The premise is simple, the trials and travails of high school but it’s a high school for superheroes. Not entirely original and pretty much expected from Disney; the comic book PS238 has been around for over two years and The Incredibles covered the family matters better. The new wrinkle here is the story focusing on Will Stronghold, son of the world-famous Commander (Russell) and Jetstream (Preston), attending this school but he has no powers. However, this is a Disney movie, it gets sorted out pretty quickly; even they won’t go with the after-school special route with this story.
Now, despite Sky High being for superheroes, it’s a high school first: cliques, bullies, a snotty cheerleader who has the power to divide herself into an entire squad and the unsympathetic gym teacher Coach Boomer, played very well by Bruce Campbell. The only major difference is that on the first day of school, the gym teacher divides the freshmen up into two camps which will determine the educational track they take. If the kid’s power is impressive or useful, then it’s the hero track. If the kid’s power is lame or very limited, then it’s the sidekick track with four years of humiliation. Obviously Will is placed into the sidekick program after Boomer practically injures him with tests designed for his parents (flying and heavy lifting). Then comes the expected snobs versus the unpopular kids scenes and when Will confess to his parents that he’s a “gasp!” sidekick? Yawn! There’s the bigger storyline to get through in 90 minutes thankfully.
It’s a decent movie. Definitely appropriate for kids and superhero fans. The bigger attraction to it for me was the supporting cast: Kevin McDonald as the science teacher, Dave Foley as the primary sidekick teacher (definitely revisiting his various teacher roles from Kids in the Hall skits), Lynda Carter as the principal and Cloris Leachman as the school nurse. Tom Kenny, the voice of Spongebob, has a cameo but you have be really attentive to catch him. Finally, I know it’s just a movie, yet John Hughes proved it was possible to cast actors who match the ages of the characters (Sixteen Candles namely). No dice here, it’s the standard Hollywood tactic of having 18-19 year olds portray high school freshmen. One can hope someone else will get it right in the future.
As my title states, I think Sky High is worthy of renting since the acting and execution puts it head and shoulders above Disney’s usual fare of mediocre family movies. Kids under 12 will dig it. Kids between 12-19 are always jaded so there’s no point caring what they think. Adults 20+ will be amused, again, because of the supporting cast.