Review of Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014) by Tom S — 20 Jul 2014

Swanner: After learning he can no longer race because of engine problems, Dusty joins the Fire and Rescue team to learn to fight fires. Not a big fan of the original Planes I was dreading this one but a good story and new characters have turned this sequel into a winner. Dane Cook returns as the voice of Dusty with Ed Harris, Julie Bowen, Curtis Armstrong and John Michael Higgins joining the cast. A new director, Roberts Gannaway, make it work 1000% better than the first one.

Judd: Mathematically speaking 1000 times 0 is still 0, and that's where Planes lands with me. The characters are forgettable, the story is banal; Planes: Fire and Rescue is an after-school cartoon stretched thin to 85 minutes. While I didn't leave the theater in a rage, like some horrible movies can put me in, I still felt like I had wasted nearly an hour and a half of my life on some Disney cash grab.

Swanner: Tell us how you really feel. I'm right with you on the original. It felt like someone at Disney wanted to figure how they could make money by drafting off the Cars model. Fire and Rescue is of course a sequel but this one felt less regurgitated. I like the take on the story. It took the character in another direction of helping the community instead of just trying to win a race. I thought the film looked better than the first and it was nice getting away for how stereotyped the original characters were.

Judd: I don't remember what the first one looked like, and I'll grant you it was nice to see the planes weren't total stereotypes, but that's like congratulating Tom and Jerry for no longer using Mammy Two Shoes. Although, there was a Heap Big Indian Chief helicopter named Windlifter, so maybe in Planes 3 we'll be treated to an Oriental puddle jumper who's catchphrase will be "Ah So!".

Swanner: The good news is there isn't a new one in production. Maybe they've squeezed all the blood from this stone. We also have a new Pixar coming out next year. It's an original story called Inside Out in June 2015. So while Planes can return to TV to fill up Saturday mornings...there are new animated films coming with hopefully new and exciting characters and stories. You just have to wait.

Judd: I don't see Disney giving up on this cash cow any time soon. We still have to get Trains and Boats out of the way and the merchandising options are limitless. These are the kinds of movies that make me reconsider why we do this; movies that only exist to part fools from their money. Planes: Fire and Rescue is an 85 minute toy commercial.

Swanner: 2 stars.

Judd: No stars.