Toon Talk: Sky High - Jul 29, 2005

Toon Talk: Sky High
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In this ‘Toon Talk’ feature, I’ll briefly highlight a recommended film or DVD, outside of the Disney universe, of similar interest to the main subject.

Lately with super-hero movies, its been all about the family, what with Sky High, The Incredibles and this summer’s hit Fantastic Four (20th Century Fox, now in theaters).

Based on the seminal Marvel comic book, this action-packed joy ride takes a more light-hearted look at super herodom (no Batman Begins-style brooding in this flick), bringing to the mainstream the cosmically-gifted title foursome (Ioan Gruffudd’s bendable Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Jessica Alba’s feisty Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Chris Evans’ hotshot Johnny Storm/The Human Torch and Michael Chiklis’ tragic lug Ben Grimm/The Thing) as well as their megalomaniacal nemesis, Dr. Doom (Julian McMahon).

Sure, its hokey in parts and suffers from what every first film in a series falls prey to (mainly, “enough with the origin story and get on with the action!�?), but the film succeeds as fun popcorn entertainment, one I’m looking forward to the inevitable sequel.

Coming Soon in Toon Talk:

  • Keep in eye out the first week of August for the next Toon Talk Special!
  • Before Chicken Little hits the skies, Disney presents Vanguard Animation’s Valiant, another computer-animated comedy about a feathered misfit of a hero, a plucky pigeon who saves the R.A.F. during World War II (August 19th).
  • Go back to the beach for some more Hawaiian fun with Lilo and Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch, making its debut on Disney DVD August 30th.

And Coming Soon from Buena Vista Home Video:
  • From the vaults: the sea-faring comedy The Boatniks (starring Robert Morse, Stefanie Powers and Phil Silvers), the historical adventure Johnny Tremain (Hal Stalmaster, Luana Patton and Sebastian Cabot), the nostalgic Toby Tyler, or Ten Weeks With a Circus (Kevin Corcoran) and the fish-out-of-water comedy The World’s Greatest Athlete (Tim Conway, John Amos and Jan-Michael Vincent); also: before she was Desperate, Teri Hatcher co-starred with Louis Gossett Jr. in the made-for-TV thriller Momentum; Holly Hunter and Ron Silver play tennis foes Billy Jean King and Bobby Riggs in ABC’s When Billie Met Bobby; and two thrillers from Miramax: Lucy Liu and Jeremy Northam star in Cypher; while the unlikely duo of John Mellencamp and Louise Fletcher co-star in After Image (August 2nd).
  • From the “It’s About Time�? Department: get ready for a totally Muppet-tational happening with the DVD debut of The Muppet Show: The Complete First Season; and from the “Look How Fall They Have Fallen�? Department: the dreadful depressing The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz (August 9th).
  • It’s all about the twos on August 16th: more single-disc short collections with two volumes of Walt Disney’s Timeless Tales (including Three Little Pigs, The Grasshopper and the Ants and The Tortoise and the Hare on Volume 1 and The Ugly Duckling, Ferdinand the Bull and The Country Cousin on Volume 2); two Disney Channel series appear on That’s So Raven: Disguise the Limit and Phil of the Future: Gadgets & Gizmos; two more Studio Ghibli favorites: My Neighbors the Yamadas and Pom Poko (the latter in a two-disc special edition); two Miramax Special Editions with the Academy Award-winning My Left Foot (starring Oscar-winners Daniel Day-Lewis and Brenda Fricker) and The Glass Shield (starring non-Oscar-winners Ice Cube and Lori Petty); and the DVD debut of the recent comic book noir Sin City, which had two directors, Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller.
  • More TV sets with the third season of Boy Meets World, the second season of Once and Again and the complete series of Life As We Know It; the Baby Einsteins grow up (a little bit) in the feature-length Little Einsteins: Our Huge Adventure, soon to be a Playhouse Disney series; and Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet get all gooey-eyed with each other in the recent romantic comedy A Lot Like Love (August 23rd).
  • It’s “Lights! Camera! Fashion!�? for Barbie and friends with My Scene Goes Hollywood: The Movie (August 30th).

Discuss It

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-- Kirby C. Holt
-- Logo by William C Searcy, Magic Bear Graphics

Kirby is a lifelong Disney fan and film buff. He is also an avid list maker and chronic ellipsis user ...

Took Talk: Disney Film & Video Reviews by Kirby C. Holt is posted whenever there's something new to review.

The opinions expressed by our Kirby C. Holt, and all of our columnists, do not necessarily represent the feelings of LaughingPlace.com or any of its employees or advertisers. All speculation and rumors about the future plans of the Walt Disney Company are just that - speculation and rumors - and should be treated as such.

-- Posted July 29, 2005
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