Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Bird's brain

Watching the trailer for "The Incredibles" for the umpteenth time, I thought I recognized something familiar about one of the children's voices. Not the voice, specifically, but rather, its intonations and the way the line was delivered. The "Hey! No forcefields!" line reminded me of Billy — "You stupid dumbhead clutzoid nong-nong!"

Then I started noticing the character design — particularly of the parents when they were in civilian clothes. They too, seemed very familiar. That square head with the hu-hum, stuck-here demeanor of Dad; those backward glances at her impossibly curved hips from Mom... Could it be? Skip? Beverly?

Oh my God, it is! "Incredibles" director Brad Bird not only helmed "The Iron Giant" (one of my favorite movies), but he also directed the greatest cartoon ever — "The Family Dog." My taped-from-TV copy has the credits cut off, so I never realized that Bird was responsible.

With any luck, the success of "Incredibles" will prompt whoever owns the rights to "Amazing Stories" (Dreamworks? It was a Spielberg project, after all) to finally release "The Family Dog" to DVD.

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