Film Review: Sky High (2005) B+

Date Viewed: 6/16/06
Venue: DVD

What a blast this movie is. I really wasn’t expecting a teeny Disney movie to be very fun, or funny for an adult, but Sky High is a very entertaining and funny family film.

Will Stronghold, son of legendary superheroes The Commander (Kurt Russell) and Jetstream (Kelly Preston), starts high school at Sky High, a school for superhero kids. Will quickly finds that superhero high is just as clique-ish and angsty as any real world high school.

What works so well here is a very consistent level of humor and respect for the characters. It’s hammy without being too ridiculously campy, like what if John Hughes did a movie about Dr. Xavier’s school in X-Men. The characters and their issues are played straight. Superpowers or not, these are real kids, but I mean, come on, you have to laugh when a kid’s ‘power’ is being able to turn into a guinea pig, or being able to glow, silly stuff like that.

The cast is very strong. Michael Angaranot’s Will is a goodhearted, conflicted everyman. In fact, all the kids here are quite good. I haven’t seen Kurt Russell have this much fun since Big Trouble In Little China. Dave Foley is hilarious as the ‘sidekick instructor.’ And to top it off the mighty Bruce Campbell is here as an overzealous superhero gym teacher.

Of course there is some dramatic action as supervillains take over the school, leaving it up to the kids to save the day. The action is cartoonish, but still dramatic and right on the money thematically.

All in all this is a very fun film, appropriate for all ages, with some laughs, thrills, legitimate teenage angst, and a nice message. If Disney had been putting out this kind of film for the past decade, they wouldn’t need Pixar.