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Sky High July 31, 2005 |
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Will Stronghold, a high school freshman stands in front of his class, terrified, as his teacher singles him out and asks him why they’re supposed to think he’s special. We’ve all seen the look on Will’s face, because it’s a look we’ve had on our own faces many times, a look of fright and embarrassment, a look that says I’d rather be anywhere than here, being humiliated in awkward silence, desperate to make a good first impression on the first day of the most important four years of your teenage life. The situation Will faces in “Sky High”, a terrifically funny and honest teen comedy adventure from Disney, is slightly different from your own high school nightmare, for instead of auditioning for the choir with a flat rendition of “Proud Mary”, or reciting a poorly worded essay on “The Great Gatsby” in Advanced English, as the girl you kind of like chuckles at your inability to properly articulate the American Dream in 1920’s Long Island, Will is attending the ritual Sky High ceremony of “Power Placement”, a practice that separates the weak (i.e. the losers), from the elite (i.e. the popular), and strictly regiments the already brutal high school experience into class prejudice and snobbery. The formula worked for Tina Fey’s “Mean Girls” only because of a snarky satiric edge that totally ridiculed the fabulously beautiful, and glorified the dorky, but the Disney flick is kinder, funnier, and works on a level of satire not as harsh, yet just as slick, for in this school of kings and jesters, the battle ground is hardly akin to the differences between Regents Math 1 and 3, but the difference between the usefulness of a kid who can throw fireballs, and a kid who can melt like an ice cube. No, Sky High isn’t like your high school, it’s a school for the kids of superheroes, some who have what it takes (Heroes), and some who don’t (Sidekicks), but its politics are the same, and you’ll recognize yourself, whether you’re of the UP or DOWN in the popularity ladder, in these kids whose daily studies include heat ray assembly, “Save the Citizen” gym drills, and, for the sub-clique, hero support, as in, learning to fill in the blanks in “Holy (blank) (blank) Man”, given your hero’s name, and the type of predicament he’s gotten himself into. “Power Placement? Sounds fascist,” says one skeptical student, but retorts another later on, “but hey, that’s high school.” The plot to “Sky High”, directed with surprising adeptness by former hack Mike Mitchell (“Saving Christmas”) centers on the first few months in the high school career of Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano), the son of the world’s most famous married superheroes, as he tries to live up to his parents’ legends, but realizes his powers are yet to hit him. That’s were we left off, with Will on the podium, as gym teacher Power Boomer (Bruce Campbell, hamming it up as only Bruce Campbell can do) barks out orders in a sonic voice that ripples the stale gymnasium air. “My word is law, my judgment is final,” he screams at Will, who admits in humiliation to being power-challenged, “there will be no whiner babies in my class.” The rejection is brutal, but it allows young Will to join a clique of sidekicks who fastly become his best friends, including a girl who can morph, into a gerbil, a boy who can glow, sometimes, and a pretty girl, Layla (Danielle Panabaker), who has a desperate crush on our young Stronghold, but is too shy to admit it, as is often the case with powerful teenage crushes. Everything changes when Will finally receives his powers (metaphors abound, from puberty to losing one’s virginity), in a spectacular cafeteria fight sequence, and suddenly is Mr. Popular, crushing on the beautiful, yet totally vain student body president, and ignoring the friends who had his back when he was a weakling. For anyone who has ever lost a good friend to the popular crowd (Cher losing Tai to an inflated ego in “Clueless”), or a partner to a powerful new girlfriend (Paul losing John to Yoko), the look in poor Layla’s eyes as Will stands her up for the pompous popular girl is sweetly heartbreaking. It would be easy to compare the school in “Sky High” to the school for teenage mutants in the “X-Men” series, or the strong family dynamics of the Stronghold clan (led by Kurt Russell as “The Commander”), to “The Incredibles” (also Disney family fare), but I burned those bridges a few weeks back analyzing the pitiful “Fantastic Four” adaptation, so this clever film will have to stand on its own, which I think it rightfully does. The performances are all top notch, especially new-to-me Michael Angarano, whose breakthrough performance reminds me of Shia LaBeouf in “Holes”, another teen friendly Disney comedy that benefited from a good sense of friendship and a wacky sense of humor. When not cleverly riffing on the hierarchy of high school politics (even the teachers are ranked, from Kevin McDonald’s big brained telepathics professor, down to Dave Foley’s hilarious “Hero Support” sidekick seminar), the smart script playfully subverts the conventions of comic book films into everyday domestic situations. When Will comes home with the good news that he’s found his powers, his pop invites him into his alter ego’s “Secret Sanctum”, a rumpus room with carefully programmed Batman-esque slide polls, and fingerprint sensitive security devices. “No way, you have a pool table,” gushes Will, caring not for the alien death ray and robot head on display. “Yeah, and check out that pinball machine,” glows Russell as the proud father. Who said anything about the values of super strength and the importance of saving the world, as far as we’re concerned, here’s just two guys bonding during a lazy afternoon in the basement. “Sky High” is brimming with sweet little moments like this; goofy, absurd, heart-warming, and highly original slices of harmless American satire that begs to suggest that, good or evil, popular or not, we’re all good for something. And you know, that’s just super. by Adam Suraf “Sky High” is playing at the Movie-Plex 59. |