Review of Planes (2013) by Harry W — 19 Apr 2014

Although looking like it was well animated, it didn't sound like Disney could do a lot with a story like Planes, but it was worth seeing just what they could do.

The characters in Planes are all thinly sketched figures. Unlike in Cars when the characters were a mix of difference cars such as the humourous rusty towtruck, an arrogant racecar, an aggressive military jeep and more. In Planes there is an orange crop duster, a war plane and an old fuel carrier. None of the characters have any real originality to them, and the writing was no better in creating characters than it was at pitching original dialogue for the voice actors to work with. I can't tell you how many times the script had to remind me that the main character was a cropduster. It was so frustrating that the writers had to remind me constantly for better and for worst that the main character was a bloody cropduster. I knew it before seeing the film so I didn't need to watch 92 of senseless writing constantly reminding me of that fact, particularly when it wasn't half as entertaining as it could have been.

Really, the entire script in Planes is pathetic. The jokes are recycled and weak, and I didn't laugh one time. The characters are thinly sketched and give nothing for the voice actors to work with, and as well as containing very racially stereotypical language for its ethnic characters, the entire script is just so damned full. The script essentially told viewers everything that they could have figured out from seeing on screen, so if Planes was a silent movie it would still make sense and probably would be less annoying than it is. Alas, that is not the case.

And the voice actors have no iconic elements to them and cry the echo of the talented voice actors from Cars who had special elements to all of them while in Planes, the lead is Dane Cook. There really isn't much more to say, but since this is a review I have to. Dane Cook had a generic voice, and there is no other cast member that actually does any better than him is fairly sad. Dane Cook doesn't have much emotion in his voice and it would require audiences to actually see his face as he spoke to take in an understanding of how he was feeling, but in Planes his character has no emotions and it weakens the effect of everything. The only voice that sticks out slightly is John Cleese for his small role and John Ratzenberger, and even then he only makes a brief cameo. Julia Louis-Dreyfus was also ok, but she sounded more like Judy Reyes. And while Stacy Keach was decent, he was no Paul Newman. There never seems to be any real heart in their efforts, and so Planes just really has no iconic voices to it. Remember, Dane Cook is the lead, and similar to most of the rest of the cast, he does nothing to stand out.

But the most disappointing aspect on Planes is that despite colourful animation, the racing sequences are just boring. Despite the fact that the film boasts $50 million worth of an animation budget, instead of spending it on awesome aviation scenes where the planes race through exhilarating scenery close to each other for the sake of the thrills, most of Planes is simply composed of a lot of animated planes and cars sitting around doing nothing but delivering lines from the terrible script using underdeveloped voice acting. Planes fails to take advantage of its potential as a visual experience even with its limited plot as a film about airplanes, so that is just pathetic. Frankly, the story in Planes is just too generic and formulaic to please, and the animation does nothing in the slightest to overshadow that.

DisneyToon studios simply couldn't make Planes right because without Pixar, the company that invented Cars, there is nothing to build on except the hope of a lot of merchandising revenue which seems to be successful, but many viewers will stand to be upset by the low entertainment quality of Planes and the fact that it reaches straight into the pockets of its audiences to pull out all the possible coins it can get. Considering its gross of nearly $220 million that seems to be the case.

Planes seems to only have been made for the commercial value. Since the story had no real meaning or compelling elements to if, it seems like the fact that the story is a desperate thin tale crafted without intelligent thought or original characters simply so that the industry could make money and the merchandisers could reel in even more profits. Planes doesn't seem to want to actually entertain viewers except the youngest who simply like the images of animation while neglecting audiences who prefer originality, so it all seems desperate.

So Planes is a surprisingly weak and repetitively unoriginal animated film which has colour but wasted animation potential fused with an awful script, a predictable plot and and a distinct lack of entertainment value from conventional aviation sequences.