If you watched children's TV anytime from the mid-’60s to the early ’80s, you probably have at least a faint recollection of Gerry Anderson's "Thunderbirds," the British sci-fi adventure show about a team of rocket- propelled rescuers. It was an odd little program, mostly because Anderson's marionette actors resembled embalmed cadavers on strings.

For the big-screen version of “Thunderbirds,” director Jonathan Frakes (“Clockwatchers”) has jettisoned the human taxidermy in favor of flesh- and-blood actors to less bizarre, but probably more marketable, effect. It's a slick, action-filled fun ride for the Power Ranger generation. Bill Paxton (“Aliens”) plays billionaire astronaut Jeff Tracy, a philanthropist widower who races around the globe with his studly young sons in their fleet of custom-built rockets, troubleshooting disasters. Tracy launches the rescue operations from his own secret island in the South Pacific.

When he and the boys aren't putting out infernos on oil derricks, they're roasting Ballpark franks poolside with dad's hot girlfriend, buttery British aristocrat Lady Penelope (Sophia Myles).

Yes, it's a picture-perfect male adolescent fantasy — one in which Tracy's youngest son, Alan (Brady Corbet), desperately wants to participate. Unfortunately, dad deems Alan too young to fly the machinery. Alan bristles, dad yells — you get the picture. It's like every living room in America, except the kid wants the keys to a 100-ton thermonuclear rocket, not the LeSabre.

Ultimately, Alan gets the chance to prove his mettle as a Thunderbird when a psychic villain named The Hood (Oscar winner Ben Kingsley) hijacks the rockets with the intention of robbing the world's largest banks. Watching Kingsley squint and grunt in the throes of an ESP headache proves more surreal than any marionette, and Frakes — who has carved himself a nice niche directing pre-adult fantasy fare after his gig as Riker on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” — keeps the action rolling with a series of well-staged, “Hidden Fortress”-style set pieces. We also get the obligatory, “Spy Kid”-inspired homilies about family unity: save the planet, bond with dad.

Marionette fans, take heart: Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the master craftsmiths behind “South Park: The Movie” are currently neck-deep in production on an all-marionette political farce called “Team America: World Police.” Just so you know who's pulling the strings.