I didn’t want to like Sky High. I didn’t expect to like it. But dammit -- it was pretty good. I kept waiting for it to go cheesy. I’m talking 1970's camp, extra sharp cheddar. But it stayed just cheesy enough to give us a good time while politely letting us know it was in on the joke.

Some reviewers have made the mistake of comparing Sky High to blockbuster superhero movies like Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man, but Sky High is a different genre, more along the lines of Galaxy Quest, The Incredibles, and Unbreakable -- movies that bring some playful real world “what if?” to the standard comic book universe. (What if aliens, like so many of us earthlings, thought sci-fi was real? What if superheroes had real-life families with real-life problems? What if a guy didn’t know he was a superhero?)

Sky High isn’t deep. And it’s not especially complex. But it doesn’t try, want, or need to be. There is just enough to think about so we’re titillated without being overwhelmed. It touches on a couple of real social issues through the hero vs. sidekick dilemma, the complexity of “good guys” vs. “bad guys,” parental expectations, bullying, etc. Of course, “pretty deep” is the key. It doesn’t dive into the ins and outs of high school dramatics or social class-warfare. Instead, it dips its toe in the philosophy of it all without trying to plunge in headfirst or drag us under with it.

Super duper kudos to the Sky High casting director, Allison Jones. (Multiple Emmy nominee who won for casting Freaks and Geeks.) The kids make this movie. They’re real kids for a change, not smarmy thirty-year-old pretty-boys with pancake make-up and painted-on abs. Sky High doesn’t make the typical mistake of making the kids look and talk like little adults. These kids are appropriately insecure, confused, vulnerable, awkward, cute, naïve, intimidated by adults, and completely self-absorbed. Even the opening and closing narrations with the still-frame illustrations look and sound like they’re right of a comic book. It never sounds like grown-up pontification. It’s smart and sly but still natural in the voice of a kid. The kids are complemented by veteran lead and character actors Kurt Russell, Kelly Preston, Lynda Carter, Cloris Leachman, and Dave Foley who add some experience and solidity to the movie.

And props for the clever touches. You know what I mean -- those little incidental things that add a nice subtle seasoning to the mix: A background voice in the cafeteria announcing, “The cafeteria staff would like to ask the Sidekicks to stop ordering Hero sandwiches.” And, “Reminder: There is no smoking on the school grounds…Or freezing. Or bursting into flames.” There’s the kid with a Velcro wallet. Everyone wears converse high-tops. There’s an angry but good-hearted “bad guy” named Warren Peace. (Get it? War and Peace.) A school nurse with x-ray vision. Lynda Carter as the high school principal with lines like, “What a waste. I can't do anything more to help you. I'm not Wonder Woman, you know.” All rounded off by a great 80’s soundtrack. It’s the love child of the Breakfast Club and Saturday morning’s Superfriends.

My only real qualm is with the movie’s physical portrayal of girls and women. The guys are mostly regular looking guys. There’s a short black kid. A tall, gangly blond kid. A scrawny pencil-neck, and a main character you’d be hard-pressed to pick out of a police line-up. But the females of the cast are all 5’8” and 110 lbs. with full lips, wide eyes, tight bodies, and perfect skin. The guys look like us regular guys from high school. The girls look like the girls in the magazines we regular guys used to slobber over. So, as a guy, I’m not complaining. As an enlightened guy keenly in touch with his feminine side, however, I’d like to see some real-world range when it comes to females on film.

So Sky High isn’t brilliant, but it’s an efficient story, tightly written, cleverly acted, and devoid of tedious exposition. It doesn’t invent the wheel, but it doesn’t try to re-invent it either. It just takes it out for a nice, gentle spin.

If you haven’t seen Sky High already, go watch it right away. You won’t want to like it. You won’t expect to like it. You’ll keep waiting for it to get bad, and before you know it, it’ll be over, it’ll be good, and you’ll be feeling a little sky high yourself.

  -- Malcolm Matthews

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