Movie Review: Zoom: Academy for Superheroes

Title: Zoom: Academy for Superheroes
Author: N/A
Genre: Adventure, Science Fiction
My Rating: **
Official Rating: PG
Age Group: 10+

Summary: Zoom's, er, Jack's team went over the edge years ago. Bad things happened and only Jack survived--but he lost his powers. He blames it all on the Gamma 13 dosage his team was given. No, not the loss of the powers, just the implosion of his team.
So when Jack is recruited some thirty years later to train new superheroes, he's not as thrilled as we might expect. In fact, he's downright disinterested (and not the virtuous kind). He doesn't try. He's got his own problems to deal with.
Then, slowly, the kids get under his skin. Slowly, they become more than a team. They become a family.
The big question remains: will they be ready in time to face the major threat they've been training for? Or will they too suffer from a massive dose of Gamma 13?

Word of Warning:
Where to start? There are a lot of problems, but all rather small, all things considered.

• Jack is constantly flirting with Ms. Holloway, who is oblivious for a while (no, she's not ignoring him, she's just that oblivious).
• Jack makes a comment like, "Gee, for a guy who's straight, you sure are dramatic." Pretty much the only remark in that area.
• Summer remarks that Dylan is hitting on her and suggests he stop. He shakes his head, smiles, and says "I can't do that."
•  When Dylan is testing out his mental abilities, he sees Summer in her room dancing and she doesn't know he's watching. Or maybe she does...it's hard to tell.
• Summer and Dylan kiss. It's not necessarily brief (the scene closes, then opens again later, but it's presumed that it was paused, not continuing) but not deep or passionate either.
• The kids constantly disobey and for the most part do not get into trouble.
• Cindy is a little girl who has super strength and throws giant things when she doesn't get her way. Needless to say, people are happy to do what she wants.
• Jack is focused on his own life problems and almost completely neglects the kids for much of the movie.
• The kids have a serious disrespect problem when it comes to the adults at headquarters. To their credit, most of the adults are jerks, but that doesn't give the kids an excuse to be disrespectful.
• Dylan says "That's hot" when Summer lifts a guy into the air using her mind. He's referring to Summer's power, but it's a bad choice of words no matter what he means.
• The general is harsh and self-centered. He doesn't seem to change much, if at all.
• Jack breaks rules constantly, and his actions are nearly glorified because the rules broken are often on behalf of the kids.
• We know very little of the kids' parents (who are almost completely nonexistent) but do get the hint that at least a few of the kids were abandoned by them.

My Thoughts:
Honestly, the reason I gave this movie two stars instead of one is because of the family concept. No, they're not just a team, they really do form a family. Summer looks after Cindy, Dylan takes Tucker aside more than once to talk to him. The four protect each other and look out for each other. Ms. Holloway is motherly but a little quirky (in a nice way) and Jack, while being far from a good father, does attempt to take on the role. He ends up more like that fun uncle who never got married and drives the parents insane. You know the type: the one the kids love.
The problem with this whole family idea is that close to the time that they really get big into using the "family" word, Dylan and Summer start to get a lot closer. In some scenes, right after we see a shared glance between them, we get the family thing. Awkward to fall in love with a girl who happens to be part of your makeshift family, no?
Overall, it wasn't a bad film. The reason I rated it 10+ was because while the problems are minor, they're probably not the influence many people want for younger kids. The problems may be small, but they are numerous.
This almost feels like Sky High, but closer to the "failure" end of the spectrum.