Planes (2013)
Certified: U
Duration: 92 minutes
Directed by: Klay Hall
Voices of: Dane Cook, Stacy Keach, Danny Mann, Priyanka Chopra, Brad Garrett, Teri Hatcher, Cedric the Entertainer, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Roger Craig Smith, Gabriel Iglesias, John Cleese, Carlos Alazraqui, Val Kilmer
KRS release
Dusty (Dane Cook) is a crop-dusting plane that dreams of being a globetrotting racing aircraft. His only problem is that he is afraid of heights!
However, with some help from the likes of Chug (Brad Garrett), a fuel truck with low IQ; Dottie (Teri Hatcher), a repair car with a heart of gold; and Skipper (Stacy Keach), a warplane who has been grounded for quite a long time, he reaches for the skies.
Dusty has to compete with various racers, including the French plane Rochelle (Julia Louis-Dreyfus); the over-the-top Latino plane El Chupacabra (Carlos Alazraqui); Ishani (Priyanka Chopra), a female plane with a hidden agenda; and Bulldog (John Cleese), an egotistical British aircraft.
However, his greatest rival is Ripslinger (Roger Craig Smith) who takes a disliking to Dusty and has already won the competition a number of times.
Cars (2006) and its sequel were not the best Pixar films but try telling that to my five-year-old nephew! They were solid films, entertaining, but not Pixar in style. Disney and Pixar have, however, made millions through merchandising – much more than they did in ticket sales.
Planes lives and breathes in the same manner of Cars, as the machines we take for granted take a life of their own in an alternate world with not a human in sight.
It does make one wonder why one needs to have a crop duster when machines do not eat crops, etc.
However, Planes walks, or in this case flies, in the same template of Cars, substituting wheels for wings. The improvement lies in the better animation, especially in the action sequences, giving the planes more character.
The film delivers impressive CG animation despite being made on a limited budget
One must also note that Planes is not a Pixar movie but a Disney Toon picture.
The film delivers impressive CG animation despite being made on a limited budget. I find that aeroplanes provide more excitement visually than cars since they can take to the sky, loop and do other manoeuvres, simulating freedom in the skies.
Overall, Planes is a likeable experience with sprightly, bright and imaginative animation.
This movie will have the young boys ecstatic, especially if they are fans of the Cars universe of anthropomorphised vehicles that live and breathe on their own.
Be warned, however. You will be besieged by cries for the latest toy the first time you go shopping.