Sky High

Since this is a Disney movie, I guess you'll know what to expect: humour, safe action, some camp, lotsa colour, and a feel good factor. Sky High is all these and, surprisingly, a whole lotta fun too! Sometimes music makes the movie for me, and when I heard "Everybody Wants To Rule The World", I knew the filmmakers had this done right, for a superhero movie that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Sky High refers to a special school hovering up in the sky, where the children of super-beings go to, for an education to learn how to harness their powers. Interestingly, they do not learn whether to use it for good or evil, it's entire up to them (i.e. no moral or social studies here).

Will Stronghold had it tough from the start - being the only child of 2 Superhero parents (most have only 1 parent as a superbeing), he had to uphold both his parents and the general population's expectation of his perceived abilities, which he knows is, none. What's more, his parents are the most powerful of them all, and everyone in school naturally gives respect to his family name. Alas, here's where the fun starts.

There are plenty of one-dimensional characters, like the school pranksters, the loner with an attitude, the most popular girl in school, the cheerleader, the coward, the Haves and the Have-nots. Rather, make that the Heroes and the Losers/Sidekicks. Like local schools, Sky High segregates lessons between those with heroic-like powers (super strength, speed, ability to fly, etc) and those with more benign and less powerful abilities. However, my favourite scenes are those lessons with the Hero-Support group (a more politically correct term for Sidekicks), taught by a teacher, whom I suspect is a jab at a grown-up Burt Ward Robin.

While this is mainly a kid's show, there are more adult themes thrown in. Though adults would probably get tired with the Loser to Hero storyline, they'll probably get more of the inside jokes and references thrown in abundance in this movie. Hamming it up as the adult characters in the movie are Kurt Russell as The Commander, and Kelly Preston as Jetstream - Earth's mightiest couples, and TV's Wonder Woman Lynda Cater appears as Sky High's principal - do listen for a classic line! Bruce Campbell contributes to the humour as the typical Coach Boomer (sonic boom abilities), but my favourite ought to be Ron Wilson - Bus Driver!

So while the storyline's nothing to wow about, the delivery is still top notch, and it's pretty enjoyable watching a typical US high school drama with super powers added to spice things up. The special effects are well done too, though cheesy at some points, again, just to jab Adam West's Batman (the pole, the bat-computer like computer).

If you're a fan of cartoons and comics, you'll definitely not want to miss this - you'll be in awe at how many familiar references you can catch in this movie!

P.S. I swear there's a scene in the trailer that did not make it the final cut - and that is the one where Russell and Preston were chained up and held above ground. If I'm wrong, let me know.