Check Out the Trailer

Disney really let a potential blockbuster slip through their fingers with this one. It’s HARRY POTTER with superheroes and they didn’t see the potential in a great franchise. The film got dumped in August with little support and wasn’t even screened for all the critics.

Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano, LORDS OF DOGTOWN) is the son of the two most famous superheroes in the world — The Commander (Kurt Russell, ESACPE FROM NEW YORK) and Jetstream (Kelly Preston, JERRY MAGUIRE). He is about to attend a special high school for superheroes and is an instant celeb because of his parents. Making things worse is that his powers haven’t materialized yet.

His best friend Layla (Danielle Panabaker, EMPIRE FALLS), who can control plants, tries to cheer him up, but he is too afraid that he will be assigned to sidekick courses instead of hero courses like his dad. If this weren’t bad enough, he has a run in with dark loner Warren Peace (Steven Strait, UNDISCOVERED), whose mother was a hero and his father was a villain that Will’s father put away. During a cafeteria altercation involving fireballs, Will discovers his superstrength. After this, he is moved to the hero courses where beautiful mechanics wizard Gwen (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, THE RING TWO) takes a liking to him.

Now that he is popular, he begins to neglect his sidekick friends — Layla, Zach (Nicholas Braun), Magenta (Kelly Vitz) and Ethan (Dee Jay Daniels, TV’s THE HUGHLEYS). School officials and teachers include bus driver Ron Wilson (Kevin Heffernan, SUPER TROOPERS), Principal Powers (Lynda Carter, TV’s WONDER WOMAN), Coach Boomer (Bruce Campbell, ARMY OF DARKNESS), Nurse Spex (Cloris Leachman, BAD SANTA), Mr. All American Boy (Dave Foley, TV’s KIDS IN THE HALL) and mad science teacher Mr. Medulla (Kevin McDonald, TV’s KIDS IN THE HALL).

First and foremost, the casting is perfect. All the young actors fit their role to the T. Russell is pitch perfect as the cocky handsome hero and Preston is his perfect counterpart. Foley is wonderful as the forgotten sidekick turned teacher. To see him again with McDonald was great as well. Carter cast as the principal was an inspirational move. Paul Hernandez, Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle’s screenplay knows a lot about superheroes and slyly satirizes the conventions in an even better way than MYSTERY MEN did. I wish I could see more adventures with these characters. This is the kind of film that once discovered on DVD and TV will become a hit after the fact. It deserves it. It’s a lot of fun.