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  • Planes Review

    by Admin
    There was a time not too long ago that there weren’t many animated movies. The few that did come out, seemed rushed and just tried to break even. Then Pixar came to forefront and changed the not only how we saw animated movies but proceeded to set the bar for animated movies. Dreamworks and other soon stepped up to force a long thought of dead industry back into mix. Now you can’t look at a list of upcoming movies and not see animation whether it’s traditional or computer generated. Most people would think that this is a good thing but the catch is once you start to distribute something widely you tend to lower the quality and saturate the market. Planes which is the latest movie from Disney falls into this category.

    Dusty Crophopper is a crop duster. He spends his days spraying crops and dreaming of a world where he is a part of the world professional plane racing. The friends and coworkers all tell them that it is all a dream and he could never compete. One day he sneaks away and attempts to a time trial to enter the league. By sheer luck he makes it into the league. Dusty then has to adapt to this new world which is far different from the country roads and farms that is he used. Along the way he learns many lessons about trust, who is friends are and the value of friendship and honesty.

    Planes was marketed as something from Pixar but once the movie starts you can clearly see it is Disney. Unlike Cars (but not as much in Cars2) this film doesn’t seem to have the heart or story like a Pixar movie. The characters seem to have a very small story arch in order to focus on the 3D effects in the movie. The ending of this film is telegraphed so far ahead, that you can practically guess what the characters are going to say. The voice talent lead by Dane Cook and Stacy Keach try their best with the material given but it still isn’t enough to elevate this movie away from being a movie cash-in from Cars. The film’s soundtrack is mainly orchestral but is as equally forgettable as the movie. The direction by Klay Hall is passable but you can see his lack of experience in longer length outings.

    Planes is one of those films that you could watch at home instead of at a theatre. The larger screen doesn’t add anything to this mediocre film from Disney. It clearly is designed to fill the gap of a Pixar film and have something for parents to show their children on repeat over the holidays.

    6/10