Anya and I were going to see "The Incredibles" on Saturday with some friends as part of a friends birthday celebration, but we were able to convince them to go on opening night at midnight. It wasn't so much the movie that I wanted to see (although I'd been dying to see it) but was instead totally amped to see the Episode III trailer. The trailer had been released on the internet for a few days at this point and I was trying to do my best to avoid watching it on the small screen. I had the trailer loaded at one point and was starting to watch it when Anya convinced me to stop it and to wait for the big screen. I'm glad I did.

First things first, the Star Wars Ep III trailer is pretty incredible. It's a "teaser" trailer which means that it's short in length and only shows a "tease" of what the movie is going to be. But even with the shortness of it, the trailer was very goose bumps inducing. It starts with clips from the old movies while Alec Guiness gives his famous "The Jedi were the guardians of peace..." speech. But after showing the clips of the old movies, you see a hooded Anakin turn around and all I can is "WOW!!!" The first time you see him turn around, I literally got some major goosebumps. The rest of the trailer is a series of clips from the movie that look to me as if Lucas has totally hit the nail on the head with this movie. I think when its all said and done, Ep III will rank right up there with Ep V, maybe even better. They showed a couple of clips from the famous lightsaber duel at the end and all I can is YEAH!!!! The movie looks VERY dark.

As far as "The Incredibles" go....

This may be one of the greatest animated movies I've ever seen. I can't say THE greatest animated movie I've ever seen since I put both "Toy Story" movies and "The Lion King" above "The Incredibles." But the animation and graphics in this movie are literally unlike anything you've ever seen. There are so many shots that seem really dreamlike. It's as if the Pixar people reached into the deepest recesses of peoples imagination and made a movie based on what came up.

The movie is a riff on James Bond, comic book action heroes, mixed in with the tried and tested Pixar sensibilities of appealing to both adults and children.

But this is not your traditional Pixar movie. Whereas older Pixar movies involve talking ants, toys, and monsters, "The Incredibles" is about real people. The world that they live in is real, where real people have real emotions.

The movie can be a bit dark at times. I'd say that in terms of darkness, it's on par with the original "Lion King." Whenever someone dies in the movie, it's almost always off screen. Most of the off screen violence is on par with an old Bugs Bunny cartoon. For example, they're on these flying craft and one will run into a cliff. You won't see the bad guy die necessarily, but you'll see the explosion that erupts from the crash.

There is an implied sex scene, but I don't think kids will pick up on. What happens is the main character starts getting back into shape which translates into him having more energy. So at one point, he comes in the room where the wife is and grabs her hand, leading her off screen. Kids won't pick up on what's happening off screen, but the parents surely will.

I'd say it like this, if you feel comfortable letting your kids watch an episode of the Simpsons, then I'd bring them. But if not, then maybe you should check it out first on your own.