Sky High (2005)

Set in an era where superheroes are commonly known and accepted, young William Stronghold, the son of the Commander and Jetstream, tries to find a balance between being a normal teenager and an extraordinary being.

Director:

Mike Mitchell

Writers:

Paul Hernandez, Robert Schooley (as Bob Schooley)

Stars:

Kurt Russell, Kelly Preston, Michael Angarano

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Angarano	...	Will Stronghold
Kurt Russell	...	Steve Stronghold / The Commander
Kelly Preston	...	Josie Stronghold / Jetstream
Danielle Panabaker	...	Layla
Christopher Wynne	...	News Anchor (as Chris Wynne)
Kevin Heffernan	...	Ron Wilson, Bus Driver
Dee Jay Daniels	...	Ethan (as Dee-Jay Daniels)
Kelly Vitz	...	Magenta
Loren Berman	...	Little Larry
Nicholas Braun	...	Zach
Malika	...	Penny
Khadijah	...	Penny
Jake Sandvig	...	Lash
Will Harris	...	Speed
Mary Elizabeth Winstead	...	Gwen Grayson / Royal Pain

Storyline

It all begins when young Will Stronghold, the son of the two famous superheroes: Steve and Josie, A.K.A. the incredibly strong, seemingly invulnerable Commander and and the high-speed flying Jetstream. However, Will does not actually know if he has any powers of his own, and has not told his parents this. He and his best friend, Layla are facing their first day of a secret school in the clouds like none on earth: Sky High, the first and only high school for kids with super-human powers going through crime-fighting puberty. But with no apparent superpowers of his own, however, Will seems destined to grow up a mere sidekick. But as he discovers his true strengths, he'll also learn that it takes loyalty and teamwork to truly become a hero!

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Plot Keywords:

coming of age | non comic book superhero | sidekick | friend | high school | 

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Taglines:

Saving The World... One Homework Assignment At A Time.

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Family | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for action violence and some mild language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official Sky High Wikia

Country:

USA

Language:

English Cantonese

Release Date:

29 July 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Súper escuela de héroes

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$14,631,784, 31 July 2005

Gross USA:

$63,946,815

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$86,369,815

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Pictures, Gunn Films, Max Stronghold Productions Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min 86 min (TBS print)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The comment Mr. Boy makes, about sidekicks not wearing costumes with colors that clash with their hero's, is a jab at comics' most famous hero/sidekick team, Batman and Robin. Where Batman wears dark colors (blue and gray) Robin wears bright colors (Red, green and yellow).

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Goofs

When Warren first walks up to Layla in the paper lantern, the water pitcher he's holding is hanging down on his side. But in the next shot he's holding it up in front of his chest.

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Quotes

Gwen: I'm a technopath. I can control technology with my mind.
Will Stronghold: Wow. All I can do is... punch stuff.
Mr. Medulla: [passing them] Yet he'll be the one on cereal boxes. Show me the justice in that.

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Crazy Credits

The end credits are decorated with still-frame comic-book illustrations. One of the still frames has a single animated element - a purple monster's eye, which moves and blinks. (It appears just before the music credits.)

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Alternate Versions

On Cartoon Network, TBS, and TNT, sixteen scenes, and the song, "Through Being Cool" by They Might Be Giants are cut to make more time for commercial advertising

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Connections

Spoofs Spider-Man (2002)

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Soundtracks

Voices Carry
Written by Aimee Mann, Michael Hausman, Joseph Pesce (as Joey Pesce), Robert Holmes
Produced by Michael Kotch and Vitamin C (as Colleen Fitzpatrick)
Performed by Vitamin C

User Reviews

Could be a sleeper!

I think Disney misfired with the very poor The Pacifier and had higher expectations from the Herbie movie. But they'll do surprisingly well with this kids flick, I think. Perhaps we even have a sleeper here.

When I saw the Sky High trailer I thought I was going to see the next installment of Spy Kids. Okay, there are a lot of crazy special effects in this movie, but the story is actually driven by the nice performances by almost all the actors instead of lots of SFX.

The film is about young Will Stronghold (charming performance by Michael Angarano), son of the two most popular and successful superheroes in the world, The Commander (Kurt Russell) and Jetstream (Kelly Preston). Will is about to go to Sky High, a school especially founded for superheroes, but there's one problem: he doesn't own any superpower. Instead of being a superhero, his highest goal seems to be the one of sidekick. So how can he survive at school being the son of the world most famous super duo? And how will his parents react when they hear the bad news?

Sky High is a very entertaining family movie with lots of good hearted humor. Early in the movie Bruce Campbell (oh yeah!) steals the show as (ex-hero, now teacher) Sonic Boomer, who has a 'Sorting Hat' scene in which he determines which student will go to hero class and which ones will study for sidekick. Kurt Russell gives a great tongue-in-cheek performance as proud daddy who thinks it's great that his son defeats all the bullies at school but has to condemn it in front of his wife. And that's the opinion of a someone who isn't actually a fan of the actor himself. The original little ideas dry out after the first half of the movie, but who said that all family movies should have Oscar power?

Sky High is a movie about friendship, falling in love with the wrong girl, falling in love with the right girl and trying to succeed in your parents footsteps. Very entertaining for the kids, and some nice laughs for parents too (during the Sidekick lessons given by ex-All American Boy for instance: lots a references to the Robin from the Batman TV-series). Great 80's soundtrack as well, with covers from songs by The Smiths, Talking Heads, Tears for Fears and even Till Tuesday and Modern English.