Young alien types who step out and dare to declare

[austin_dern]

And despite it maybe being out of character for me, I went to a movie this weekend. Specifically, I went to Sky High, mostly on the strength of friends' recommendations. I've had a pretty shake track record with friends' recommendations in the past, but this one turned out pretty well, even if the movie kept giving me a Phil of the Future vibe.

Overall I was pretty satisfied with it. The movie gave two solid red herrings and one flaky one for who the Arch Villain would be, so I didn't call it too far ahead of where the movie wanted. However, I really liked the stuff that was just ``superhero high school'' enough that I was kind of hoping they wouldn't get around to the supervillain plot. I suppose if the story is Triumph of the Underdogs, there has to be a day substantially in danger for the underdogs to save; now that it's not the 80s anymore you can't get away with a low-key sort of Underdog Superiority plot. I'm also not clear why the Villain needed to capture the MacGuffin Ray Gun, given the nature of Villain's powers and the time available to the plotting, but perhaps this was just one more of those cases of the desire for supervillain drama overwhelming supervillain sense. Some part of me was pleased they were able to give the girl who turns into a purple guinea pig some dignity, since I like guinea pigs and they don't get much respect. Also, nobody who has the same superpower as Triplicate Girl should sit at the Cool Table, whether she's a cheerleader or not. The bus driver distracted me more than he should have because I kept thinking how much Jonathan Winters should have played that part.

One curious thing came about mid-movie. Movies in Singapore come with Chinese subtitles, since so much of the population is Chinese. Well, a bit after mid-movie there's a scene in a Chinese restaurant, and the owners shout at their waiter in Chinese, and he shouts back. This exchange was not subtitled in Chinese -- nor in English. But a good fraction of the audience laughed at the Chinese dialogue. I'm curious what exactly they did say, and if it were a logical thing to laugh at. Usually when I don't get a joke I just don't notice it; this was an odd case of knowing there was one, but nothing more about it.

Trivia: Mercury spacecraft 18, for Scott Carpenter's Mercury-Atlas 7 orbital mission, was delivered to Cape Canaveral 15 November 1961. Source: Project Mercury: A Chronology, James M Grimwood, NASA SP-4001.

Currently Reading: Squaring the Circle and other Monographs, EW Hobson, HP Hudson, AN Singh, AB Kempe.

Comments

[chefmongoose.livejournal.com]

I'm also not clear why the Villain needed to capture the MacGuffin Ray Gun, given the nature of Villain's powers and the time available to the plotting, but perhaps this was just one more of those cases of the desire for supervillain drama overwhelming supervillain sense.

Well, she was a technopath. She's good at making zappy guns, and she sort of needs a big zappy gun, the better to take out a whole gym of super-powered people.

even if the movie kept giving me a Phil of the Future vibe.

Well, the recommendations in this case were with small reservations, which usually bodes well. Too many people were saying Serenity was the best thing ever for me to go see it. And yes.. it's a Disney Channel Original movie plus Kurt Russell, Bruce Campbell, and a reasonable $3 million SFX budget. One million going straightaway to that lovely pound-and-ripple effect.

This exchange was not subtitled in Chinese -- nor in English. But a good fraction of the audience laughed at the Chinese dialogue. I'm curious what exactly they did say, and if it were a logical thing to laugh at. Usually when I don't get a joke I just don't notice it; this was an odd case of knowing there was one, but nothing more about it.

Well, I think the subtitling would've ruined the feel of the moment. It helped re-inforce the Chinese restaurant as a sort of a space belonging to [said waiter character], not the two leads, when they appear. And it fits my general movie rule of thimb, in that any foreign dialogue under twenty seconds need not be subtitled, unless it's plot-critical. Furthermore, it gives speakers of Chinese a movie bonus.

All that said, I'd like to know too.

--Chiaroscuro

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I hadn't expected the snippet of Chinese dialogue would be subtitled -- from its position it's obviously not important except in being The Boss yelling at The Waiter, and anything further than that is superfluous. Still, I'm curious what exactly was said, since people who speak Chinese found it funny, particularly since it'd be neat to know whether it was logical dialogue for that scene, or filler like ``We need to yell at you a bit here!'', or random syllables strung together (``Them are at taping hamster within Bulgaria parameters!''), any of which would be amusing.

According to the Internet Movie Database, the principals (and, one assumes, principal) of the movie were signed with an option towards a TV series spinoff, which may be part of why it did give the vibe of a potential Disney TV Series.

[lexomatic.livejournal.com]

I'm also not clear why the Villain needed to capture the MacGuffin Ray Gun, given the nature of Villain's powers and the time available

Presumably Gwen's technopath powers, although fully capable of assembling a freeze ray from loose parts, didn't allow her to recreate the Pacifier. She'd been infantilized in the meantime, so perhaps she'd forgotten exactly how she'd created it the first time -- a crowning achievement of techno-villiany that wasn't easily replicated. Perhaps a drunken stupor was involved, as with the Heavily Armed Flying Party from Life, The Universe, and Everything?

What I want to know is: do all the superhero families live in one neighborhood? And if they don't, are there specially-equipped unfinished highway ramps in proximity to all of them? And why were the comic book-style illustrations so poorly drawn? Also, like Hogwarts, there was a shortage of visible teachers.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Yeah ... I was expecting there might be some reason given like the Pacifier requiring components from a rare meteorite making that particular one irreplaceable, but if there was, I didn't catch it. It could've been a Henry Kuttner Gallagher-style invention, if you're willing to suppose the existence of high school students drinking ... well, it is a science fiction/fantasy movie, after all.

I'm not at all sure the distribution of superhero families in this movie. The bus and gatherings of students at a few corners suggests they're pretty well packed together, and that would explain the rather jaded reaction the mere mortals seem to have to giant robots rampaging downtown and the like. Bad place to be a civilian. But in that case, you'd think someone besides Will and his gang would leap into action (admittedly a problem with most many-superhero worlds). Of course, the bus driver was supposed to go get help, presumably from someone near to the high school.

[chefmongoose.livejournal.com]

And why were the comic book-style illustrations so poorly drawn?

Kieron Dwyer's art didn't seem poorly-drawn to me. He's done some good work for DC, notably on Superman.

As for the Superhero families.. I don't think anyone had a real notion of 'secret identity' in this movie. I have the feeling it was a very superhero-dwelt neighborhood. Everyone knew Will Stronghold was the son of The Commander, *everyone*.

As for someone else leaping into action, who knew? The climactic villian battle bit lasted maybe an hour in subjective time. You'd figure there might eb someone's parents they can call, but then, you don't get the chance for the underdogs to save the day.

--Chiaroscuro

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

True, everyone knew Will Stronghold was The Commander and Jetstream's son, but they were all superheroes or children of superheroes themselves. The whole gang of superheroes knowing one another's secret identities -- even if it gets to be a mighty big group -- is a pretty normal convention even in polysuperheroic worlds. And .. uh ... whatseername, Will's girlfriend, nudges The Commander about remembering his glasses in an early scene.

[chefmongoose.livejournal.com]

Mmm. That's true, no 'normal' civilians did seem to know of that secret identity.. though we saw maybe 4-5 of those in the whole movie. (At the Chinese restaurant, and the copuple looking at the house, and.. uhm... a news reporter on TV?)

There is a rather strong "Harry Potter but with superheroes" feel to the movie that way, the same sort of universe construction.

--Chiaroscuro

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I don't really know the Harry Potter vibe, since I just saw the one movie last year and that's all. Normal civilians, yeah, the only ones I remember were the homeowners, maybe the reporter, presumably the Chinese restaurant, though I suppose in the circumstances I wouldn't be surprised to learn the restaurant owners were superheroes too.

Still, if it is a superhero neighborhood, you'd think more supervillains would target it specifically, instead of aiming for downtown. You'd either attack the superheroes right at their homes where you could get at their secret lairs and they can't retreat without fleeing, or far enough away that they arrive off their balance.