National Treasure/Sky High

Jerry Bruckheimer continues his difficult change towards family entertainment with the 2004 “National Treasure,” a nicely crowd-enjoying action film. Rich Cline said in his review, “It's about as edgy as a child-friendly TV movie--no sex or language or real violence (only one person dies despite lots of badly aimed gunplay and abyss-dangling daredevilry).” Even though this may be a half hour too long, it’s so much fun throughout.

Benjamin Franklin Gates, played by Nicolas Cage, is the last in a long family line looking for the lost treasure of the Knights Templar, hidden by America’s Founding (Masonic) Fathers. However, when he gets the first chance in the 200-year-old mystery, he’s deceived by his partner, played by Sean Bean. Now the chase begins to read an invisible map hidden on the Declaration of Independence! Ben’s joined by his helpful assistant (Justin Bartha), his doubtful father (Jon Voight) and a beautiful National Archives agent (Diane Kruger) – with the villain and a smart FBI agent (Harvey Keitel) on their trail.

Cline noted, “This film bears more than a passing resemblance to Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code, although it skips over the true meaning of all those strange symbols embedded throughout history in lieu of mindless, rip-roaring action. It's almost like a kiddie version of the novel, except that children will probably find the film rather long and boring, since the film is an extended series of clues and puzzles that go on and on. And on. Without deepening into anything more intriguing than action movie cliches.”

However, it’s still really watchable. Cage does the unplanned adventurer role really well, and Kruger does her job with some very smart dialogue. Bartha also utilizes the comic sidekick role to the fullest, he not only gets all the best lines of dialogue, but his visual asides are brilliant, and actually make his character the most interesting person in the film (something the filmmakers obviously realized by the time they wrote the epilogue).

Cline mentioned, “Turteltaub never gets to add much of a directorial stamp--he's merely another efficient interpreter of the Bruckheimer formula--various chase scenes, a few explosions, witty banter and a superfluous romance.” However, if the formula gets people to watch the film, why fix it?

From beginning to end, “Sky High,” released in 2005, is an old-fashioned Disney comedy smart enough to for adults along with kids. Intense and wanting to please, it redoes themes and problems from teen films of long ago in a way that makes a surprising amount of sense today. Targeted towards teenagers, the film may end up more successful on home video. However, when looking at relatively small contest, Disney should still count on strong movie tickets.

Daniel Eagan said in his review, “Sky High takes place in a world similar to The Incredibles, where superheroes have matter-of-factly integrated themselves into the community.” When not saving the city from villains, The Commander (Kurt Russell) and his wife Jet Stream (Kelly Preston) are famous realtors Steve and Josie Stronghold. In “Sky High’s” world, superpowers can be innate, and the Strongholds are waiting impatiently for their teen son Will (Michael Angarano) to get his. Since his powers haven’t even processed, and may not show themselves until adolescences, Will arrives at the first day of high school with apprehension.

Eagan said, “Designed for kid superheroes, the Sky High school sits on a special anti-gravity platform high above the city. It's a great set-up for a breezy comedy about high school haves and have-nots, or, in this case, heroes and sidekicks.” Will and his neighborhood friend Layla, played by Danielle Panabaker, see they are struggling against groups of jocks, cheerleaders, and geeks, with the aggression of normal school filled with X-ray vision, super-speed, shape-shifting and so many other powers.

In typical Disney fashion, Will goes up against so many things, including a bully with Warren Peace, played by Steven Strait), a rude teenage whose villainous father was put in jail by The Commander. Will must also choose between loyalty to his sidekick friends and a prom date with the beautiful Gwen Grayson, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, whose powers at technology showcases itself on the night of the dance.

Eagan said, “Rebounding from the abysmal Surviving Christmas, director Mike Mitchell finds a comfortable balance between slapstick and sentiment, and elicits winning performances from his young actors.” Angarano, Panabaker, Winstead and Strait all are great, but it’s the adult actors who make the greatest impact here. Kurt Russell is fun as a distracted but still demanding dad, while Kevin McDonald and Cloris Leachman find slight ways to challenge the film’s once in a while preachy moments.

Eagan said, “Despite the retro production design and deliberately dated special effects, kids will figure out pretty quickly that Sky High is essentially an Americanized version of Harry Potter.” Disney’s attempt on the story may be brighter and less emotionally loaded, but it’s still very entertaining and fun.

Look out tomorrow for more excitement in “Disney Live-Action Month.”