character equals function is a great way to put it ... one script I admire greatly is THE INCREDIBLES, which has a neat yet unpredictable structure in which every character has a function that reflects on the story as a whole ... yet the story is, at its essence, about the characters ... one of the best that intertwining the two I've ever read ...

I think it's nearly a seven act piece, too ...

Love that film.

I thought The Incredibles was great. In fact, some of my favorite movies in the last decade or so have been animated -- from Toy Story 2 to Finding Nemo to the aforementioned Incredibles. It's amazing to me how Pixar uses simple plot conceits and highly recognizable character types, yet manages to spin entertaining and engaging movies, each with lots of character depth and nifty plot twists.

Since I've got a 17 year-old and an 8 year-old, I've seen almost every animated movie that's been released in the last 2 decades. Plenty of bad ones, but when they're great, they're really top notch stuff.