Sky High is one of the best movies of the 2000s

At a recent family party, my cousin and I talked about Rocko’s Modern Life getting rebooted on Netflix. It was one of our favorite shows as kids, and it’s sublime to see it back on our TVs. We ended up reminiscing and ultimately talking about the movie Sky High. Another one of our cousins joined in and said not only did they love Sky High, but it was the greatest made for TV movie ever. Which is an incredible compliment, other than the fact that Sky High came out in theaters and had a 20 million dollar budget. Also, I saw Sky High in the theater in 2005.

However, I cannot blame my cousin for thinking so. Despite its budget, Sky High has this undeniable made for TV movie film feel. The fact it came from Disney, had recognizable TV stars and was literally always on cable whether it be ABC Family or the Disney Channel itself, it’s just a complete made for TV movie. Sky High feeling like a made for TV movie isn’t a bad thing. If anything, it gave Sky High a somewhat broader appeal. There are movies where when you see them playing, you think to yourself, “oh this a whole event, I have to find time to watch the entire thing in one sitting.” With Sky High, you can jump in and be enthralled at any point in the movie, either five minutes or the entire duration.

Watching Will Stronghold and Warren Peace play Save the Citizen is an exciting action piece. Getting to see superhero/sidekick try-outs is an incredible display of special effects, diversity of character design, and does both character exposition and comedy work in one. There are even romance scenes thrown in there.

I’m not saying Sky High is the Forrest Gump for Millenials; I’m merely writing that it is in this blog post.

If you’re fully on board with Sky High being awesome, that’s cool. If you’re not and want a better explanation, well let’s break it down. If you love Sky High and wanna go for the rest of the ride, here we go:

Shia LaBeouf does not play Will Stronghold

At some point in time, Shia LaBeouf entered the mainstream, and Disney went, “oh fuck, we need a new LaBeouf.” In his place, a much more made for TV version of LaBeouf arose in Michael Angarano. Angarano as Stronghold is more endearing to us as fans than LaBeouf could ever be. When he shows to up to the Superhero/Sidekick try-out and has no powers, we as fans sympathize for him. Not only is he not Shia LaBeouf, but he has no powers as well.

Which means when he does get his powers, we as fans can celebrate with exuberance because we empathized with Stronghold. He now has powers; he is now LaBeouf. It then makes us even angrier when he turns on his sidekick friends and falls into peer pressure. We don’t like the Will Stronghold who turns on his friends, and we didn’t like Shia in Indiana Jones. Never go Full LaBeouf.

We experience highs and lows with Angarano as Stronghold. He’s so distinctly not a hero with his haircut, yet he overcomes and teaches us that anyone can be the hero.

Warren Peace is cool as hell

Steven Strait does a spectacular job as Warren Peace. He is the image of a bad-ass. Looking back, his hair is way too long, but Angarano’s disaster of a haircut made Warren Peace’s hair look great. His name is an excellent pun, he can throw fireballs, and he works at a dope Chinese restaurant.

Warren Peace is legitimately the biggest hero out of anyone. Seriously, he gets labeled as a villain early because his dad was a villain. The cool kids do not include him, and the sidekicks fear of him leads to them fueling rumors about him. Any anger he has is because other humans are treating him awfully due to predisposed opinions of him based on his absentee father. The real Warren is a hard-working hero.

Zach glows

If any of you are watching Succession (the best show on TV right now), Nicholas Braun (Cousin Greg) plays Zach in Sky High. If you don’t remember Zach, his super-power is that he glows. Whereas Will Stronghold carries an entire world’s worth of self-doubt on his shoulders, Zach’s utter confidence despite basically not having powers is one of the great contrasts in film history. Zach leans into the fact and still walks into a room with pride. He still attempts to woo Magenta (Kelly Vitz’s character). Despite being consistently played off as a joke, Zach always bounces back. If anything, his super-power isn’t that he physically glows, it’s that he lights up any room with his personality.

Ron Wilson Bus Driver

Kevin Heffernan is an actor known for raunchy R rated films like Super Troopers, Beerfest, and Club Dread. It’s insane watching him in a Disney movie looking back. Regardless, his small part is hilarious and endearing. Also, buses are a great form of transportation.

Diversity of Characters

One of the reasons we as humans collectively enjoy superhero movies like the Avengers/Justice League more than individual films is because there’s a wider universe characters. If you don’t like Hulk, you’re not gonna watch the Hulk movie. However, if you like Hawkeye and Iron-Man, you’re still gonna watch the Avengers even with Hulk still in it. We want to see a character who either we admire or we can latch onto and relate to. I’ve never once seen the appeal of Captain America, but I fucking love Iron-Man and I watch the hell out of those Avengers movies, and am able enjoy my Tony Stark time even more because I don’t enjoy the Captain America time.

In this movie, you can choose a character you like/dislike etc. If you notice, I don’t have Danielle Pannabaker’s “Layla Williams” as a reason for why this movie is awesome. Personally, I think she drags a little in this movie and ultimately chooses the wrong guy in Will Stronghold over Warren Peace. Although, she does represent a kickass female character who is easily one of the most powerful heroes in the movie. She is someone young girls can look up to. Especially if you’re pro-environment and nature!

Or you can choose to be an dank memer who’s favorite hero is Zach.

Conclusion

In an era where superhero movies are attempting to win Oscars, Sky High is a reminder you don’t have try too hard to make audiences enjoy your movie. Seriously, I think the Dark Knight is the greatest superhero film of all-time and Heath Ledger’s performance is legendary. I’ve watched it probably four or five times. I’ve seen Sky High roughly 20 times all the way through, and bits a pieces an innumerable amount. If movies were food, some are lobster and others are fast food. Sky High is the fast food peak, they are the Shake Shack or Chick Fil A who always hits the spot perfectly at the right moment.