Just shut up and enjoy the goddamn movie

A.O. Scott, New York Times, November 13, 2004:

The intensity with which "The Incredibles" advances its central idea — it suggests a thorough, feverish immersion in both the history of American comic books and the philosophy of Ayn Rand — is startling.

In fact, one particularly surprising and wonderful aspect about the film is how conservative it is in one particular respect. You know how the Disney films are always, always about building self-esteem, e.g., the need to "believe in yourself" and all that? Well, "The Incredibles" is about a world in which superheroes are not allowed to use their gifts because society has decided, in various ways, that mediocrity and avoiding risk-taking are the qualities it wishes to honor.

Some people said it was Ayn Rand or something like that, which is ridiculous. Other people threw Nietzsche around, which I also find ridiculous. But I think the vast majority of people took it the way I intended. Some people said it was sort of a right-wing feeling, but I think that's as silly of an analysis as saying The Iron Giant was left-wing. I'm definitely a centrist and feel like both parties can be absurd... Ninty-eight percent of the people got that stuff the way I intended and two percent thought I was doing The Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged.