Sky High (2005)

*** out of ****

My 14-year-old daughter claims that “family movies are for little kids”. I guess it's much cooler to a teen to watch movies about maniacs running around in ski masks, hacking up young virgins. Don't get me wrong – I enjoy a good schlocky slasher movie as much as the next guy, but a good family film can be at least as much fun (especially when you watch it with your 11-year-old twins as I did). And “Sky High” is a terrific one.

Set in a slightly parallel universe where superheroes are everywhere on Earth, the greatest of all the heroes are “The Commander” (Kurt Russell) and “Jet Stream” (Kelly Preston). In their secret identifies, they are Steve and Josie Stonghold, a husband and wife realtor team. They've had a son, Will (Michael Angarano) who is now entering high school, and he'll be attending “Sky High”, a school for the children of superheroes. As he has two hero parents (most of the students only have one) big things are expected from him. One problem, he doesn't have any superpowers....

This is just a flat out fun movie. Will's angst over whether he'll develop any powers, his parents expectations for him to be a wunderkind, his relationship with the other students (including an arch-nemesis, who's dad was locked up by Will's dad) it's all “shake your head and grin” stuff. He gets stuck in “sidekick” class instead of hero class, where similar kids with no or limited powers learn to be “hero support”. Many of the kids' powers are pretty entertaining, including one kid that glows in the dark and another that melts (leading the gym teacher to tell him “That's pretty impressive. For a popsicle.”).

But there are sinister games afoot, as long-forgotten supervillain "Royal Pain" is planning revenge against the Commander, and using Will as the instrument of that revenge. Can Will figure it out before disaster strikes? Can he and his sidekick buddies put a halt to the nefarious plot? Will he ever realize his childhood pal Layla (Danielle Panabaker) is secretly in love him? Holy Prom Date Batman, the superhero angle on high school reveals all the same things to deal with as every other high school kid. Except for the “save the world” aspect, of course......

The principal of the school is Wonder Woman herself, Linda Carter, the gym teacher is B-movie superstar Bruce Campbell, and the Sidekick class teach is Dave Foley from “Kids in the Hall”. All of the little tips of the cap to other movies, to comic-book icons and to B-movie cliches are all riotous throughout. Watch it with or without your kids – it's plenty good enough to entertain adults that like to escape into a little super-hero fantasy now and then. Check it out.