Planes (3D) (British-English Dub) (2013, Dir. Klay Hill, USA) (Cert: U/PG) ***

 

 

Starring: Dane Cook, Stacey Keach, Brad Garrett

 

Dusty Crophopper (Cook) is a crop-dusting plane who is tired of his life spraying fertiliser and instead dreams of being a racing plane. Reluctantly, an old military plane, Skipper (Keach) decides to teach Dusty how to race and Dusty eventually earns an unlikely spot on the international Wings Around The World Rally.

 

Planes is a cousin to the films Cars (2006) and Cars 2 (2011). Films that still boast financial success but have been far less popular with the public. With Disney Toons now continuing with this series, it is running serious risk of running some if its stellar reputation into the ground. Planes is not a disaster of a film, but much like its relatives in the Cars films, it is definitely amongst the more flawed films, associated with Pixar. The film largely feels throwaway and plays far too close to the kids demographic. These may be "children's films" but the best films that appeal to younger audiences always have mum, dad and the older siblings in mind too when it comes to entertaining.

 

The humour seems overly-reliant on puns (an aircraft carrier known as the USS Flysenhower being particularly painful) and never really puts in an effort. The one part of the film that always allows for some enjoyment is Carlos Alazraqui as the flamboyant Mexican plane, El Chupacabra, complete with luchador mask and cape but John Cleese, playing the ultra-British plane, Bulldog, seems to be mostly sleepwalking through his performance because he is capable of so much more as an actor. Planes, borrowing the designs from Pixar, still looks great, even if the 3D is a completely pointless exercise. The film also manages some pleasant surprises along the way, including a surprisingly violent and gritty dogfight (odd, given that this is an otherwise juvenile product) but the lustre is starting to wear off. The British-accented voiceovers in the UK version are pretty much unnecessary and bring back memories of Shark Tale (2004). A sequel, Planes: Fire And Rescue seems to be in the works and I, for one, hope for an improvement.

 

Next time, a look into the controversial and dangerous results of keeping a Killer Whale in captivity in documentary, Blackfish.