Rating:  -
One thing that bugged me was why were children chosen to fight Concussion? Can acting get anymore uninspired? Boring script and superheroes with redundant powers (telekinesis, strength, invisibility)...no originality. Special effects were good in some areas and bad in others. Plot was mediocre. I would avoid this film, unless you want to add another to your list of bad movies. I bet Courtney loved Tim Allen's fast finger.
Rating:  -
This seems to be a real love it or hate it movie. To everyone who hasn't weighed in, let me give you a few words of advice. If you're looking for a deep plot, a profound message, or award-winning characterization--don't bother because it's not here. However, if you're looking for a silly, shiny popcorn flick that you can spend a little time laughing at and you're willing to let go of any lurking high standards enough to enjoy it, then you're in the right place. Also, as I believe other reviewers have mentioned, this is a kid-targeted and kid-friendly film.
Rating: -
No, this won't win any academy awards. Yes, the special effects like the 6-year-old lifting 2-ton weights are a bit cheesy and you can tell they are made out of plastic. But this movie targets pre-teen kids and isn't supposed to be highly sophisticated. Show it to some kids between the ages of 5 and 13 and see what they think - that's the demographic here. My guess? They'll love it. And if your kids are teens but haven't hit that "everything is stupid" stage, they'll probably like it too.
THE PLOT:
Tim Allen plays a grown-up and burned-out superhero named Zoom who can run real fast (think of "Dash" in the animated movie "The Incredibles"). As a child, Zoom was taken to a special academy (Area 52 in Nevada...more secret than Area 51) where he, his brother, and other kids with superhero powers are supposed to develop themselves. While there, the government irradiates the kids to enhance their powers, something goes wrong, and Zoom's brother (Concussion) turns into an evil arch-nemesis where he is stuck in some kind of time warp. Fast-forward 30 years. Concussion is coming out of his time-warp to wreak havoc. The army is preparing for his return and has recruited a batch of new superhero kids to battle him, and they've forcibly enlisted Allen (Zoom) to train the kids. He's burned out and bitter about the same army that wrecked his life and his brother's life. The movie charts his redemption as he slowly forms the new kids into a team that treats one another like a family, helping Zoom find his calling once again.
My pre-teen son picked this off the Blockbuster shelf because he'd seen a commercial for it. I figured, what the heck, it's rated PG, let's take a chance on it. So, we sat down that night with people from each of three generations: me (I'm 45), my son (he's 11), and his grandmother (she's 69). We all enjoyed it.
THE GOOD:
1) Wholesome message - The kids feel like outcasts because of their powers and gradually learn to support one another. There isn't the usual petty bickering like amongst siblings. They get along and take care of one another.
2) Redemption - Zoom goes from a burned-out cynic to a genuinely caring father figure and role model by the end of the movie. He redeems his long-lost brother (Concussion) as well.
3) Language - There's none of the usual potty mouth jokes and innuendoes. This is a big deal for me. I love many of the newer animated movies, like Shrek, but it as though the producers want to be certain that the adults watching the movie have humor directed at them, so they push the envelope with jokes they hope will go over the kids' heads but hit the adults. Newsflash: if I want adult humor, I'll rent it. The Incredibles was a great example of a movie that appealed to all ages without having to push the envelope. Zoom was another great example.
4) Normal Kids - It didn't feature "perfect" kids as one had a speech impediment, one was overweight, and one was moody and picked on by the cool kids at school. It was nice to see "regular" kids cast in this movie instead of just the popular, beautiful images of perfect hair, perfect teeth, and popularity that the Disney Channel usually gives us with kids like Jamie Lynn Spears and Hillary Duff.
THE BAD:
There really wasn't anything I didn't like about the movie, but we happened to watch it while we were eating pizza and there are a few places where it gets a bit gross: one involving flatulance and one involving mucous. Consider yourself warned - it doesn't mix well with food.
THE UGLY:
Uh, none to speak of. Tim Allen seems a bit obsessed with Courtney Cox's little green dress. No ugliness there, I can assure you.
THE ACTORS:
In addition to Allen, there are some other actors that adults will enjoy here. Courtney Cox (Friends) plays a dweeby and ultra-clumsy scientist who has a crush on Zoom. Chevy Chase of Saturday Night Live fame plays the aging nobel-prize-winning director of Area 52. His makeup is hysterical and he dresses in fashions from the 1970s. Rip Torn plays the gruff army general who views the kids as collateral weapons to be used, not human beings of value. Allen is like a one-man arsenal of funny one-liners and quips and is constantly peppering Torn's and Chase's characters with ascerbic wit. He's a quintessential Smart Alec in this movie.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
But all in all, it was a truly fun movie. Kids will like the special effects and the comic-book plot and won't see the cheesy-ness: they'll think it is cool - the top-secret installation, the superhero costumes, the training, and the unique superpowers each person has. Adults will like the wholesomeness of the message and the absence of violence and language.
Buy it? I dunno. We rented it. My suggestion: rent it first and if you like it, get it for your library. It's the type of movie kids will want to watch several times, while adults will probably find that once is sufficient.
Rating: -
Honestly, this movie was bad. I usually don't write reviews, but this movie was just BAD. That said, I bought it for my kids because at 8 and 10,they aren't really "plot driven", and they think it's funny. I say it just has no real story...they just put a bunch of "junk" on tape and hoped it would fly. No pun intended.
Rating: -
I don't know what possessed me to rent this DVD from my local Movie Gallery, but rest assured I will never listen to that voice again. I was thinking that this would turn out to be just another benign version of "Sky High" (to which it pales in comparison) but boy, was I ever wrong.
This movie sucks. Big time. I did not get a single laugh out of it. My 8- and 6-year old kids may have smiled over the costume changes of Cindy, the super-strong tyke, but for the most part they just stared blankly at the screen. My older child prudently declared at the end: "This was a stupid movie".
The kid characters were good-looking enough, but they all lack some crucial aspect that would endear them to the audience. Dylan/Houdini seems lost, literally and figuratively for most of the movie, not knowing if he's a boy or man and lacking the leadership the team seems to be needing, and not having enough teen angst to carry the weight of the role. Summer/Wonder seems to be the best of the bunch, with enough emotional range but not enough charisma, which is ironic since the graphic novel seems to be based on her character. Tucker/Megaboy plods through his role, unsure whether he likes his newfound expandable waistline. Cindy/Princess is ingratiatingly cute but comes across as bratty, throwing several temper tantrums throughout. Courtney Cox displays lackluster performance - her acting prowess is about the same as when she was in "Masters of the Universe," and that was two decades ago! Rip Torn was disappointing as Larraby, as was Chevy Chase, who lost his comedic talent back in the nineties.
Don't even get me started on Tim Allen. I understand he has to play the role of the reluctant hero who must come out of his shell to play mentor to these fledgling superheroes but he just comes across as a sleazy bum with overtones of sexual deprivation (notice how he keeps asking about Couteney's green dress) who should have been left alone with the losers, as Larraby suggests in one sequence. I half-expected him to start pawing at Courteney like Gollum would at the One Ring. He never really taught the kids anything, and comes up with this "family" concept at the end, which he had been avoiding all along because of his rift with his brother. Puh-lease, gimme a break. I wish he would have just vibrated himself out of the movie altogether.
Plot? What plot? Some subpar writers merely mixed together a hodge-podge of plot elements from Harry Potter, Spy Kids, Sky High, and other comic book story lines to create what they believe is a humorous, family-friendly action movie. Sadly, it falls flat on its face, and actually goes a few feet under a couple of times. Most of the action sequences involve lame training exercises, and there's really only the climactic scene with Concussion where you see them actually using their powers together. IMHO, Concussion should have whupped them to a different dimension where they might have done better as a B movie cast. I don't blame him one bit for returning to annihilate Area 52.
There are good movies and there are bad movies and there are movies that never should have been made. Sadly, like "Howard the Duck" and "Battlefield Earth" before it, "Zoom" belongs to the latter.
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