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“Sky High”
stars Michael Angarano as Will Stronghold,
the son of two of the greatest superheroes
the world has ever known, Captain Stronghold
(Kurt Russell) and Josie Jetstream (Kelly
Preston). He lives in a comic book world
where superheroes are everywhere and their
offspring need a place to go to high school.
But as you might imagine, not just any high
school will do so we are introduced to Sky
High (I’ll give you three guesses
where its located… think about it
for a minute). At Sky High, students learn
their ABC’s (Arch-villains, Bullets,
and Crime fighting). And as opposed to separating
the men from the boys, it separates the
future heroes from the future sidekicks.
But not all is well in Will’s world
as, for some reason, his powers (whatever
they might be) have yet to surface and he
is embarrassed to admit it to his parents,
who have aspirations of his saving the world
some day. He also finds that Sky High is
like any high school, complete with bullies
and a very dangerous enemy. To make matters
worse, there seems to be a plot afoot that
just might mean the end of Captain Stronghold
and Josie Jetstream.
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Will Will get his powers? Will Will save the
day? Tune in tomorrow (well, actually Friday,
July 29th) to find out!!
When I went to see Disney’s new movie “Sky
High” earlier this week, I had… well,
‘High’ hopes. After all, the film
boasted a cast that included Kurt Russell, Kelly
Preston and Bruce Campbell. What do you mean,
“Who is Bruce Campbell???” If you
don’t recognize the name, you’re not
a true movie aficionado. But fear not, I’ll
fill you in a little later on.
There are so many things I liked about “Sky
High”, that I hardly know where to start.
Since the film is set in a comic book world (not
literally – but as far as I know there are
only super-powered heroes in comics and movies),
the production design is extremely colorful. Everything
from the school to the costumes almost jump off
of the screen. The special effects were also really
well done, adding to some of the more cartoon-ish
aspects of the story.
But any good movie needs more than flashy special
effects and great costumes to make it worth seeing
(re:Godzilla), it also needs a good screenplay.
“Sky High” was written by Paul Hernandez
and Robert Schooley, the latter of which having
cut his teeth on the animated series “The
Real Ghostbusters”, and “Kim Possible”,
as well as the sequels to Disney’s “Aladdin”,
and “The Lion King.” The two crafted
a storyline that was far funnier and entertaining
than I expected.
What was especially endearing to me about the
film was that while it might not have been very
original at its core, this was saved by the creativity
of the writers. What I mean to say is that they
took a fresh take on an old story. If you take
away the superhero aspects, you have a movie about
a kid going to high school, trying to be accepted,
hanging out with the nerds, being accepted by
the jocks, being hit on by the popular girl, turning
his back on the nerds, dismissing the girl who
loves him, then hopefully gets his head back on
straight by the end of the film.
What’s funny about this simplistic look
at the script is that I was talking to a friend
after watching the movie, and we both agreed we
felt like we had just watched a 1980’s John
Hughes film. We loved the concept and the direction
it took, however by taking this formula and putting
it into a superhero format. Something else that
added to the feel of those 80’s teen flicks,
was a soundtrack comprised of nothing but brand
new remakes of songs that were used in those movies.
There were versions of Tears for Fears’
“Everybody Wants to Rule the World”
by Christian Burns, The English Beat’s “Save
it for Later” by Flashlight Brown, Modern
English’s “Melt With You” by
Bowling for Soup, and my personal favorite The
Smiths’ “Please, Please, Please Let
Me Get What I Want” by Elefant. I don’t
know if everyone caught this, but I’m sure
the older fogies like me did.
Of course, the film would be nothing without some
good actors, and everyone had a lot of fun with
this one. Both Kurt Russell and Kelly Preston
did a great job as the over expectant super hero
parents, and as the film’s star, Michael
Angarano held his own admirably. Originally I
thought he was a newcomer, but it turns out the
17 year old has been working in films since he
was 3. He’s had roles in numerous movies
including “Music from the Heart” and
“Seabiscuit”, though this appears
to be his first starring role.
Most of the other teenagers in the cast they might
have been taken from any Disney series, but they
were all really good. The standout though was
newcomer Steven Strait. He plays Warren Peace
(yeah… I know), the son of one Commander
Stronghold’s arch-villains. Since the Commander
put papa in prison, Warren has it out for Will.
His power is to create and control fire and the
scenes where he uses his power look awesome. The
combination of the special effect and Strait’s
performance make for some impressive sequences.
Now then, on to Bruce Campbell. He stars as Coach
Boomer, and while I loved his role, I think he
was still a bit underused. For those of you who
really don’t know who Campbell is, he is
a cult figure to thousands of fans worldwide (myself
included) for his stature in the B-Movie industry.
He is simply, the BEST B-Movie actor in the business,
though it’s not necessarily fair to pigeonhole
him in that acting arena. He’s actually
had roles in numerous TV shows like “Ellen”
and “Homicide”, was the lead in the
unfortunately short-lived “Adventures in
Briscoe County” and “Jack of All Trades”,
and has done a bit of directing (including some
episodes of “Xena”). And to top it
all off, he’s an all around nice guy.
(If you would like a heaping helping of Bruce
Campbell goodness, just watch the trilogy of “Evil
Dead” films, and then check out both the
“Briscoe County Jr.” and “Jack
of All Trades” TV series. That should get
you started. After that you might take a look
at the IMDB.com website to find out where else
you can see him, and I guarantee you’ll
want to. Then for extra credit, read his books,
“If Chins Could Kill” and “Make
Love the Bruce Campbell Way.” You won’t
regret it.)
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a
couple of other actors who really helped to make
the film. Dave Foley (“Kids in the Hall”)
shows up as a teacher at “Sky High.”
He used to be Commander Stronghold’s sidekick,
and as such teaches Sidekick classes. Ooops…
I mean Superhero Support classes. Then, there’s
Wonder Woman herself… Lynda Carter. She
stars as (ready for this?)… Principal Powers.
(Get it?) And though she only has a few scenes,
she has fun with them nonetheless.
As a whole I’m pleased to say that “Sky
High” is a thoroughly entertaining movie.
There are a lot of laughs, some really exciting
action sequences, and villains that looked look
they popped right out of a “Power Rangers”
episode. This is one that I would recommend for
the whole family.
Directed by: Mike Mitchell
Starring: Michael Angarano, Danielle Panabaker,
Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kurt Russell, Kelly Preston,
Bruce Campbell, Steven Strait, Dave Foley
Studio: Disney
Opens: 7/29/2005
Website
We'll give Sky High an A.
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