Planes/Planes: Fire and Rescue

Today I want to look at a non-Pixar movie that spun-off from the “Cars” franchise. A little known film called, “Planes,” released in 2013. This might not be as popular as the Pixar movies, but “Planes” does well as a cheerful addition to “The Cars Universe.”

Dusty Crophopper, voiced by Dane Cook, is, as described by Linda Cook, “a kind of Walter Mitty of the skies.” While completing his crop-dusting job, he’s wanting to do prouder goals. Like Lightning McQueen, he wants to compete in a race against larger planes.

When Dusty arrives on the landing strip to compete, every plane almost laughs at him. He doesn’t pass the preliminary contest and returns home displeased. Later, he is told some good news: Another plane was eliminated, so now he’s enlisted in the race with the professionals in an around-the-world contest.

Just getting into the race isn’t Dusty’s only problem, however. He also is scared of flying too high. He finds out he needs to train not only in improving his skills, but also to overcome his fear, so he asks a retired World War II fighter plane named Skipper, voiced by Stacy Keach, to help him. At first, this grumpy old-timer doesn’t want to get involved with a brave crop duster, but Skipper eventually lets go his solitary habits and roots for the plane.

The planes in the race come from all over the world: Bulldog (John Cleese) is an overconfident twin-engine British model, Ishani (the hot Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra) is a beautiful Pan-Asian flyer and El Chupacabra (Carlos Alazraqui) is a single-minded plane, complete with a lucha libre mask and cape, who is in love with Rochelle (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss), who rejects him…at least, at first.

Adults will actually enjoy the cameos from Anthony Edwards and Val Kilmer, who are the voices of the military jets Echo and Bravo in a nice reference to “Top Gun.”

My advice: check this movie out and give it a chance. It may not be a good movie for critics, but I actually found myself thoroughly enjoying it. Even my siblings were enjoying themselves, and we thought that it was a good movie. Just don’t listen to critics and other people. See it for yourself and judge it on your own opinion.

Now much to everyone’s surprise, there was a sequel that came out in 2014, “Planes: Fire and Rescue.” Even though this too-soon spin-off looks like it’s simply cashing-in on the Cars/Planes movies, this sequel is actually a lot of fun than you would think. Not only is the animation funny and sometimes even exciting, but there are some nice messages in the story. On the other hand, there’s also the ongoing issue of making movies where the main characters are inanimate objects with nice faces drawn on them. Rich Cline said it best when he said, “But never mind: see the movies, buy the toys, keep the kids happy!”

After the around the world race in “Planes,” the new champion Dusty, reprised by Dane Cook, notices his new celebrity life in problems when he gets an issue in his gearbox. He can still fly, but the torque needed for racing stunts could ruin his engine. He chooses to retrain as a firefighting plane to help his local airfield keep its certification in time for the annual Corn Festival. When he’s training, he is taught by veteran chopper Blade (Ed Harris), partnering up with his huge fan Dipper (the hot Julie Bowen, best known for playing Carol Vessey in “Ed,” Denise Bauer in “Boston Legal,” Sarah Shephard in “Lost” and currently Claire Dunphy in “Modern Family”), the noble Windlifter (Wes Studi), the spirited Dynamite (Regina King) and the smart mechanic Maru (Curtis Armstrong). However, a terrible wildfire is threatening the nearby Fusel Lodge, and the local park superintendent, voiced by John Michael Higgins, doesn’t want to close it with so many celebrities as guests (similar situation in “Jaws”).

The best part here is making Dusty completely full of himself, never listening to any advice before going in unprepared for the next step. It’s anticipated and immature, but it makes this vivacious crop-duster far more interesting, and adds some unexpected changes in a plot that then goes exactly where it needs to go. Cline mentioned, “Meanwhile, the screenwriters pack the dialog with witty puns and some snappy verbal and visual gags that allow the actors to give their vehicles a bit of personality, even if some of this is merely ethnic stereotyping or simplistic hero/villain morality.”

Cline does advise, “But then, these movies aren't known for their complexity, even as the premise is stretched badly by such oddities as cars arriving in a train to attend an opening weekend at a hotel (think about that).” Actually, the hotel is in a beautiful mountain setting, with a lot of green forests just waiting to be set on fire so our protagonists can fly in and put out the flames. Because even if the fire is shown as completely out of control, it’s never a wonder who’s going to succeed. Even though the high animation excites the kids, the adults will certainly have some disturbed fun to laugh at. Plus a flawed hero who refuses to quit.

In the end, this sequel is still a lot of fun. My siblings and I saw both the “Planes” movies in one night, and we loved each one of them. I don’t think we decided which one is better, so I think we liked both of them the same. I know I did, so I definitely say check them both out. If you have kids, they will definitely fall in love with it.

From what I have gathered, there might be a planned third movie, but who knows when that will be released, if they are still planning it. If not, then it’s fine where it is.

Look out tomorrow because I will be looking at a movie that actually came the closest to “Finding Nemo,” in “Disney’s Pixar Month.”