Planes

PLANES

Director : Klay Hall

Year : 2013

Genre : Animation

Rating : **



Expanding the world of 'Cars', Walt Disney Studios takes to the skies for their latest offering, 'Planes'. Featuring the vocal talents of Dane Cook, John Cleese, Stacy Keach, Julia Louis Dreyfuss and Cedric The Entertainer, 'Planes' certainly has star power; but not much else. Telling a very basic underdog story, the film provides us with absolutely nothing new and for the most part, it is pretty boring. Containing many of the conventional elements that you would expect from a typical children's film, 'Planes' aims very, very low indeed and makes absolutely no efforts to entertain anyone over the age of ten. This is a shame because it is a beautifully animated movie and many of the central flight scenes contain some of the most impressive animation I have all year. It is just a shame that the artistry that went into 'Planes' is wasted on such lazy storytelling and stereotypical characterisations.

Dane Cook voices Dusty Crophopper, a courageous orange crop-duster who believes that he is more special than what everyone else makes him out to be. While he was made to spread chemicals over vast fields during the day, at night he dreams of becoming a world class flyer. Practising loops, dives and twists,  Dusty endeavours to win the 'Wings Around The World'; a circumnavigation endurance contest and with the help of friends and mentor Skipper (an ex army fighter voiced by Stacy Keach), he manages to fly his way into the prestigious competition. However, while he makes a few friends along the way, including a British plane voiced by John Cleese and El Chupacabra, a Mexican plane voiced by Carlos Alazraqui, Dusty soon becomes the target of abuse from 3 times winner Ripslinger (Roger Craig Smith) who doesn't take kindly this underdog stealing all of his media thunder. Can Dusty prove the cynics wrong and win the 'Wings Around The World'? Or will he end up on the scrapheap like many of the rookie flyers who came before him?

As you can probably tell from the synopsis, 'Planes' really as generic as kids films get. All of the characters are very basic archetypes and the narrative is a paint by numbers underdog story. There are the inevitable tragic moments, the scenes where it looks like the main protagonist will give up due to mounting pressure and of course, there is the forced happy ending where the villain gets his just desserts. For this reason, 'Planes' is for the most part a very laborious watch and at regular intervals, I did find myself checking my watch. The film isn't particularly bad, it is just astonishingly bland. Nothing about the movie stands out apart from the animation which is absolutely amazing; but that is what Disney does best. Director Klay Hall has worked on all varieties of cartoons from 'The Simpsons' to 'Tinkerbell & The Lost Treasure', so he clearly is the right guy for the job. Unfortunately, the screenplay written by Jeffrey Howard is so unimaginative that the excitement generated by the awe inspiring action scenes is completely drained away. In fact, I was so numb to the actual plot that I actually found myself looking at the minute aspects of the animation; the detail of the wings, the intricacy of the propeller mechanisms, even the compression of the rubber tyres as each plane landed. This element of the film is done beautifully well, but when I am more interested in the microscopic detail of the designs rather than the plight of the characters on screen, something is awry.

The characters are likable enough but are dumbed down due to absolute conventionality of their archetypes. Dane Cook is absolutely fine as Dusty, whose enthusiasm and passion is conveyed through both the vocal work and the facial expressions shown on screen. Unfortunately, he is a very bland character; the design isn't particularly interesting and Cook's voice doesn't stand out in any way. In fact, his voice is so vanilla that I had no idea it was him until his name popped up in the end credits. If a company is going to pay an actor a mountain of money to voice one of their characters, at least get someone with a distinctive and 'animated' voice. Stacy Keach is fine as Skipper, Dusty's mentor who carries an unknown burden and a secretive past. With this particular cliché comes the done - to - death 'liar revealed' plot device that can now be seen in any low grade children's film. I really wish lazy screenwriters would stop using this boring convention; it slows the film right down and does nothing to affect the main protagonist in any way. It is only used to fill in a blank space in a script and tries to create empathy for a character we barely know. This device may have worked in a more adventurous and entertaining film, but 'Planes' is so dull already that this only slows the film down that little bit more.

The secondary characters are mostly based around stereotypes and about as interesting as a thimble collection. John Cleese voices Bulldog, a British plane whose side is emblazoned with a Union Jack and whose mechanic is constantly drinking tea. Carlos Alazraqui voices the Mexican plane El Chupacabra, who wears a Mexican wrestling cape and mask and whose personality is dramatic and over theatrical. Intended to be the main comic relief of the film, this character is not funny at all and becomes annoying very, very quickly. Thankfully he isn't in the film much so we don't have to endure him for too long; but when he is on screen, it is like nails on a chalkboard. Many of the other characters can be identified by a single piece of clothing or an accent that forms the basis of stereotypes; stereotypes that might be seen in a 1970's comedy and therefore not funny. The main villain is Ripslinger, a 3 times 'Wings Around The World' winner who immediately takes a dislike to Dusty Crophopper for no apparent reason. Overly vain and accompanied by 2 smaller, but identically themed jets, he intends on destroying the little plane's hopes of stealing his crown. As you would expect, Ripslinger doesn't make an interesting antagonist at all and only serves to be an obstruction to Dusty's inevitable success. We know that due to the narrative and the imagination of the writers that Dusty will win, so no sense of threat or danger is created when Ripslinger appears on screen. Voiced by Roger Craig Smith, he is instantly forgettable and fails to possess any of the characteristics of a captivating or menacing enemy.

From the beginning credits, it is blatantly obvious that 'Planes' was made to be a straight - to - DVD release and unfortunately, this never changes through the course of the film. Playing like a TV Special or a Saturday morning CBBC film, 'Planes' doesn't have any of the components that warrant a cinematic release. Leeching off the success of a more profitable franchise, 'Planes' is an obvious cash grab that only serves to sell a lot of toys, bed sheets and pencil cases. There is nothing wrong in movies being made for children, but at least treat them with a hint of respect and give them something interesting or maybe even educational. The huge success of films such as 'Despicable Me 2' and many of the PIXAR films shows us that kids are not as dumb as companies think they are and that they deserve more than just lazy stories and dull characters. Maybe Disney should look back to their past if they want to save their dwindling respectability.

Unlike many of Disney's other movies, I can't imagine that 'Planes' will ever be considered a classic. It will make a ton of money at the box office due to children being bored on their Summer holidays and will of course, sell a ton of merchandise; but does it warrant repeat viewings on DVD? I don't think so, it is just too ordinary to be seen in any way like the best work of Disney. However, it will entertain your kids, so maybe 'Planes' is the perfect film to own for sleepovers or Christmas. But if I were you, wait for the DVD; it really isn't worth the price of admission at all. Despite it's great animation and vocal talents, 'Planes' fails to take off and may make you reach for the sick bag.