Even superheroes live in litigious times.

		'The Incredibles' Rating: PG for action violence. Starring: Voices of Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter. Director: Brad Bird. After four-year effort, director's idea about family of superheroes becomes Pixar's latest release

Mr. Incredible saves a man's life and how is he repaid? With a lawsuit from the guy who whines that he didn't ask to be rescued.

That opens the floodgates for other aggrieved would-be victims, and before you can say Mr. Incredible or Elastigirl or Frozone to the rescue, the rallying cry is "Down With Supers!" and superheroes are being forced into the Superhero Relocation Program. They get new names, new towns and faceless jobs where they must keep their powers under wraps.

That's the very smart set-up in the computer-animated "The Incredibles," which then fast forwards 15 years to Mr. Incredible's new, not-so-wonderful life. He's Bob Parr, living with his wife, the former Elastigirl now known as Helen, and their three children in the suburbs.

Bob, who long ago lost his crime-fighting figure, works for a company called Insuricare. After his boss berates him for "writing checks for everyone with a sob story," he squeezes his John Goodman-like body into his teeny car and drives home. He's like a football player gone to seed, with a wall of clippings from his glory days.

His wife, meanwhile, is coping with their teenage daughter, Violet, who hides her face under her long black hair; their 10-year-old son, Dash, who uses his super speed to play tricks on his teacher; and the baby, Jack Jack, who seems like the only normal one in the family. As Dash asks, if his powers are nothing to be ashamed of, why does he have to hide them? And, as Mr. Incredible laments, "They keep creating new ways to celebrate mediocrity."

Everything changes when Mr. Incredible gets a mysterious but lucrative offer that will allow him to stretch his superpowers, and before you know it, he's back in the game. His wife and kids eventually are drawn in, too, and there may be nothing stronger than a family united and working for a common cause -- and against a common, black-hearted enemy.

"The Incredibles," written and directed by Brad Bird ("Iron Giant"), is the latest Pixar movie being presented by Disney. It's the first to have a PG rating and, at 115 minutes, is 15 minutes longer than "Finding Nemo" and not as sweet or as funny.

The story, set in Bird's 1960s vision of the future, is like an overflowing combo platter -- superhero rescues here, the stultification of the adult workplace there, a side of James Bond, a bit of "Spy Kids" and enough imagination and energy for a half-dozen movies. Bird answers the question, for instance, about who designs superhero costumes and why she doesn't favor capes and how a nemesis is born.

The colors and details are eye-popping, the choice of voice talent inspired -- Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson and Jason Lee lead the way -- and the animation as dazzling as anything in "Nemo." The matching of superpower with character is inspired, and it's fun to watch how Helen, for instance, uses her Elastigirl powers when vacuuming or trying to control chaos at the dinner table. Her arms stretch like rubber bands or the limbs on a next-generation Betty Spaghetty doll.

I think the movie might have been better with one less twist and more Samuel L. Jackson, whose voice and personality nearly burst through his cartoon character, Frozone. But, in the end, it's still incredibly entertaining.