Just because an animated movie is aimed squarely at kids, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t try. All of the best Disney and Pixar films know that, but the “Planes” franchise doesn’t seem to. This dated and half-assed sequel is even less inspired than the original, and you can’t help but feel it’s all a cynical cash-register ploy to get parents to fork over some hard-earned dough. You can almost feel the Disney execs saying “Yeah, it’s not a good movie…but it’s good enough.” May the ghost of Wall-E or Ratatouille haunt them.
What Works: There’s a couple of pretty cool forest fire sequences, and the only brief flashes of interest occur when the planes are soaring through those majestic forests or trying to save them. Other than that, not much to really react to one way or the other here.
What Doesn’t: This sequel is too safe, tired, and limited. No one is really breaking a sweat, and beginning to hate the original “Cars” movie all the more for unleashing the worst Pixar movie ever (Cars 2) and this spin-off franchise that is more about moving merchandise than anything to do with what’s on-screen.
What I Would Have Done Differently: I wouldn’t have made this sequel. I’m sure Disney crunched the numbers and said “We’ll sell X amount of merchandise off this one, and make Y amount on DVD sales” and that justified making this, but rarely has a movie felt like such a business decision.
Great review and this should be a classic!