In a 2019 interview with Empire magazine, famed “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “Goodfellas” director and star of “Shark Tale” Martin Scorsese said that the superhero genre “…isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.”
Clearly, he hasn’t seen Disney’s 2005 masterpiece “Sky High.”
This movie is something that I think about at least once a week — and that is not remotely hyperbole. When it came to Disney Plus last year, I was as excited for this childhood favorite as I was for each new episode of “The Mandalorian.”
Created before most mainstream audiences met the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Avengers, “Sky High” successfully satirizes the burgeoning renaissance of superhero movies years ahead of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s status as a cultural touchstone.
At the same time, it satisfies the most human story of all: the coming-of-age narrative. It defies ol’ Marty and does this all within the framework of a superhero metaphor. 
At the infancy of the superhero movie’s renaissance in 2000, Bryan Singer’s leather clad X-Men asked: “What would you prefer? Yellow spandex?”
“Sky High” answered with a resounding “Hell yes.”
There’s just a sincere earnestness to it. It genuinely loves being a superhero movie drenched in the four-color excellence of silver age comic books. It’s aware of how absurd it is, and it relishes in it. It’s not trying to be grounded and gritty like “X-Men” or “Blade.” It’s not afraid of where it comes from, spandex and all.
This movie has all the comic book tropes undiluted by black leather get-ups or under-saturated colors. It’s got the teenage hero protagonist with burgeoning powers, the superhero school with a legacy, the bombastic costumes with and the villain who also happens to be the hero’s love interest.
It’s aware of how ridiculous it all is. That’s what makes it so incredible.
That’s just how the movie feels. We haven’t even gone into the talent director Mike Mitchell brought together with the cast.
Mitchell doesn’t shy away from some established filmmaking techniques. Each time I watch this masterpiece I notice another use of the iconic Dutch angle. Like seriously, most of the shots are from this weird diagonal angle. He’s using the tools of a director to create capital “A” art.  
Besides his involvement in such dubious masterpieces as “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo” and “Alvin & the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked,” Mitchell — with the help of Disney — clearly has an eye for talent. 
What other movie can boast a cast with Lynda Carter, Kurt Russell, Bruce Campbell, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Patrick Warburton? Certainly, nothing Martin Scorsese has ever directed.
When your movie ranks among Kurt Russell’s best performances alongside “The Thing,” “Escape From New York,” “Big Trouble in Little China” and “Tango & Cash,” you know you’ve done something special. Russell as an over-the-top facsimile of Superman is something we didn’t know we needed, but the world of filmmaking is a better place for it.
And how could we forget Bruce Campbell’s Coach Boomer and his iconic short shorts and catchphrase: “SIDE…KICK!”?
That’s just the talent in front of the camera. Michael Giacchino composed this movie, and would go on to score multiple Mission Impossible and Jurassic Park films, along with a not-insignificant amount of Disney’s own Marvel and Pixar movies. To put it in perspective, this was the first person Disney chose besides John Williams to score a Star Wars movie.
Speaking of music, let’s talk about this soundtrack. “Guardians of the Galaxy” may have revived the jukebox soundtrack for superhero movies, but “Sky High” did it first. This amazing soundtrack has ’80s hits from The Smiths, Modern English and Tears for Fears (or at least covers by contemporary artists).
This soundtrack is so iconic. For my entire childhood, I thought these versions of “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” “I Melt With You” and “Save It for Later” were the real thing. Some of my favorite songs came from “Sky High,” and trust me, the comedy in that isn’t lost on me. Not bad for a teen superhero movie that most kids just knew from Disney Channel marathons.
I don’t know about everyone else, but “Sky High” is something I will always cherish. I have an almost primal interest in this film. It’s so purely itself and unafraid of its roots, which is something most modern superhero movies are just now getting around to.
Before the near perfect tonal adaptations of “Thor: Ragnarök” and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” there was “Sky High.” Before the mainstream success of “My Hero Academia” and its similar premise of a school for superheroes, there was “Sky High.”
All roads lead back to “Sky High.”
Maybe there’s a timeline out there where Disney kept making Sky High movies and TV shows like the proposed “Save U” about a superhero college, but alas, here we are, with only the 2005 original to savor.  
Sure, superhero movies may not be as complex as “Taxi Driver” or as dramatically rich as “The Godfather,” but that doesn’t mean they aren’t valid and worthy of praise. “Sky High” is one of the movies that genuinely makes me feel good, so if that’s not ‘cinema,’ Mr. Scorsese, what is?
At the end of the day, “Sky High” just hits the right chords with me. Maybe it’s because I was so attached to it as a kid, my love for earnest comic book stories or a combination of the two; to me, “Sky High” is the epitome of what a comfort movie should be, while being a little ahead of its time as well.
Everyone has a “Sky High”; a movie that’s always going to have a special place in their heart. It’s important we never let anyone delegitimize what we love, whether it’s our peers or “Shark Tale” actor Martin Scorsese.
Domenic Purdy is a 19-year-old journalism sophomore from Prairieville.