The story begins at a secret school unlike any other school on earth: Sky High, the first and only high school for kids with super-human powers going through crime-fighting puberty. This year's class features some of the best, brightest and most powerfully gifted super-teens ever assembled. Then there is Will Stronghold. When you are the son of the world's most legendary super heroes, The Commander and Jetstream, people expect you to live up to the family name. The problem is that Will is starting with no superpowers of his own and finds himself relegated to being a Sidekick. But, when an evil villain threatens his family, friends and the very sanctity of Sky High, Will must use his newfound superpowers to save the day and prove himself a Hero worthy of the family tradition.
If you could be a superhero, what would your superpower be? I've been jokingly asked that question several times over the years. I have a friend who wishes he was "Vodka Man" - - turning ordinary water into Stolichnaya. Many would choose invisibility, super strength or x-ray vision. Personally, I've always had trouble deciding on which superpower would be most desirable. All of the above sound pretty good to me. Fortunately, Sky High has a few additional options for me to consider.
Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano) seems like an ordinary high-school freshman, but appearances can be deceiving. Will's parents are legendary superheroes The Commander (Kurt Russell) and Jetstream (Kelly Preston) and Will is about to start his first day at Sky High - - a high school for budding superheroes. Will's main concern, is that he doesn't seem to have any superpowers at all. Much to his embarrassment, Will is outed as a mere sidekick on his first day of class and is forced to face the horrible reality that he might be a disappointment to his entire family. As Will slowly starts to accept his powerless fate, his superpowers miraculously appear. He'll need them when his family is placed in jeopardy. Can Will save his family, the world and get the girl?
Show and tell at Sky High is a little different from the norm.
Sky High is a pure cheesey popcorn flick that is full of energy and positive mojo. It's a strange hybrid of a John Hughes coming of age high school comedy and a superhero action story. There are even a few classic eighties pop tunes sprinkled into the soundtrack at just the right moments to give you a nice Breakfast Club flashback. Combining teen angst and superpowers actually works quite well. I particularly enjoyed the multiple cameos in the film: Bruce Campbell plays a boisterous and harsh gym teacher and 50% of "The Kids in the Hall" (Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald) show up as oddball teachers at Sky High. Sky High is a whole lot of fun and can definitely be enjoyed by the whole family.
Sky High is presented in pristine 1080p using the Mpeg-2 video codec. The film is extremely colorful and this high definition transfer really showcases the film's vivid primary colors admirably. The very slight fine film grain is well presented without a hint of video noise. Edge enhancement and video artifacts are also non-existent. I did, however, notice a slight amount of posterization in several sky gradients during the opening credits and later during a scene that takes place on a flying school bus. Without referencing the original master, it's impossible to tell if this is just a problem with the original CGI or the transfer. Sky High is fairly straightforward in its visual style, but this transfer does an excellent job of accurately representing how this film should look. I wouldn't rate this one as demo material, but is is a very pleasing transfer.
I wasn't really expecting much in the sound department from Sky High, but I was very pleasantly surprised at its active and thunderous sound mix. Once again, Disney gives us an outstanding uncompressed PCM 5.1 track as well as Dolby Digital 5.1. Obviously, the PCM track is the better of the two. Bass is well defined and gave my sub a nice workout during many of the film's action scenes. Directional effects are fantastic and the overall 3-D sound space is exceptionally defined. Dialogue is crisp and the musical portion of the soundtrack was perfectly mixed. Sky High lapses into the occasional long stretch of heavy dialogue without much surround activity. However, when the action kicks back in, it does not disappoint.
-"Welcome to Sky High" a behind the scenes look at making the movie with the cast and crew.
-"Breaking Down the Walls" The stunts of Sky High.
While I found the alternate opening to be interesting, the remainder of the special features are, pretty much, standard electronic press kit material. There were several interesting sequences in the stunt feature, but this isn't a set of extras to really dive in to. Overall, I'm not exactly sure what else might have made this a better set of extras, but a theatrical trailer for the film might have been a nice start.
As family entertainment, Sky High is a great success. A genuinely fun story combined with very nice video and sound make this film an easy recommendation as an addition to your library of Blu-Ray releases. The film's performances are all campy yet enjoyable and there is more than enough substance to the film to appease any sceptics in the room.
