Review of Planes (2012) by Arif S — 01 Dec 2013

Usually when it comes to Disney films - especially those Disney films who are also made by the fine folks at Pixar - I'm usually all for it. Emphasis, though, is on the word "usually" especially when it comes to Pixar's recent works.

It seems that they have either run out of ideas or are simply borrowing from Dreamworks' stories to try and make bucks themselves. Because they seemed to be borrowing a story strictly out of the released-a-few-months-before Turbo, I was very hesitant to see this film before finally caving in.

Planes on its own is a great, heartwarming film but when you are forced to compare it to animated movies of the past, the problem is that there's too much comparison. There's the character you can't help but love in Dusty Crophopper, the villain that makes you grind your teeth in Ripslinger and his minions Ned and Zed, and a bunch of secondary characters that have subplots but nothing in terms of true, honest character development.

The subplots are nice but again too predictable - Dusty overcoming obstacles, the romantic subplot, the "wait a minute that character isn't who we thought he was" subplot, etc. I'm honestly surprised they're even making a sequel to this.

Let's hope that they've taken a completely different approach and doesn't try to rip another movie off, because if they do, it officially makes you wonder if Pixar has lost the battle AND the war when it comes to animated movies.

Just like Finn McMissile was the only thing that I'll remember and love about Cars 2, Dusty Crophopper is the ONLY thing I'll remember and love about Planes.