Sky High
December 18, 2005
- Dan Ramer,
DVDFile.com
This is a schizophrenic little film. It’s a
parody of the superhero genre mixed with the well-worn plot device of
teenage angst, coming to terms with maturing and dealing with cruel
peers. The film has its heart in the right place, but I’m
having trouble understanding the intended audience. The cover of
the keepcase quotes Stephen Holden of The New York Times as he draws a
comparison between this film and both Harry Potter and
The Incredibles. Very apt. This film is very
derivative.
In this alternate universe, superheroes (and
supervillains) abound. Dozens of families harbor moms and dads
who lead double lives. In the case of the Stronghold family, dad
and mom - Steve and Josie - are real estate brokers who regularly save
the world as The Commander (Kurt Russell) and Jetstream (Kelly
Preston). The parents’ fame gives the filmmakers a smile-
inducing chance to poke fun of that most effective of disguises: a
pair of glasses. The Commander and Jetstream are regarded as the
best of the best, and that puts quite a bit of pressure on their only
child, Will (Michael Angarano).
Will is about to
enter the freshmen class at Sky High (a thin Hogwart surrogate), where
he will be instructed in the ethical use of his superpowers.
Alas, like a teen that hasn’t grown a single pubic hair, Will
finds himself embarrassingly lacking of any special power.
Unable to admit his shortcomings to his parents, he dutifully hops on
the Sky High school bus with his childhood friend, Layla (Danielle
Panabaker). She is Poison Ivy come to the light side, and
she’s carrying a serious torch for Will.
The school
is overrun with cliques, but these are not jocks set apart from
eggheads, not the cute girls refusing to have anything to do with the
less attractive. The schism that divides these kids is hero
versus sidekick. In an intentionally humiliating introduction to
the school, the incoming class faces B-movie king Bruce
Campbell’s Coach Boomer, who publicly tests and separates one
group from the other. There is a separate curriculum for each,
and they will never sit at the same cafeteria table again.
All this is the setup for a clever bit of revenge by a defeated
supervillain, and a plot that telegraphs where it’s headed at
every opportunity. But this is a bit of harmless fluff that
adults may find modestly amusing, teens will find entirely uncool, and
preadolescents may enjoy. There is no sex, no cursing, and the
seriocomic violence is exclusively among beings that seem to be
indestructible. Perhaps the most fun an adult can expect is to
mentally list all the films from which Sky High is derived: a
soupcon of The Breakfast Club, a pinch of X-Men, a
dollop of Spy Kids, and a hint of Fantastic Four.
Perhaps intentionally cheesy in a satirical kind of way, the
film neither offends nor involves. I just wish screenwriters
Paul Hernandez, Bob Schooley, and Mark McCorkle had trusted the
audience more. Lynda Carter makes a cameo appearance as
Principal Powers and the writers simply couldn’t resist the
temptation of giving her the painful line, “I’m not Wonder
Woman, you know.” This is a mild entertainment that
doesn’t take itself seriously and doesn’t expect its
audience too either.
The Video: How Does The Disc
Look?
The film’s theatrical aspect ratio of
2.35:1 is presented in anamorphic video. This is one of the
better live action transfers from Buena Vista. Admittedly, the
transfer is slightly soft, which impacts both small object detail and
finely grained textures. Very modest edge halos are present, but
they don’t intrude. Color accuracy is excellent, from the
natural skin tones to the bright primary colors found throughout this
film. Shadow detail is also quite nice. I didn’t
notice any macroblocking or mosquito noise. Not the state of the
art, but a considerable step up from some of the live action transfers
coming out of Buena Vista for Miramax and Dimension.
The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?
The
Dolby Digital 5.1 track is highly active. The surrounds are used
whenever possible to plunge the viewer into a multidimensional
soundscape. Enable EX decoding for the best possible
imaging. Sound effects are a tad on the conservative side.
They’re somewhat laid back, lacking impressive dynamic range and
punch, despite numerous opportunities to push the sonic limits.
Lisa Brown’s orchestral score seems like a musical archetype of
the superhero genre. It’s pleasantly conveyed with
reasonable but not outstanding fidelity. The dialog is
distortion-free throughout.
The alternate languages are in
French and Spanish, each presented in Dolby Digital 5.1.
Optional subtitles are in French and English.
Supplements: What Goodies Are There?
The
disc opens with a non-anamorphic montage of promos and
trailers (6:28): Lady and the Tramp; Glory
Road; and, The Greatest Game Ever Played. They may
be skipped and accessed in the Sneak Peeks
section. There you will also find Once Upon a Mattress,
Toy Story 2, Kim Possible, and two Disney channel
shows.
The first supplement is an alternate
opening that essentially telegraphs the film’s
“twist” saved for the third act. Leaving this
sequence for the DVD’s supplements was definitely a no-
brainer.
Super Bloopers (4:21) may
not be super but they do bloop. Here we get to see most of the
principal actors flub and giggle. And as befitting such a
wholesome film, no expletives made their way onto the reel. This
is more smile inducing than genuinely funny.
Music
and More would have been more properly named Music and
That’s All. Here we find only one extra, a music video
(4:07) by Bowling for Soup (I’m not making this up) performing
“I Melt With You.”
Backstage Disney is the
familiar section Buena Vista reserves for the disc’s making-of
featurettes. First is Welcome to
Sky High (15:21). This not your usual EPK love
fest; it’s a horsing around love fest. For a quarter of an
hour we’re whisked behind the scenes to see how everyone gets
along when the cameras aren’t rolling. I found the
approach rather refreshing.
Breaking Down
Walls: The Stunts of Sky High (7:02) also departs from
the expected. This little short introduces us to the computer-
controlled high-speed winch and the computer-controlled high-speed
camera dolly. These technical marvels allowed many of the stunts
to be done in-camera. Short but informative.
The 100-
minute film is organized into twelve chapters.
Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What happens when you pop the
disc into your PC?
There are no DVD-ROM features
on this DVD.
Easter Eggs
On the
Main Menu, just to the right of SCENE SELECTION, you can highlight a
little gold circle on the dashboard. Select it and you’ll
see the storyboard sequence (1:20) the filmmakers used to pitch their
concept to the studio.
On the Bonus Features page, the
third of five bolts on the wheel may be highlighted and
selected. That brings up a 30-second clip of pre-production
artwork.
While on the Backstage Disney page, click on the
purple Guinea Pig. You’ll be rewarded with a little short
(1:14) about the frustrations of working with uncooperative
animals.
Final Thoughts
The
film is cute, but a bit on the bland side. The modest
supplements are unexpectedly good, the transfer is above average, but
the audio mix is merely average. Buy it for the kids,
particularly if they enjoyed the Spy Kids series, but
don’t get your hopes too high.
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