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Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2005 | ||
What do you think of this story? Bad Links? | "Sky High" mostly soarsDisneys newest comedy, Sky High soars for a very long time before sputtering out a bit towards the end. This is a wonderful treat for the whole family and everyone from ages 8-80 can find something to enjoy in this film. The story revolves around Will Stronghold, a rising freshman at Sky High, a school for superheroes and their sidekicks, er, I mean hero support. Wills parents are the worlds most famous and powerful superheroes, Commander Stronghold, a very powerful man, and Jetstream, a flying woman who has mastered martial arts. Will is nervous about starting at the school, especially since his powers havent manifested yet, and when he is deemed a sidekick, he is too ashamed to tell his parents. Once he does get his powers, he must choose between hanging with the cool kids or being true to his friends. Sky High is a riot for much of the first half of the film. The school is full of funny sight gags and background jokes and the make-up of the student body is hard not to like, as kids are running super fast, stretching their limbs to incredible proportions or hurling flame balls around the cafeteria. The film also gets a huge boost from its supporting cast. Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald of The Kids in the Hall show up as Mr. Boy, the Hero Support teacher, and Dr. Medulla, the Mad Science teacher, respectively. Also injecting huge laughs into the film are Bruce Campbell (Army of Darkness) as Coach Boom and Kevin Heffernan (Super Troopers) as Ron White, Bus Driver. As far as the kids go, they run the gamut from very good (Michael Angaranos Will, Danielle Panabakers Layla and Steven Strait as Warren Peace) to passable. Kurt Russell and Kelly Preston do a bang up job as the Strongholds with Russell getting all of the good lines and playing it with the right amount of cheese. Lynda Carter plays the Sky High Principal and coasts along on the joke that Wonder Woman is playing a superhero principal. Ha! So, where does Sky High start falling? For me it was with about a half hour left. The villain arrives, captures the Commander and Jetstream and wreaks havoc on all of the guests at the Homecoming Dance. It is then up to Will and his friends from hero support to save the day. This should have been the most exciting part of the film and it unfortunately fell a little flat. Maybe I had just seen too many superhero films this summer but the ending could have used a little more action or some more big belly laughs. Ultimately, Sky High has more good elements than not so good. In fact, one of my favorite parts of the film was that the soundtrack used covers of songs featured in a number of 1980s high school films. Sky High has a very good heart and a lot going for it. It was a definite crowd pleaser and is something that Disney should be very proud of. The world could use more pictures like Sky High.
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