Disney’s Planes Review
Disney’s Planes is set within the anthropomorphic world where planes, trains and auto-mobiles are alive, controling themselves and the world around them. The vehicles live just like you and me, they eat, drink, sleep and think. Much like Planes’ Pixar based predecessor Cars, our characters are full of life and ‘human’ emotion, which makes the world filled with talking automobiles (and now planes) incredibly fun to relate too in a charming yet ludicrous way.
Planes isn’t a mere sequel to Cars, it’s the start of an independent franchise set within the same world- a multi-verse of possibilities. With Planes, Disney has set out to add flesh to what Cars created.
Unlike Cars, which was a ‘redemption story’ Planes follows Dusty Crophopper (Dane Cook), a crop dusting plane who dreams of competing in an around the world race. The film itself has a very entertaining ‘A to B’ plot which is nice for young kids to follow. The film itself isn’t ashamed of it either and pokes fun at its obvious ‘under-dog story’ many times. This is a production that is also painfully aware of it’s own set up, and knows by the end of the movie, you too will be cheering for Dusty like everyone else. The movie plays on this fact effectively, creating some very ‘edge of your seat’ moments.
Planes is also full of rich context and subtlety, which is interesting and thought provoking. The crux of the movie is about breaking hereditary roles and defining who you want to be, away from what society thinks you should be, this is what Dusty Struggles with. Helping Dusty, a very colourful array of supporting characters, from his helpful mechanic Dottie (Teri Hatcher) to the funny El Chupacabra (Carlos Alazraqui) using the same CG art which you will find familiar with from the Pixar universe; design that is easy on the eyes, creating the visual belief that a boeing 247 can have a mouth and eyes.
Though Planes was difficult to warm to within the first 20 minutes, the film “takes off” straight into the plot and delivers a very nice and satisfying movie in the end. I was very surprised and despite my reservations and worry that the film was nothing more than a ‘cash-in’ movie, Planes delivered an incredibly enjoyable hour and a half. Sure Planes might not win the Oscar, but it succeeded in retaining my attention, making me laugh with the enjoyable (and not at all annoying) cast of characters. Children too will enjoy the familiar style of Cars set within a world above, retaining that familiarity, with a easy plot to follow with funny moments.
I won’t exactly urge you to see Disney’s Planes, but if you have small children, time and money to spare, it’s definitely worth a trip to the Cinema. Animation enthusiasts and Pixar nuts too, will certainly get a kick out of watching what else the Cars universe has to offer, whilst the substance of Planes stays true to John Lassiters original concept, Planes adds lots more, with visually stunning and dramatic sequences and even a darker flashback too.
A fun ride with very little turbulence.