Out of all the Pixar shorts featuring characters from their feature films, this is the best one. Originally included as bonus material on THE INCREDIBLES DVD, the short actually began as a scene in the movie, but was cut when Brad Bird felt it was funnier to reveal Jack-Jack's powers at the end of the film.
The bookend story features Kari, the Parr's babysitter, being interviewed by secret agent Rick Dicker about what happened when she was babysitting Jack-Jack. At first Kari reassures Mrs. Parr (aka Elastigirl) over the phone that she can handle anything the baby can throw at her. Well, soon Kari will discover how over her head she is when little Jack-Jack starts to wreck havoc in the house with his superpowers. As Kari frantically tries to take control of the situation, the events lead up to the final events in THE INCREDIBLES feature.
As a short, the story stands on its own, but is enhanced by one's knowledge of the feature. It's funny to see what inspired Kari's distressed phone calls to Mrs. Parr in the feature. The short also allows Brad Bird to expand on the Kari character, as well as Jack-Jack and Syndrome. Bret "Brook" Parker, an animator at Pixar, does a great job of voicing the squeaky voiced "professional" babysitter. Jason Lee gets the funniest line in the short with his return as Syndrome. As a parallel story to THE INCREDIBLES, it adds a nice extra note to the Pixar classic.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
