Sky High Review
I have been waiting on this movie to come out for months. Then,
wouldn’t you know it, as soon as it comes out, I get super busy and am
completely unable to go to the movies at all. But I knew I wouldn’t be
disappointed. It looked like it was solid and enjoyable. The characters
are cliche, but fun, and the storyline goes right where you expect it
to, but it is nevertheless a fun family movie. I give Sky High an 8 out
of 10.
Will Stronghold is our main character in this movie. Played by
Michael Angarano, he is a kid coming from middle school into the high
school age and to go along with the normal pressures of high school, he
has 2 superhero parents (played by Kurt Russell and Kelly Preston) so
he has to try and follow in their footsteps by going to the superhero
academy known as Sky High. Not only are they superheroes, but they are
two of the greatest superheroes ever. So, needless to say, there is
quite a bit of pressure. They want him to take on the family business
of fighting crime and become the third in their team to become the
greatest superhero team ever. But the problem is that the first day of
high school is here and Will doesn’t have his powers yet. In fact, he
finds out that he may not ever get his powers. So he is relegated to
the role of sidekick, instead of the role of hero.
But all is not lost, all of Will’s friends are in the sidekick class
with him. So he is comfortable in his role, even if it is not where he
initially wanted to be. The supporting cast is really so-so. Dee Jay
Daniels plays Ethan who can melt. Kelly Vitz plays Magenta who is able
to morph…into a guinea pig. Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Gwen,
Will’s love interest, who is a technopath and can do stuff with
technology that no one else can. Then there are those who oppose Will
at the school. I won’t really go too deep into the list, but Lash can
stretch in a Mr. Fantastic way, Speed can run fast, and Warren Peace
can control and manufacture fire. Now, I put Warren Peace in this same
category as two guys who aren’t really in the same vein as him. Lash
and Speed are just run of the mill jokers, but Warren Peace, played by
Steven Strait, has a score to settle with Will because his father, who
was a supervillain, was put in jail by Will’s father. Also, he isn’t a
throwaway actor. He actually does a pretty decent job. His character is
the brooding loner that you expect a character like him to be, but he
does a good job with it.
Then there are three supporting actors
who are complete opposite ends of the acting spectrum. I will go with
the bad first so that I can talk about the good longer. Nicholas Braun
plays Zach whose superpower is to glow. Not like to blind you, but just
enough to light up a room if it is dark. So it is no surprise that he
is a sidekick. It may have been the writing of his part or the role he
was put into, but his character really got on my nerves. I am not
saying that his comic relief was all bad, but a lot of it really took
me out of the movie. Like the line in the trailer where he asks the
girl if she wants to dance and he is already dancing, when she says no,
he says me neither and stops dancing. Funny, right? It was funnier in
the trailer. I really wanted smarter humor from his character than I
got.
But the humor I enjoyed came from a guy that I love seeing in
movies. The characters he plays are always enjoyable and his timing and
acting chops make him a lot of fun to watch. Who am I talking about?
Kevin Heffernan. Now, you may say who is this? And I will point you to
a few movies. First is his role as Farva in Super Troopers, then there
is the role of the massage therapist Lars in Club Dread, and then to a
movie where he was the one of the only bright spots as Sheev in Dukes
of Hazzard. The guy is getting to that point where he can do no wrong.
He is a quality writer as is evidenced by him being a part of the
writing team of Super Troopers and Club Dread. He is a lot of fun and I
really enjoy seeing him on screen.
He is not the only supporting actor who gets quality points in this
movie. Danielle Panabaker does a really good job in the role of Will’s
next door neighbor Layla. She isn’t going to be winning any awards for
her role, but she hits all the right notes in this one. She has a bit
of a crush on our main character and because of it, she decides not to
use her powers enough to get into the hero class so she can stay with
Will in the sidekick class. I haven’t seen her in anything else but
will be one of the many kids starring in Yours, Mine and Ours coming
out in a few months. So I will be watching to see whether she steals
the show in that one as well.
Then there are the cameo roles by the staff at Sky High. Whoever
cast these people in these roles needs a raise. Bruce Campbell as a gym
coach? Genius. Wonder Woman herself, Lynda Carter as Principal Powers?
Brilliant. And putting 2 parts of Kids in the Hall back together with
Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald as Mr. Boy and Mr. Medulla respectively?
Outstanding. I mean really, they were a lot of fun, and I liked seeing
these people on screen.
The special effects were really well done. Lash, the Mr. Fantastic
character, was not really impressive or anything, but the way it looked
was more what I wanted Mr. Fantastic to be. I really think it looked a
lot better than his Fantastic Four counterpart. The parts where people
were getting thrown or were on fire looked really good. Yes, they were
cartoony, but keep in mind that this is a children’s movie. It is also
a comic book movie, which gives some leeway. It looked a lot better
than Spy Kids and didn’t feel as much like a kids movie as that one
either.
The storyline is a lot of fun and if you give yourself the chance to
delve into the world of Sky High, then it becomes a really enjoyable
film. There are movies where I like to really critique and poke and
prod to see what sticks, but this is not one of those movies. I really
wanted to immerse myself in the movie, and by doing that, I enjoyed it
a lot. And I really think that anyone who gives it that same chance
will feel the same. So it would be a good movie to go see with your
kids or someone who doesn’t care for the violence and profanity of many
of the other movies out there. So I give Sky High an 8 out of 10.