The Parrs look just like any other regular middle class family in their suburban neighborhood. Bob brings home the bacon as an insurance claims adjuster, Helen is a dutiful housewife, and their three kids are the expected handful. But in a previous life, Bob was Mr. Incredible, the world’s greatest superhero, and he still longs to save the world, even if that means risking his family’s safe, suburban existence.

The Incredibles is certainly full of big action setpieces and costumed derring-do, and I’d even go so far as to call it one of the top five superhero movies of all time. But it’s also filled with depth and nuance, exploring the tensions that can arise in even a loving marriage, the fraught nature of parenting, the dangers of hero worship, and the meaning of terms like “excellence” and “mediocrity” in a modern society.

That’s an awful lot for a film about spandex-clad superheroes to juggle, but Brad Bird — who also directed 1999’s wonderful The Iron Giant — pulls it off, and then some. Never preachy, but always thrilling and thought-provoking, The Incredibles is arguably my favorite Pixar title.