I’ve come to this conclusion having taken Ariel to see “Sky High.” There’s a character in there named Penny who basically has the same power as Madrox…to split into replicas of herself. It’s used to hilarious effect in the film since she serves as the entire cheerleading squad of the high school.
It’s a fun film, by the way, including the brilliant casting of Lynda Carter as the school principal. That’s actually what I would have liked to see: The entire faculty cast with actors who played superheroes. Adam West, Van Williams, Lou Ferrigno, Dean Cain. But if it could be only one, I’ll settle for Wonder Woman. The end of the film was fairly foreseeable, but overall it was a pleasant enough addition to the growing body of films that are superhero-related but not comic book related.
PAD
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Well, surprise. From what little I’ve seen about it, I’d have assumed it’d be a piece of crap.
We took my daughter, who is almost four, to see Sky High last night, and she love it. Good quality Disney family fun. My wife and I also enjoyed it a great deal. In the beginning she asked where Superman was, but after the Commander showed up she got in to it. I don’t think I have ever seen her enjoy a movie more.
We also saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory witch she also enjoyed a lot. Although the squirrel seen scared her so much she started to cry, but got over it pretty quick.
This is a girl who has seen AVP and loved it and has asked to see it again and again. At War of the Worlds she was scared and fidgeted around a lot but never cried and on the way out, without being ask, said she liked it.
But Lord, save her from the squirrels.
Lynda Carter had one of the best lines. The movie Also had the great BRUCE CAMPBELL in it too!
Go Kieron Dwyer! Nice job on the credits!
re: the squirrel thing.
That’s because you don’t walk past fifty million 100 foot tripods every day on your way to school.
To me, it looked too much like a kid’s version of an “X-Men” knock-off to make me want to see it.
I very much enjoyed Sky High — as I remarked elsewhere, I find myself thinking I’m more likely to go back and see it a second time in the theater than I am to see either Batman Begins or Fantastic 4 again. Not that either BB or FF are bad films by any stretch, but of the three, Sky High is the one I think I’d find more new stuff in the second time around. And the chemistry between the leads worked particularly well for me — the girl in particular strikes me as a genuine find.
Is it cheesy? Of course it is, to a degree — but that’s because it’s riffing on the cheesier parts of superheroic legend (thus, the casting of Lynda Carter, the mode of access to the Stronghold family’s Secret Sanctum, the character name “Gwen Grayson”, and a lot of other amusing bits). But the film does a remarkably good job of crossing the cheesiness with a Buffy-like approach to high school culture, such that the overall tone is much more low-key than you might expect.
Definitely recommended from this quarter — not to be confused with a spectacle-film (BB) or an action/drama episode (FF), but recommended for what it is: a sharp but mild-mannered comedy, in some ways very much the descendant of all those “family films” Disney made back when Kurt Russell was playing the teenager rather than the father figure.
wonders if pad reads PS238 by Aaron Williams?
JAC
Maybe it’s not so bad but it still looks to close to X-Men and The Incredibles. I would hope for something that tried to put a spin on things that you wouldn’t see in comics but maybe that’s a ways off yet.
Maybe the fact that we now have movies that are “superhero-related but not comic book- related” indicates that more people will figure out that “comic book doesn’t equal superhero.”
Jeff-
Yes he does as does the rest of the family except Caroline.It is a fine series that I can highly recommend for kids and adults. Peter talked to Aaron about Sky High at San Diego.
Of course Peter had the exact same experience with Spy Boy coming out and then all of the sudden we have spy kids and Agent Cody Banks.
Kath
I don’t get the same vibe from SKY HIGH, which I’ll be catching this weekend, as I did from THE INCREDIBLES. Sure, they’re both superhero families, but THE INCREDIBLES was told more from the POV of Bob and dealt with his mid-life crisis and how it affected his family. SKY HIGH looks like it comes from the teen’s POV and how he has to deal with the pressure of being the son of the world’s greatest superhero. (Imagine if you were Chelsea Clinton or the Bush twins and were being pressured into running for class president in high school.)
Peter, may I just say I think it is very cool and impressive every time you talk about going to see moveis with Ariel? Aside from it being great parent/kid bonding time, it’s especially heartwarming that you’re taking responsbility for what your kid sees on screen by accompanying her to it. I’ve been in far too many PG-13 and yes, R rated movies with unaccompanied kids who were far too young to see and understand the movie by themselves–I just have a picture in my head of parents handing the kid twenty bucks and saying, “Yeah, just go out and see a movie,” with no discussion abotu what movie it is. (Not that “Sky High” or “Fantastic Four” really needs suc ha discussion, but you know what I mean.) I’m not sure how old Ariel is (is she around 13 or older?) but you’re providing her with a valuable sounding board Plus, it’s a great way to share each other’s interests. Kudos, sir.
From what publicity I saw before seeing the movie I didn’t think it was going to be any good. Then I saw some surprisingly good reviews. I went with Rachel and Alan and all 3 of us enjoyed the film a lot. It was really a lot of fun on various levels.
Neil
Unfortunately, the problem with a Madrox movie now is that, instantly, people will assume that the character is ripped off from Sky High.
Yes, people were that stupid and thought FF was ripped off from the Incredibles, nevermind the fact that FF is only 40 years older… 🙂
I haven’t seen SKY HIGH yet — either I’ll catch a matinee in a few weeks or wait for video (er, wait for DVD).
I know some people have compared it to PS238, Aaron Williams’ hysterical comic book about a high school designed for super-powered children. However, from the trailers alone, I can tell one key difference. In SKY HIGH, the kid who’s looked down on for having no powers (and, I’m guessing, is known as the son of two famous heroes) finds himself incredibly powerful after all (“You are strong!:) In PS238, the normal kid (Tyler) remains normal (despite his parents’ conviction that he be exposed to as many hazardous and unusual elements to trigger his powers), and this makes him a much more interesting character. Instead of suddenly finding he can teleport away or resisting energy beams with his nigh-invulnerability, Tyler is almost always scared and has to think his way out of problems. (Considering there are at least two wannabe supervillains in his classes, this isn’t easy.) Maybe SKY HIGH has a reason, but it feels like a copout to take a person who had to survive as a normal kid among supers and then give that kid amazing powers.
“Unfortunately, the problem with a Madrox movie now is that, instantly, people will assume that the character is ripped off from Sky High.
Yes, people were that stupid and thought FF was ripped off from the Incredibles, nevermind the fact that FF is only 40 years older… :)”
Only if Jamie dresses like a cheerleader.
(Now watch that pop up somewhere around issue 8 of X-Factor.)
I can’t help but think of Sky High’s hero sitting at the lunch table, drawing a cartoon ala Lane Meyer, and staring wistfully at Penny, to have his cartoon tell him, “Her? You don’t have a chance with her. She’s the cheerleading squad. Not on the squad: the whole squad.”
Glad to get some opinions from the kind of people I’m interested in hearing from before going to see this kind of film. I was actually going to see it last Friday, but when I saw the number of babies in line (not alone, but in strollers), so I went and saw Wedding Crashers instead, correctly reasoning that there would be a few less babies in an R-rated movie.
As a side note to Peter and Kathleen, I’d be interested to know how you decide which movies to take a small child to, bearing in mind that if they have a meltdown in the theater, it tends to ruin things for everyone else. The reason I ask is because I love going to weekday matinees at the nearby Palisades Mall, but this summer, they seem to have been infected with a large number of soccer moms, who think nothing of seeing a PG or PG-13 movie with a couple of toddlers in tow as well as a baby in a stroller. And when said baby wakes up and doesn’t find the movie all that interesting, the moms seem to thing they’re under no obligation to remove them from the room. The worst example was when I went to see the lovely March of the Penguins last week, in an incredibly small theater. When baby #1 woke up and started screaming, mother #1 to her credit, immediately took the child away and evevn spent over half the movie rocking the baby in her stroller in the exit aisle so as not to cause offense. But when baby #2 woke up, mother #2 (who was sitting in the row right behind me) not only thought it was okay to remain in the theater, she promotly dialed her husband on her cell phone to inform him that the baby was crying!
Anyway, I know this is all incredibly off-topic, but I can’t help wondering how Peter and Kathleen have to deal with this as people who enjoy going to movies on a regular basis.
I enjoyed the heck out of it. It was a fun movie. Very four color. And I swear they took Commander Stronghold’s yearbook picture straight out of “The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes”. I don’t go see movies based on whether they’re different or not, just if they’re entertaining, and Sky High was very entertaining.
And the movie wasn’t about how a powerless kid deals with high school and peer pressure. So there’s no copout if the movie was never about a powerless kid surviving in a world of superpowers.
“Maybe SKY HIGH has a reason, but it feels like a copout to take a person who had to survive as a normal kid among supers and then give that kid amazing powers.”
Okay, but on the other hand, if the kid had no powers for the entire film, then people would say it was an EXACT rip-off of “PS 238.” Of course, they could just have had him have powers from the beginning, but then you lose all the emotional beats that that aspect entailed.
PAD
“Anyway, I know this is all incredibly off-topic, but I can’t help wondering how Peter and Kathleen have to deal with this as people who enjoy going to movies on a regular basis.”
Well, first of all, we tend to go to very early shows which have the smallest audiences. Second, we tend to stick almost entirely to animated features for Caroline since that’s what she finds most engaging. Third, if she’s fidgety in the seat and it’s not crowded, we let her walk around the theater. No one seems to care about that as long as she’s not making noise. But if she starts getting disruptive, one of us (depending upon who feels less emotionally attached to the film) hauls her out.
Biggest mistake was taking Ariel and her to see “Herbie: Fully Loaded.” She sat still for exactly ten minutes and then just got out of control. I took her out and kept her busy in the lobby for an hour and a half.
PAD
Though modern movie makers do not consider the tenet when making films anymore, I am a huge believer of Chekov’s “gun” rule. The rule goes something like this: If a writer has a character show a gun in the first act, the writer is obligated to have someone use that gun by the third.
Where am I going with this? In the beginning of SKY HIGH, mention is made that Will would be the third generation of super-hero in the Stronghold family and the Crusader mentions his father (Will’s grandfather). With all this discussion of a grandfather, I was expecting to see the character and hoped he would be played by Adam West. Alas, it was not to be, but I understand that being the mayor of Quahogmust take up the man’s time.
I enjoyed SKY HIGH. I thought it was a little draggy and I don’t want anyone to complain about the effects of FANTASTIC FOUR anymore, but I think if I’d had to pay to see it, my enjoyment would have decreased based on having to pay matinee or full admission price. On the whole, it really is just a higher budgeted Disney Channel movie. In fact, as I was watching it, I whispered to my wife that if this was made for ABC as a pilot, Bruce Campbell could have been cast as the Crusader.
My wish now is that P.S. 238, a really good comic book about a grade school for kids with super-powers. Like Will, the main character is the child of two super-heroes, but he doesn’t have any powers yet. It is a well-written comic that usually tells a lighter story, but when he wants to Aaron Williams, the writer/artist, knows how to push my emotional buttons. I admit to tearing up when reading issue #7, when the kids in the present talked to the daughter of the first super-hero from the beginning of the twentieth (time travel was involved).
Burt Ward as Mr. Boy would have been a nice play.
I’ve wanted to see this since the first preview. Hopefully I’ll get a chance this weekend. It looks like it’ll be fun, and as I’ve said before, I’m perfectly happy to “settle” for a fun movie.
Frankly, I was disappointed because of small details that irritated me enormously. The costumes on the kid’s parents looked like it was cheesy sculpted foam, like the stuff used to make giant fingers for sports fans. The acting was in the Disney Campy style; having adults make mock-ironic statements with loopy, goofy music in the background. And the throwaway line by Lynda Carter in the end was obviously dubbed in – someone thought she wasn’t being funny enough. (SHe wasn’t, but it was a patch job.)
I guess the main thing that stuck in my craw was that this was intended to be a TV movie for the Disney Channel. It only made it to theatres because all of Disney’s other projects tanked, and it got thrown on the big screen in hopes of making SOME profit during the summer movie season.
It was an amusing movie, but if it had been given some real forethought and work, it could have been a lot better.
We saw it over the weekend and enjoyed it a great deal. Has a lot of the feel of a Teenagers from Outer Space RPG, but supers instead of aliens.
The general comment I’ve heard (including by me) was that it’s “better than it had to be”
And besides Kurt Russell, Lynda Carter and Bruce Campbell (whom others have mentioned) you also get 2 members of Kids in the Hall and a brief cameo by Cloris Leachman.
Uh, this was never meant to be a TV movie. BIG difference in budgets.
Thanks for the quick review. I just saw Fantastic Four on Friday and found your review accurate. I could deal with everything except “Doom.” If you are going to radically change the character, don’t bother to give him or her the same name, in my opinion. It was predictable but enjoyable. (But then again, I seemed to be one of the few who also liked The Hulk.)
I wanted to see sky high. Maybe my wife and I will take her neices this weekend. That might be fun.
Iowa Jim
PS — I can’t wait for the return of X-Factor. Glad you are doing it.
Thanks for the quick review. I just saw Fantastic Four on Friday and found your review accurate, so you have given me hope for this one. I could deal with everything in FF except “Doom.” If you are going to radically change the character, don’t bother to give it the same name, in my opinion. It was predictable but enjoyable. But then, I seem to have enjoyed the Hulk movie more than most. Both movies were not as good as they could have been, but they were worth seeing.
I wanted to see sky high last week. Maybe my wife and I will take her neices this weekend. That might be fun.
Iowa Jim
PS — I can’t wait for the return of X-Factor. Glad you are doing it.
I went to see a matinee of Sky High and thought it was very good. A little better than Fantastic Four. Even just a little bit better than The Incredibles in one way. Let me explain. Sky High was certainly not as smart as The Incredibles, but it never really forgot what genre it was paying homage to. Somewhere in the middle, The Incredibles started to act more like an homage to James Bond movies and only reclaimed the superhero thing right at the end. Sky High was pretty consistent in its use of the teen/superhero idea.
I liked the way they did what they did in this movie. There was a comment on whether or not it was a copout to give Will Stronghold powers, but they forget what the metaphor was they were working with. Hero=cool kids, Sidekick=geeks. Not having powers got him put in with the sidekicks. When he got his powers, he got put in with the cool kids. However, like most stories like this, he ran the risk of forgetting who his real friends were.
As for comparisons to PS 238. I don’t think it’s an intentional rip-off. I think it’s more that an idea, whether stemming from different sources or just one, becomes very hip and high concept and people want to work with it. This one probably started with Harry Potter. I’ve seen more projects lately about schools where kids learn to do amazing things lately than almost ever before. There are wizard schools, ninja schools, fairy schools and yes, superhero schools. What I actually thought of the first time I heard of this movie wasn’t PS 238, which I hadn’t heard of until recently, but J Torres and Takeshi Miyazawa’s Oni comic book Sidekicks.
I actually got to draw a little 6 pager strip for Sky High that was in the most recent Disney Adventures mag.
“I actually got to draw a little 6 pager strip for Sky High that was in the most recent Disney Adventures mag.”
Of course, Disney Adventures already publishes a comic about a school of super powered kids called “Kid Gravity”. Although not quite as similar as PS 238, it’ still uncomfortably close. Even down to the flying yellow school bus.
“Of course, Disney Adventures already publishes a comic about a school of super powered kids called “Kid Gravity”. Although not quite as similar as PS 238, it’ still uncomfortably close. Even down to the flying yellow school bus.”
Sky High, PS 238, Kid Gravity, Sidekicks.
It’s quite possible that the idea just has such inherent merit that a bunch of people thought of the idea without knowing that others already had. Sometimes, great minds do think alike.
Besides, none of those series can claim to have originated the concept. Even if you decide that the X-Men don’t count (being set in a private school), the “Hero High” segment of the “Kid Superpower Hour” came out in 1981, for heaven’s sake.
http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/h/herohigh.htm
I agree with Tom Reed that it at least felt like a Disney cable movie — pacing, logo-filled scene changes, etc.
The movie that I thought this most aped? The Harry Potter first two flicks. Substitute Malfoy and his cronies for Flash and Coil, Snape for Boomer, Quidditch for Save the Civilian… they hit all the high notes.
Yes it was trite in places, yes it was derivative, but it was certainly fun. I agree with PAD that a couple other ex-hero guest stars would have been a nice touch (like Burt Ward has a day job). Putting Adam West in a wheelchair a la Batman Beyond would have been brilliant.
Worth a watch, definitely. Worth $10 a head? No. $6.50 in the middle of Utah on a rainy day on vacation was just fine.