One of several Smash Mouth songs on this movie's soundtrack is a cover of Queen and David Bowie's "Under Pressure," a song already known for having a cheesy knockoff in "Ice Ice Baby." It's an apt metaphor for the movie itself, which feels like a copy of a copy of an inbred superhero story. Yes, it's allegedly based on books by Jason Lethcoe, but it bears little or no resemblance to them, borrowing instead from X-Men to such an extent that Fox filed a lawsuit.
Tim Allen plays retired superhero Captain Zoom, cajoled back to supersecret "Area 52" to train four new kids in developing their latent powers in time to stop Zoom's evil brother Concussion (Kevin Zegers), who's finally returning from an alternate dimension. But since Allen spends almost the entire story training them, the movie wastes time on endless montages and product placement.
--Luke Y. Thompson
--Luke Y. Thompson