Sky High

Sky High blends mild superhero spoof with standard (but also mild) adolescent angst. The combination works surprisingly well. | Andrew Coffin

Demonstrating yet again that the new millennium is a golden age for superheroes on screen, Sky High provides a light, spoofy addition to the comic-book movie canon.

Like last year's The Incredibles, Sky High (rated PG for action violence and some mild language) gives audiences a look at the human side of superherodom. High-school freshman Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano) is blessed—or cursed—with a royal pedigree in the world of high-flying life savers. His father (Kurt Russell) is known as "Commander" and possesses super strength; his mother (Kelly Preston) goes by "Jetstream" and whizzes dramatically through the skies.

By day, Commander and Jetstream are realtors (top-selling, of course) Steve and Josie Stronghold. But there's little hope for Will to live a "normal" life. On his first day of high school, a bright yellow bus picks Will up curbside—then quickly barrels over the edge of an uncompleted overpass as wings and rockets spring from hidden compartments. Will is on his way to Sky High, his dad's alma mater, a school for superhero kids hovering in a cloudbank high above the city.