Dusty (Dane Cook) is a crop duster who wants to be more. He wants to be a race plane. He dreams about racing as he daily flies over fields. He practices his race moves by dodging in and out of trees. His dreams of being a racer seem to hit a dead end though when he misses qualifying for a world-wide race by one spot. That is, until one of the qualifying planes is cut for cheating and Dusty finds himself training for the race of his life. With the help of a veteran aviator and some friends new and old, Dusty finds himself in the race of his life as he struggles to discover who he really is. Disney’s Planes is a movie inspired by the world of Pixar’s Cars.
Picture & Sound:
The picture and sound for Disney’s Planes was decent. First off, this is not a Pixar film and that is evident. The scenes aren’t quite as crystal clear. The details aren’t as polished. Some of the scenes just don’t look quite finished (like their representation of New York City). The sound was good but not fantastic as well. On the flip side, I think this is the best thing I’ve seen come out of DisneyToon Studios. It was better than I expected but it wasn’t to the level I have come to expect from something Pixar inspired.
Bonus Features:
There were some interesting bonus features included with Disney’s Planes. The bonus features included are:
- Deleted Scenes – Director Klay Hall and Producer Traci Balthazor-Flynn introduce deleted scenes from the movie.
- Exclusive! Franz’s Song – Produced exclusively for Blu-ray and HD Digital, this never-before-seen completely finished animated song features the German mini-car, Franz Fliegenhosen, who encourages Dusty on his flight.
- Top Ten Flyers – ESPN’s Colin Cowherd hosts a fun, fast-paced countdown of the greatest aviators in history.
- Meet the Racers – Featurettes introducing racers El Chupacabra, Ripslinger, Dusty, and Ishani.
- Kaly’s Flight Plan – Follow Director Klay Hall’s personal journey during the making of “Planes” and discover why his family connection to aviation made “Planes” his perfect project. Fly along with Klay as he lands on a working aircraft carrier to get first-hand experience on the flight deck.
These bonus features were cute. My favorite one by far was Kaly’s Flight Plan. This one gave a personal look at the director of Disney’s Planes and his connection with airplanes.
Final Thoughts:
Disney’s Planes isn’t a home run. It is cute and has some fun characters. The planes are cool and the premise really isn’t a bad one. There are some fun moments and characters in it. By the end of the movie, I was definitely finding myself liking Rusty and rooting for him. However, the execution has some issues. It is basically Cars and Cars 2 mixed together (global race but no spies). There are some story details that seem to pop up out of nowhere and others that must have been forgotten. Some of the characters seem to be almost direct copies of some of the characters from Cars. Disney’s Planes suffers from the same problem several other sequels that have come from DisneyToon Studios have suffered… quality. It was decent but not great. I have no doubt that if Pixar had produced this film it would be one of my favorite Pixar films. However, it wasn’t and sadly it fell a bit short unfortunately. So take it for what it is, a cute show about airplanes that isn’t Pixar, and you will be happy.
One last question… what was complicated?
