As usual with Pixar, the film was beautiful, gorgeously animated, and the characters were all fun to watch onscreen. The jokes were funny, often very funny, and the action was pacey, though the film was surprisingly long for an animated picture at slightly shy of two hours, allowing the story to be fully fleshed out and never feel hurried. But unlike ‘Nemo,’ which was a showcase for lovely underwater effects with a plot tagged on, or ‘Monsters Inc,’ which was a gag reel with a plot tagged on, ‘The Incredibles’ felt like a proper movie, with an excellent script and a full cast of real characters. It could have been shot with live actors – the animation was second to the story and not the other way around. This is a very good thing.

The film is about a world in which, following a series of high-profile law suits, superheroes are banned from using their powers in public in case they injure anyone and, shunned by society, are forced into an equivalent of the witness relocation scheme, to live out new lives as normal citizens. So Mister Incredible, one time celebrity and hero of the downtrodden, finds himself working as an insurance clerk at a city firm, with a receding hairline and a bulging waist. The early scenes are the most pleasing – the sight of Mister Incredible’s massive frame squeezed behind a desk in a tiny office cubicle was a visual joy, as was the family argument over the dinner table, which descended into a super-powered brawl. Bored, depressed, his kids getting into trouble for abusing their powers at school, his wife seemingly content with her new suburbanite lifestyle, Mister Incredible spends his nights sitting in a cramped car with a super-friend, listening to crime reports over a police radio and reminiscing about the old days. Then a tempting offer to fight evil anonymously in a far-off locale is made, a new nemesis shows up, and he is able to be himself once more, learning lessons about responsibility and the importance of family at the same time.

But just because the story is more mature, and the colours of the first half drab and muted, is not to say that those ingredients that make Pixar what they are have been left out. There is a steady rate of humour, though most of it is character based or slapstick rather than one-liners, and the second half is as colourful and full of visual treats as any of their previous outings, especially in portraying the hero powers.

Elastigirl’s big fight scene, in which she takes on armed henchmen in several rooms at once, while stuck between metal doors, is particularly enjoyable. The characters are all amusing and memorable, despite being ‘human’ rather than toys, monsters or fish, but also possess the extra depth of real people. Mister Incredible especially is great to watch, a disgruntled Homer Simpson with super strength, and Holly Hunter is as good here as in any of her live roles.

I recommend seeing this at the cinema if it is still out when you read this, as the lovely animation deserves to be seen on a big screen. And if you enjoy it then you should try and watch ‘Mystery Men,’ an underrated classic and superior super-hero comedy, which like this draws its humour from the pathos of under-achieving heroes.