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Review #212 of 365
Film: Zoom [PG] 83 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $9.00
Where Viewed: AMC Westminster Promenade 24, Westminster, CO
When 1st Seen: 11 August 2006
Time: 10:05 p.m.
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
Zoom, based on the book Zoom's Academy by Jason Lethcoe (I have no idea how loosely or faithfully Director Peter Hewitt was to the book), had a lot of potential to be this summer's Sky High. You've got Tim Allen cast as Jack Shepard an aging former super hero known as Captain Zoom due to his amazing ability to run three times faster than the Flash recalled to active duty (think Bob Par aka Mr. Incredible) to defeat an impending threat to earth's population that turns out to be his now-evil brother, Connor aka Concussion (Kevin Zegers). Actually, Connor was turned evil by over-doses of gamma radiation given to him by the government to activate and reinforce his natural super heroic ability that of making cyclone shock waves and destroying everything in his path. Eventually, he had to be sent to an alternate dimension to keep him from killing everyone. Well, he's on his way back to earth with a vengeance after 30 years of being alone and frozen in time. So, General Larraby (Rip Torn) declares it time to call Captain Zoom back into service and create a new Zenith Program team using kids with all new abilities to fight Concussion. Egg-head scientists Dr. Grant (Chevy Chase) and Marsha Holloway (Courteney Cox) round up a group of candidate children with 'special abilities' and kidnap Jack Shepard from his job as an auto mechanic to help in the training. The kids selected to make up the new team are: Tucker Williams (Spencer Breslin) who can rapidly expand any part of his body to 500 times bigger than normal, Summer Jones (Kate Mara) who is telekinetic and can communicate with machines, Cindy Collins (Ryan Newman) who's the strongest 6-year old girl in the world capable of lifting over 2 tons with each arm, and the intended leader of the group, Dylan West (Michael Cassidy) who can disappear (most parents and guardians of average teenage sons will wonder what's so special about this kid, every teenage boy can do that).
Unfortunately, there are problems. The kids don't know how to use their powers very well, Jack wants to be there not at all and only becomes mildly interested after a $500,000 check is waived in his face, and Concussion is on is thought to be arriving in fewer than 2 weeks. Well, those are the problems within the story.
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"…great ingredients…[but] barely zooms out of first gear…"
Unfortunately, these are the same problems that compound to make the movie something far less than last summer's Sky High. You see, Columbia House has gotten together all of the great Disney®-like ingredients: beloved big-screen comedian Allen, aged but beloved and poised for comedic come-back Chevy Chase, television Friend who still hasn't quite broken solidly into movies Courteney Cox (remember when she was Michael J. Fox's girlfriend on Family Ties?), Kevin Zegers (a Disney marquee child actor from the Air Bud movies who's turned into a stellar actor with moon-dimples and Colorado Sky blue eyes, and a cast of well-liked, up-and-coming kid actors including "The O.C.'s" fierce stud, Michael Cassidy; "Jack and Bobby's" soulful Kate Mara; and the Santa Clauses's Spencer Breslin; and a director with mucho experience including The Borrowers, Tom and Huck, and Garfield. Still, the plot prevents the film from really zooming. It gets bogged down with far, far too much time spent trying to persuade Jack aka Captain Zoom into wanting to do this and be involved with the kids as a coach, mentor, and even father figure. ![Five for Fighting - The Devil In the Wishing Well / Superman - Single - Superman (It's Not Easy) [Acoustic]](http://ax.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net/images/badgeitunes61x15dark.gif)
) and Enrique Iglesias's "Hero" (). If they make a sequel or a tv series out of this, I'll watch it, because I really liked this group of kids, and the concept of them being super heroes. It's just too bad they didn’t compress all this stuff in the first 30 minutes of the movie and save the last 56 for them to fight some new threat together as a group. Then they would have had a really super movie on their hands instead of this one that barely zooms out of first gear.
Once this happens, there are about 20 minutes left to get the kids in order, face the villain, and roll the credits. Once again, people have made a super hero movie where they forget that what people really like about super hero movies is seeing the superhero in action, fighting the villain, and triumphing over evil. They do not want to see 60 minutes of Tim Allen being a curmudgeon while Chevy Chase and Courteney Cox trip over every table and chair with which they come into contact. All of this then makes for a very anti-climatic battle with concussion once he arrives, and no time for the newly formed super hero 'team' to fight a real villain. Also, disappointing were the super hero costumes they were given to wear—plain white suits with rogue ruffles? These belong in the same category as the famous puffy shirt from "Seinfeld". There are a few times when the actors seem themselves somewhat dismayed by the script and the project. Is it Dylan West who keeps disappearing from the government project, or is it Michael Cassidy escaping from the film's set? Unfortunately, no one else had this super power. It would have been nice, if they had come up with new songs for this group instead of using recycled, albeit great songs, Five for Fighting's "Superman (It's Not Easy)" (
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) and Enrique Iglesias's "Hero" (). If they make a sequel or a tv series out of this, I'll watch it, because I really liked this group of kids, and the concept of them being super heroes. It's just too bad they didn’t compress all this stuff in the first 30 minutes of the movie and save the last 56 for them to fight some new threat together as a group. Then they would have had a really super movie on their hands instead of this one that barely zooms out of first gear.
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Other Projects Featuring: Tim Allen • Courteney Cox • Chevy Chase
Spencer Breslin • Kevin Zegers • Kate Mara
Michael Cassidy • Ryan Newman • Rip Torn
Other Projects Directed By: Peter Hewitt
Other Projects Written By: Adam Rifkin and David Berenbaum
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Zoom (2006) Review-lite [150-word cap]
Based on Jason Lethcoe's Zoom's Academy, director Peter Hewitt's Zoom had potential to be this summer's Sky High. Tim Allen is Jack Shepard--aging former super hero Captain Zoom. Recalled by the military to active duty to defeat an impending threat to earth's population (think Bob Par aka Mr. Incredible) that turns out to be his now-evil brother, Connor aka Concussion (Kevin Zegers), he's asked to coach a new team including one kid who can expand parts of his body, one who's telekinetic, another who's super strong, and one whom guardians of teenagers won't think is that special, a teenage boy who constantly disappears. Unfortunately, there are problems—not just that Jack doesn't want to be there and the kids don't know how to use their powers. The script devotes too much time to creating the heroes and not enough time to them being heroes. This makes for a rather dull film.
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