Sky High

When people think about the ways in which they would improve the high school experience, there are probably a wide range of elements they mark out as being particularly painful for all who experience it. Buildings with all the aesthetic flare and functional layout of a three-year-old’s pillow fort. State-approved lesson plans capable of reducing even the most dynamic, vibrant subjects into the educational material of a strong dose of valium. Lunch food derived from recipes written by homicidal maniacs who can’t even be bothered to pair your daily puddle of grease with fava beans or a nice Chianti. The list goes on, but of these innumerable tweaks and edits I don’t think many people would say the chief woe of American high school is the fact that it’s terrestrial. That, loyal listener, is the concern of a very different clientele: superheroes! You can’t teach teenagers how to be the next Superman on the ground, there’s dust and scary beetles down there! No, the best place for this unique form of instruction is found up high, sky high, you might even say. That’s right, folks, today’s installment of Magellans at the Movies addresses Sky High, a 2005 superhero spoof/kids’ comedy, directed by Mike Mitchell, following the colorful exploits of a group of freshmen at the titular ariel high school where they learn to become the next generation of unitard-wearing vigilantes. Sky High didn’t set the world on fire on release, but it has since gained a cult following and seeing as it was a big part of the Magellans Brothers’ childhood, today we thought it might be fun to revisit this curious piece of early 2000s culture. Into nostalgia or disillusionment we go, folks, up, up, and away!