [_Toy Story 3_](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1993864,00.html "undefined"). With this movie, which opened just 10 years ago on Nov. 5, 2004, writer-director Brad Bird became the first artist outside creative director John Lasseter’s original core team to helm a Pixar feature. He also created the first Pixar movie with more-or-less human characters: Bob and his brood. Yes, they could fly (as Bob did in his Mr. Incredible persona), stretch (Helen as Elastigirl), move at lightning speed (Dash) and become invisible (Violet), but they were recognizably an American family with all the usual affinities and stresses. And in Bob, Pixar found another protagonist who — like the goblins in _Monsters, Inc._, Marlin the fish in _Finding Nemo_, gruff Carl Fredricksen in _Up_ and the queen mother in [_Brave_](http://entertainment.time.com/2012/06/21/pixars-brave-the-princess-and-her-unbearable-mom/ "undefined") — suffers the anxieties of real or surrogate parenthood. Turning the special-abilities misfits of Alan Moore’s [_Watchmen_](http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1883200,00.html "undefined") into a mildly dysfunctional family, Bird also borrowed from a half-century of fantasy spy movies; he devised gadgets and supporting characters beyond [the James Bond universe](http://entertainment.time.com/2012/10/05/the-james-bond-films-at-50/ "undefined"). One of these creatures, a “Q”-type couturier named Edna “E” Mode, was voiced by Bird himself with a cutting comic cunning that earned him a spot on [TIME’s Top 10 Pixar Voices](http://entertainment.time.com/2009/05/27/the-voices-of-pixar/slide/brad-bird-the-incredibles-2004/ "undefined"). After _The Incredibles_, which earned an impressive $631.4 million at the global box office (about $750 million today), Bird assumed control of a Pixar project begun by Jan Pinkava — the gourmet rodent tale _Ratatouille_ — that took in $623.7 million worldwide. He then became the first Pixar auteur to make a live-action blockbuster, directing Tom Cruise in [_Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol_](http://entertainment.time.com/2011/12/16/mission-impossible-4-cruise-control/ "undefined"), which expanded on some of the spy toys in _The Incredibles_ and earned $695 million worldwide. (Andrew Stanton, who directed _Finding Nemo_ and _WALL·E_, had less success with [the sci-fi epic _John Carter_](http://entertainment.time.com/2012/03/08/john-carter-andrew-stantons-martian-mission-impossible/ "undefined").) Not content to relive his glory days at Pixar, Bird has embarked on his latest live-action vision: _Tomorrowland_, a fantasy hatched by _Lost_ co-creator Damon Lindelof that is due to hit theaters next Memorial Day weekend. [In the beguiling trailer](http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1457893145?ref%5F=ttvi%5Fvi%5Fimdb%5F1 "undefined"), a young woman (Britt Robertson) touches a mysterious pin and is transported to another realm. She hears an oddly familiar voice: “What if there’s a place, a secret place, where nothing is impossible?” Cut to George Clooney, saying, “You wanna go?” We trust Bird to show us a place where nothing is impossible, since he already made a movie where everything was _Incredibles_. **_Read TIME’s Nov. 2004 review of_** **The Incredibles,** **_here in the archives:_** [**_All Too Superhuman_**](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,725099,00.html "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3556360/after-10-years-still-incredibles/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3556360/after-10-years-still-incredibles/"},"headline":"After 10 Years, Still Incredibles!","datePublished":"2014-11-05T12:00:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:12:41.762Z","description":"Dip into the TIME Archive to relive the superhero magic of Brad Bird's Pixar hit","url":"https://time.com/3556360/after-10-years-still-incredibles/","keywords":["movies","History","Pixar"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7c6e112383c7dde/6987642af887dc9704e87e32/incredibles.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Richard Corliss","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/richard-corliss/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7c6e112383c7dde/6987642af887dc9704e87e32/incredibles.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Incredibles","caption":"The Incredibles","creditText":"Disney / AP Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3556360/after-10-years-still-incredibles/","name":"After 10 Years, Still Incredibles!"}}]}] ```