Cheesy as it is, the family comedy “Sky High” doesn’t even approximate the texture of Kraft plastic-wrapped singles.
It would have been a mildly impressive feat had this tale about high school freshman Will Stronghold, the only child of a superhero couple, pulled off its various ambitions.
After all, the screenwriters combined a high school flick with a superhero adventure with a family comedy about meeting parents’ expectations.
This is what “The Incredibles” might have looked like if it mated with the “X-Men” and had one of “Fantastic Four’s” mutated genes thrown in for effect.
No X-ray vision is required to see where “Sky High” is headed, from the time young Will (Michael Angarano) frets about being powerless to the climax in which his outcast friends take on evil.
All the high school personalities are here. The mean-girl cheerleader (played by twins) can multiply herself into a squad.
When the frosh arrive, they are hazed by Lash and Speed, two gifted geeks who were no doubt kicked around by senior superheroes before them.
“Evil Dead” cult figure Bruce Campbell plays a typical bullying P.E. teacher. Sonic Boom is in charge of divvying the frosh into superhero or hero support classes. Or, as he he calls the latter with smug satisfaction, “sidekicks.”
A kid turns himself into a stone man. Hero. Another turns herself into a guinea pig. Sidekick. Another a puddle. Sidekick. This sounds cuter on paper than it proves on screen.
Before Will’s superpower kicks in, the son of the Commander (Kurt Russell) and Jetstream (Kelly Preston) gets assigned to “sidekick class.”
There Mr. Boy (Dave Foley), once the Commander’s sidekick, advises them to “remember you are responsible for the safety of your superhero as he saves the world!”
In a casting reversal that is surely unintentional, “Sky High” is loaded with personable adults. From Russell and Preston, playing Will’s concerned and all-too-human superhero parents, to “Kids in the Hall” alum Foley and Kevin McDonald, the oldsters bring relaxed goofiness to the movie.
It’s the teen actors who aren’t up to the task of saving this movie from mediocrity.
Only Steven Strait in his feature film debut as glum Warren Peace holds the screen. The brooding high school hunk’s dad was a supervillian, now in prison thanks to the Commander.
Warren’s powers include a stony expression meant to keeps kids away in the cafeteria. He can also hurl fire.
Honoring its high school hierarchy conceit, “Sky High” imparts lessons about outcasts and acceptance that may offer tiny revelations for younger audiences.
For the rest of us, there is one moment of some clarity. In a backhanded compliment of heroic proportions, the Commander thanks the sidekicks. It seems some superheroes never completely shed their supersized egos.
“Sky High”
**
PG for action violence and some mild language|1 hour, 38 minutes|FAMILY COMEDY|Directed by Mike Mitchell; written by Paul Hernandez, Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle; photography by Shelly Johnson; starring Michael Angarano, Kurt Russell, Kelly Preston, Danielle Panabaker, Kevin Heffernan, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Dave Foley, Bruce Campbell, Steven Strait and Cloris Leachman |Opens today at area theaters.
