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Director:
Mike Mitchell
Cast:
Michael Angarano, Kurt Russell, Kelly Preston, Lynda Carter,
Danielle Panabaker |
Rating: (1 to 5
stars)
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MPAA Rating:
PG for action violence and some mild language. |
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Review:
 You
can get away with a hell of a lot more stuff in a cartoon than you
can in a live-action film. Sure there've been plenty of
live-action fantasy films which have worked brilliantly, but with
a 2D animation, you can just throw logic to the winds and don't
give it another thought, but with live action, where they at least
LOOK like living breathing people, you have to keep everything
consistent.
This is something that writers Paul Hernandez, Mark McCorkle and
Bob Schooley seem to have forgot. The trio have worked writing for
cartoons for a number of years and have done rather well at it,
but they don't GET the fact that it's live action and there has to
be some logic after the one or two absurdities generally allowed
before disbelief can no longer be suspended.
It seems like the famous superheroes the Commander (Kurt Russell)
and Jetstream (Kelly Preston) have gotten married and had a kid
named Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano), who is now a teenager
and has been enrolled at the titular learning institution, where
he's to learn how to use his superpowers to save the world.
Mom and Dad want our Will to fulfill his destiny, and so does he,
but there's only one problem: Will doesn't have any superpowers.
Oh, his pal Layla(Danielle Panabaker), a kind of neo-hippie, has
them. She's got the power to animated plantlife, and so does
everyone else, but as she says, the curriculum "Sounds fascist,"
and it is…
For the kids have to demonstrate their superpowers in front of the
nasty Coach Boomer(Bruce Campbell), who will put them on either
the “hero” track, or the “sidekick” track. So Will, who isn't
super yet, and Layla, who won't show what she can do, is are
officially deemed losers, and are sent to a life of second class
citizenship.
That there's plenty of teen angst to go around is fine. This is
basically a pre-teen movie with everything but Hillery Duff. But
when you have one of the bullies, Warren Peace(Steven Straight)
shooting fire at poor Will, then it goes a bit far. The usual
attack on cliquishness and underage drinking is okay, but the
thing is far to bland for anyone over the age of eight, and maybe
not some younger, too.
Besides, we've already had “The Incredibles,” “Harry Potter” and a
half a dozen other films in similar veins over the past couple of
years. We don't need this.
Give it a pass..
Eric Lurio
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