Zoom: Academy for Superheroes

Tim Allen
Courtney Cox
Michael Cassady
Kate Mara
Spencer Breslin
Ryan Newman
Rip Torn
Chevy Chase
Kevin Zegers

PG           83min           2006

‘Zoom: Academy for Superheroes’ is about a over the hill superhero named Zoom (Allen) brought out of retirement to train a new generation of superheroes for an impending doom.

The is straight crap. Who ever decide to make this film deserve to lose whatever money they lost. This script was a half ass attempt to capitalize on the comic book crazy in Hollywood and the powers that be not realizing what makes a good comic book movie.

First off to comic book fans the material is not tongue in cheek; it’s to be taken with seriousness. That’s not to say that it can’t have humor. There is a thin line that must be balanced to pull off a comic book film. ‘Zoom’ relied too much on the comedy of Tim Allen, Chevy Chase, Rip Torn and Courtney Cox.

Comic Book Readers want to see the fantastical grounded in a heighten reality. One massively successive example is ‘Heroes’ on NBC. Each character has a superpower but its grounded in reality. ‘Zoom’ never once gave a ground reality it was over the top from the beginning to end. This was the first indication of a flop that someone should have notice.

‘Zoom’ never made you invest emotional in its characters. It had weak emotional moments but nothing that would make a connection to the viewer. Give the audience a reason to care for these characters. I was more interested in the back story of ‘Zoom’. The picture of the old team spark more curiosity, having Alexis Bledial, Wilmer Vanderrama, and Kevin Zegers and how they died would have been a more interesting story.

Most successful comic books are not light-hearted and tongue in cheek. They display some facet of humanity and heighten it. ‘Zoom’ is the polar opposite of ‘Sky High’, not to say ‘Sky High’ was an exceptional piece of work but at least you could get behind the characters.

They highlight of this film for me was Ryan Newman. She was Princess and she stole the show. She’s a “strong little princess” and she played it too a tee. This would be the only reason to see this movie if you’re a big fan of hers. Even then I would be hard press to recommend this movie.

I classify this movie as an “End of Days”, a rarity in its given by me. Read my “End of Days” page for the back-story.

I give it 0/5 Gs.