Sky High - A live-action version of The Incredibles or one of the best superhero movies to come out recently?

>

Sky High - The story begins with Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano) heading to his first day of high school at Sky High, his parents' alma mater. Sky High is no ordinary high school, however, because Will's parents, The Commander (Kurt Russell) and Jetstream (Kelly Preston), are the greatest superheroes in the world. Will is nervous about attending school because he has not fully developed his powers, and when this is discovered he is sent to the sidekick, ahem, excuse me, "hero support" classes. Will battles the standard conflicts of popularity and cliquest faced at most high schools, a run in with the school rebel, Warren Peace (Steven Strait), which leads to him discovering his super strength, and a mixed up relationship with Gwen (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), the school super smart hottie which makes his best friend Layla (Danielle Panabaker) jealous. Gwen turns out to be the antichrist, I mean, a former nemesis of The Commander and ends up carrying out her plan to capture all the superheroes and destroy their school. The story then continues with the kids in the "hero support" class breaking out of their subordinate class and trying to save everyone.

I had no idea what to expect from this film except that there were lots of random celebrities playing minor roles such as Bruce Campbell playing Coach Boomer, Lynda Carter playing Principal Powers, Dave Foley as Mr. Boy, and Kevin McDonald portraying Mr. Medulla. I knew this would be required viewing solely for the Bruce Campbell scenes, so in I went. I was extremely surprised as the film began, I was impressed with the way the film did not take itself seriously at all and immediately showed me that I was not here to watch fancy special effects or watch any highly dramatic situations. With cheesy effects and small jabs at classic superhero cliches, I was in the mood for a fun, light-hearted film. The film was much funnier than I expected, I figured the jokes would be funny only to the target audience, very young children, however, I found myself laughing at many of the gags and situations. There was plenty of action to keep me entertained and alongside the cheesy visual effects, there were some fun scenes involving kids using their special powers.

For me, easily the most likeable thing about this movie was the character of Warren Peace. Warren Peace is the classic long-haired loner in the school who minds his own business unless you get on his bad side, in which case he will shoot fireballs at you. Not only does he have the best name of any character in the film, but he had the best superpower as well. This coupled with his dark, recluse attitude at school and outgoing, philosophizing manner while waiting tables in a Chinese restaurant for his job not only confused me, but made me not care because this was a perfect example of a stereotype of the badass with a heart of gold.

Once again, like Stealth, this film made me feel like I was watching a few other movies just combined into one. I wasn't sure what to expect from the writers that work on Kim Possible but what I got was a blend of Harry Potter and The Incredibles. While it had very similar events from both stories, it varied it enough to make it entertaining to watch and I'd recommend this film to fans of either of the previously mentioned films.

At the end of the film, however, I had something bothering me which I couldn't quite put my finger on until today when Mr. Majewski was kind enough to put it into words and put my mind at ease without even knowing it. He said that at the end he was thinking "Well, ok, this is cool, now what happens? You need to make a sequel!" That's exactly how I felt, I felt like I'd really like to see a continuation of this story, they probably could've stretched this film out into a couple episodes, similar to the way the Harry Potter stories are told, however, I'm not sure if Sky High 2: The College Years sounds like a good idea, especially after seeing the outcome of Saved By The Bell.

Anyway, if you're looking for a fun film to take your kids to this summer that won't make you want to drive a chainsaw straight through your forehead, finally that film has come. While not quite as enjoyable as The Incredibles, it certainly did an excellent job making sure that while children would be mesmerized by the kids on screen stretching out, shooting lasers, and freezing people, adults would have a trip back to their youth watching giant robots attack a poorly done model while viewing some of the cheesiest flying effects seen in recent years.