Out of all of the characters inPixar's "Incredibles," I have the most un-incredible view of Mr. Incredible himself. I value trust in relationships which is probably why I have such an issue with him. He lives his entire life lying to his family in the first movie. If my man did that to me we'd have some serious relationship issues to work through. Relationships are built through trust in one another and when someone breaks that trust it's hard to recover.
Mr. Incredible tries to justify his decisions by always saying it's for the greater good and protecting people but for some unknown reason the writers decided to veer away from that storyline and have him take on a job protecting money. Yes, that's right — money. When he accepts this job he lies to his family, puts them in danger, and risks uprooting them all. It wouldn't be the first time he uprooted them either as his wife, Elastigirl, tells during the film.
I will give Mr. Incredible some credit. He was dying inside at his job and by lying to his family he did seem to become more involved in his family's life and somehow less distant. It's an ironic twist seeing as he's living a double life causing a different type of distance between him and his family. This decision represents what gets me the most about Mr. Incredible: he is constantly risking his families safety and happiness because of his own selfish desires.
You're telling me he couldn't just go get a different job to be happy? He had to go out and put his entire family in danger? Why couldn't he become a police officer, a firefighter, or even a social worker? You know anything other then working for the life-sucking insurance company he hated. If he wants to help people then he had many other options. I'm sure the writers could've stuck to the beliefs they started out depicting him with and still have him fighting the bad guys in the end.
While Mr. Incredible is out dining with a beautiful woman, his wife is home taking care of their children believing he's at an insurance conference. He doesn't even show guilt about lying until he thinks his wife and two kids were just blown up. During the movie, Elastigirl thanks him for sticking with it to keep their family safe and he straight up lies to her with no signs of guilt. I cannot understand why the writers started out the movie by depicting Mr. Incredible as this force for helping people only to make him into one of the most selfish men alive. When Elastigirl finally makes it to where he's being held she's completely livid. Mr. Incredible's response? He questions her accusations by saying "How can I betray the perfect woman?"
... But if that's how he felt, then why did you betray her trust to begin with?
Mr. Incredible's family may just be more incredible without him. Thank goodness it's a Disney movie because everything always works out in the end. While the movie ends teaching the hero's to be true to their self I hope Mr. Incredible learns it's not all about him when he has a family to protect. I mean for goodness sake his wife and two oldest almost die when the bad guy blows up their plane. My favorite line in the movie is from Frozones wife at the end when she yells, "The greater good?! I am the greatest good you're ever gonna get."
Maybe Mr. Incredible could learn something from that. And by the looks of the "Incredibles 2" trailers, he may actually gain some serious family man points back. It seems as if the roles may be reversed for Elastigirl and Mr. Incredible. There might just be hope for his character after all and I look forward to seeing the sequel.
