Full throttled fun!
Swift shot: “It’s Cars 2, Planes!” – That’s how my five year old kid described the film. But only a few of the Disney Cars make any kind of appearance. I didn’t laugh as much as I thought I would, but the film did leave a mark in more mature ways. Director Klay Hall uses remarkable Disney magic to transport you on what you might label a Herbie the Love Bug gets wings story. As a crop-dusting “farmer” competes in the world air rally . . . a seven leg race which will test endurance, agility and most importantly speed.
Planes is rated PG, and it certainly warrants the extra precaution, as the planes encounter some rather adult situations, to be frank. There are mild amounts of war violence and perhaps a not so subtle suggestion that two of the planes, hook up, if you will pardon the pun. There are even some bits about, well, losing your bits!
I was impressed with Planes, and Dane Cook as the voice of Dusty received a passing grade, with strong supporting “character” acting by his compadres, Chug (Brad Garrett) and Teri Hatcher as the little service vehicle Dottie, who easily stole most of the scenes.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays a French-Canadian plane named Rochelle (a fact which Seinfeld fans should immediately love) and she is the love interest to the other scene-stealer, El Chupacabra (Carlos Alazraqui) who audiences can’t help but warm up to. His panache can not be matched, my friend! Thing is, he needs to learn to ratchet down that “unbridled enthusiasm” if he wants to land (oh, God, make the puns stop) Rochelle. And, if puns in this review bother you, steer clear of Planes, because there are too many to list in one write up.
I think that is where Planes suffers a bit, the road puns are a bit old, we got the jokes in Cars, we need to see something fresh and interesting in Planes. With the introduction of Skipper, (Stacy Keach) a heroic WWII era Corsair, provides the audience with something for Dusty to aspire to become.
Dusty has to endure more than just the harsh climates of the race, and he too must balance the tail-winds of love as he is smitten by the alluring Ishani (Priyanka Chopra). No good race movie would be complete without a cheating villain though, and Ripslinger (Roger Craig Smith) may not be as vile as Disney’s supreme bad-guys, but he does provide some serious peril for our hero.
In the end, Dusty faces a lesson that he not only absorbs himself but the others in the film pick up a few things as this crazy crop-dusting plane, who is afraid of heights, attempts the ridiculous. Fortune favors the bold, whilst the timid are trapped in society’s mold. If you have little ones that liked the Cars movies, this will make them just as happy. But, as the rating suggests, they may not understand everything that is happening.
