Review of Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014) by Harry W — 10 Jan 2015

While Planes was a dreadful misfire of Disney animation, Planes: Fire & Rescue sounded like it had a much more high concept plot which allowed for more creative potential.

One of the first jokes in the film is when a petrol truck says "I've got gas" which was a line said by the character Flo in the first Cars film and was much funnier than. The fact that Planes: Fire & Rescue has to take jokes from the far superior film that inspired it is.

Rather depressing, revealing that the humour in the film is likely to consistently fall flat. But in the end there actually ended up being very few attempts at humour in Planes: Fire & Rescue because the film was so bent on taking itself seriously that it ignores most attempts to make viewers laugh. Even then there was not a moment in the film where I laughed or honestly came close to it. While I had a slight hope for Planes: Fire & Rescue because it dealt with the concept of aerial firefighting which is one not dealt with too commonly in cinema and would have a lot of potential. Unfortunately, following the same path as its predecessor, Planes: Fire & Rescue ends up as a depressingly weak animated film.

Planes was a poor film because it wasted a fair budget on 92 minutes of nothing but planes flying through empty skies and lame gags, so you would think that a film dealing with a far more interesting concept like aerial firefighting could be an entertaining romp, right? Wrong. Planes: Fire & Rescue follows formulaic roots and puts all the focus into characterizing protagonist Dusty Crophopper and what being a firefighter means to him, but the sentimentality is generic and tired. The protagonist is a likable one, but Planes: Fire & Rescue is a film which is all concept and no content. I hoped that there would be a lot of strong animated scenes depicting Dusty Crophopper and his team battling fires, but that actually played a small role in the film. The feature was all about him training in preparation for the event and facing failure when his ambitions outreach his grasp. The one thing keeping this effective at all is the voice work of Dane Cook in the main role who has stepped it up since the last Planes movie. But I couldn't have cared less. I wanted to see aviation challenging fire because that is what the title promised, but it just failed to deliver. Planes: Fire & Rescue just followed the same formula as the first film in terms of tone and themes but with different subject matter this time, and while it did manage to bring attention to its concept, it did nothing with it and instead just flew off with 84 minutes of my life that I will never get back. Despite some scenes in Planes: Fire & Rescue moving fast, the majority of the film is an overly slow and underdeveloped tale with a lack of fun or general spirit to it.

The animation in the film has plenty of colour, but without Pixar to do its job there are moments where the movements do not seem as organic as they should. There are moments where things are really stiff and where the moving images in the foreground do not blend with the background well. They are only ever brief, but they are still notable moments which means that it doesn't really give DisneyToon Studios any sense of high standards. But I'll admit that the general sense of colour in the film is very nice. The characters are a repetitive bunch without much in the way of creativity, but all in all there are some really well animated aviation scenes in the film. If there was more of them and less of the tedious sentimentality that the script dragged in then Planes: Fire & Rescue could have been a better film, but it just ended up being a repetitive series of scenes that went in circles for ages until the unsatisfactory payoff. Planes: Fire & Rescue was essentially dominated by an excessive amount of waiting around through tedious sentimentality and uncreative animated scenes for a spiritless climax which is over in no time, just moments before the film is completely over.

The only somewhat refreshing element outside of the animation in Planes: Fire & Rescue is the efforts of the voice cast.

Stacey Keach is a welcome return to the voice cast, even if his role is very brief simply because his hearty tone of voice, and like I said before Dane Cook manages to turn in a better effort this time.

Curtis Armstrong is a welcome new addition to the cast. With his voice maintaining a certainly awkward neuroticism to it, Curtis Armstrong is able to project a likable level of charisma in his role because of the determination in the spirit of his character. Curtis Armstrong really works a lot of life into his small supporting role, and as a fan of his work I am happy to see him working in such a mainstream piece of cinema.

Julie Bowen is also great in Planes: Fire & Rescue. While her voice doesn't exactly match the design of the character she is stuck with, her energy in the part is spot on. She really goes into a giddy over the top persona for the role which brings a lighthearted touch of comic relief to the film where it is really needed to distract from the tedious sentimentality of the plot. She isn't exactly given a part suiting of her talents, but Julie Bowen proves that she has a talented knack for strong voice acting in Planes: Fire & Rescue.

So despite having a story with a concept ripe with potential and a budget clearly able to craft effective animation, Planes: Fire & Rescue wastes $50 million and 84 minutes on a rehashed version of the first Planes film which is only the slightest bit better.