SKY HIGH

http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/skyhigh/

RATING (0 TO ****):  ***

Starring

Michael Angarano, Kurt Russell, Kelly Preston, Danielle Panabaker, Kevin Heffernan,

Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Lynda Carter, Bruce Campbell, Steven Strait, Dave Foley, Kevin McDonaldand Patrick Warburton (voice)

Directed by Mike Mitchell

Written by Paul Hernandez and Robert Schooley

“At least he can still go into Real Estate!!”

 Ok, I admit it; when I first saw the previews for SKY HIGH, I figured that it would be nothing more then a silly, goofy kids movie with a little higher budget. Little did I know that high school for heroes can suck just as bad as high school for the rest of us. 

And that same-ness is what makes Sky High so much fun when you get right down to it. Yes, sure you have a few things different. Instead of jocks who like to humiliate the smaller kids you have super fast and stretchable bullies; your school floats on anti-gravity boosters and you fly to school in a special bus. But you still have coaches who can make your life miserable if you don’t match what they think is right and teachers who are still depressed over the direction their lives have gone. And worst of all, your going through these well, changes. You know, you get hair in places it never was before, you begin to fill out your blouses a little tighter, and you start to glow, can change shape, and melt into a puddle. Little changes like that, that you just don’t know how to deal with them.

And for young Will Stronghold some of these changes just don’t seem to be happening quickly enough. As the son of the two greatest heroes in the world, The Commander and Jetstream Will is expected to carry on the family tradition of super-hero training and that is best done at Sky High.

But, on that first all important day as a Freshman he is forced to admit that his powers don’t exist and becomes a member of the "hero support” class where he and the other "sidekicks" are trained to help and support their hero. The teacher is Dave Foley who once was The Commander’s sidekick, and still clings to those glory days with as much strength as he can muster.

Bruce Campbell as Coach Boomer delivers his usual great work as the hero formerly known as “Sonic Boom” and now trying to teach kids how do use their powers for good.

The film is loaded with excellent visual humor and loads of simply good clean fun. And yes, this is Disney I know that. But it is not a children’s film. The audience is probably geared toward 10 year olds and up, but that ‘up’ really should include folks over the age of 30 as well. I mean, it does have Lynda Carter as Principle Powers. And she has one of the best jokes in the movie.

Russell as caring father and world hero The Commander proves that there really is very little he can’t do. His laughter and smile light up a screen and his very presence in a scene will make it all the more effective. In his scenes with Will, he shows the enthusiasm at Will’s growth as well as the depression of a parent who discovers his son won’t be what they always dreamed of. But, it is when he acknowledges that even without powers, Will is still his boy that proves he is a dad as well as a father.

Kelley Preston as Jetstream played right into the character. Her costume was good and showed off many of her charms without being gratuitous. Had they been a bit more ‘gratuitous’ with Lynda Carter I would have been a lot happier. Preston is good as the mother who tries to be firm with her son but knows inside that dad is not always as strict with him as he could be. But, she loves the kid and that counts for a good deal.

But it is Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Gwen who best displays why I always hated high school. Just trust me to say she is not what you might expect.

Sky High is a fun film with some good special effects and lots of laughs.  Don’t sell it short, and don’t write it off.

SKY HIGH runs just right at 1:38.  It is rated PG for "action violence and some mild language" and would be acceptable for all ages.