Review of Planes (2013) by Daniel C — 03 Jul 2014

Dusty is a cropduster with dreams of competing in an around the world air race.

From the world of Cars comes Planes, a very welcomed addition to the franchise in the eyes of this avgeek which sees Dusty, a cropduster realise his dream of entering a world air race. In it, he makes new friends and combats enemies in a delightfully 'Disney' tale for kids.

From an avgeek's point of view, this movie is fantastic to watch with beautiful sound and scenery. In fact, if there was an audio (sans voices) only track, it would be fantastic and we can forgive the inaccuracies of the world airports (Shanghai, really?) and the fact that all jumbo jets are A380's :P.

That's about all that's good with the film though. Sadly, for me, Dusty wasn't a character I felt I could empathise with or care about too much. He wasn't quite Lightning McQueen from Cars, but he also failed to come across as an underdog we should root for. There's very little to the story to make you want to care about anyone including a turncoat, a Mexican in love, an Aussie who plays hard to get and an old timer (who basically plays the same part as the old car from the first Cars movie).

Sadly, that last paragraph is probably what will kill the movie for most and there'll not likely be a sequel - which could be a good thing considering Cars 2 was a mess that should never have been made. The world of Cars is a great idea and there could be a great movie about Boats and Bikes and other such things - but they need to put a bit more effort and sparkle into the stories again perhaps.