Monday morning at the movies

In something of a departure from my normal behaviour, I didn't spend the entirety of this weekend huddled in my garret muttering about how kids these days just don't know how lucky they are, but actually made it out of the house and to the cinema to see not one but two films - Sky High and Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

Sky High is a formulaic American Teen/High School coming of age comedy with one difference - it's got superpowers. I suppose at some level inspired by Harry Potter (Kids with powers go to a special school), the structure of the film is formulaic to one extent (Kids go to new school, geeks bond, get bullied, make mistakes, find themselves) but it is heartily redeemed by a script which is intelligent, witty and crammed with laugh-out-loud funny jokes.
I don't laugh out loud very often. I'm a misanthrope.
The film riffs superhero conventions mercilessly and with considerably more wit than misfires like Mystery Men as the super-power free son of the Worlds Most Powerful Heroes (including Kurt Russell doing a fine take on Superman) is sent to superschool where he is relegated to 'Sidekick' status. Some excellent dialogue ("Most kids who fall into toxic waste or get bitten by radioactive insects get their powers the next day. The ones who don't die, that is."), fan-pleasing turns by Linda Carter as the School Principal ("I don't know what I can do to help you people. I'm not Wonder Woman, you know") and Bruce Campbell as a bullying sports coach, a cast list of kids who manage the difficult task of playing teenaers who are sympathetic and you don't want immediately to punch (plus a school 'bad boy' who I'm pretty sure is who pierot wants to be when he grows up *g*) and a fantastic turn by Kevin MacDonald in a Snape-baiting turn as the best Mad Science teacher ever.*
As a film, I'd say it's worth seeing just for the science teacher. He's great.

Curse of the Were Rabbit is...oh, I'm sure you already know. Once again, crammed with witty dialogue, visual jokes, and references to more TV and film than you can shake a stick at (Thunderbirds, Batman, The Great Waldo Pepper, Spiderman, King Kong...I could go on) as Wallace and Grommit are hired to put a stop to a plague of rabbits the week before the Grand Giant Vegetable Contest.
I've been a fan of Wallace and Gromit ever since The Wrong Trousers and they've never really recaptured the sheer exuberant creative genius of their early outings - a lot of this film is too busy referencing classics to create much new of it's own and I felt it lost a little for that. But that's minor; what sort of criticism is it to say that it's not quite as good as complete brilliance?
The other weakness is that the film relies a little too much on overly cute rabbits (it's a kids film and they're aiming it at kids so the cuteness is understandable, but I couldn't help but sympathise with the character who just wanted to shoot the lot of the little vermin).

Suffice to say that I went into Sky High with low expectations and came out delighted by them being proven wrong, and I went into Curse of the Were Rabbit with massively high expectations and came out feeling slightly let down. I'd go and see Sky High again tomorrow, but of the two I'll probably like Curse of the Were Rabbit a great deal more in five years time.


^{*That's a teacher of Mad Science, not a science teacher who happens to be mad. Although he is that too.}