PLANES: Fire and Rescue, Review
PLANES: Fire and Rescue/PLANES2
Dozens of talking, humanoid, attractive planes+hundreds of talking, humanoid vehicles of all cute shapes and sizes+lush landscapes+recurrent forest fires+zero human beings. That is the cast and locale of PLANES: Fire and Rescue, a Disneytoon production, directed by Bobs Gannaway, sequel to the 2013 PLANES, directed by Klay Hall. It is a 3D animated comedy, with morals galore and a handicapped hero who comes of age in the climax.
You might recall the earlier outing: Dusty Crophopper, a former crop-duster plane dreams of competing as a high-flying air racer. But he is not exactly built for racing—and he happens to be afraid of heights. So he turns to a seasoned naval aviator, who helps Dusty qualify to take on the defending champ of the race circuit.
Cut to 2014: When world-famous air racer Dusty returns to hometown Propwash Junction after another victorious racing season, the former crop duster revels in his new career success, until a fateful training run changes his course with a career-ending injury. He learns that his gear-box is damaged and he may never race again. Forced to shift gears, he is launched into the world of aerial firefighting. Dusty joins forces with veteran fire and rescue helicopter Blade Ranger and his team, a bunch of all-terrain vehicles known as The Smokejumpers. Together, the fearless team battles a massive wildfire, and Dusty learns what it takes to become a true hero, in 83 minutes of screen time.
Meet three other central planes. Blade Ranger, a veteran fire-and-rescue helicopter, heads up the Piston Peak Air Attack team. Haunted by a troubled past, he’s a tough and demanding air boss with a wry sense of humour, and he’s not exactly enthusiastic about his new trainee Dusty. But Blade is a pro and does everything he can to bring the new Single Engine Air Tanker (SEAT) up to speed.
Outgoing and spirited super air tanker Dipper is skilled at skimming lakes, scooping up more than 1600 gallons of water and dousing angry fires. A former cargo hauler from Alaska, Dipper is an avid air racing fan with a major crush on headline racer Dusty, so she’s head-over-wheels with excitement when the new SEAT shows up at Piston Peak.
By 1978, Nick ‘Loopin’ Lopez was America's favorite helicopter cop, featured on TV’s CHoPs, a show about two California Helicopter Patrol choppers. Nick, the troublemaking macho young officer, got the nickname ‘Loopin’ from his signature inside loop, which no other helicopter could perform.
Director/co-writer Robert ‘Bobs’ Gannaway co-directed ‘Secret of the Wings,’ with Peggy Holmes. During his 19-year career with Disney, he has served as writer/producer/director on more than 300 half-hour episodes of television animation series. Prior to his work at the Disney Channel, Gannaway wrote feature screenplays for Warner Bros., Walt Disney and Paramount Pictures. He developed several projects for Disney Feature Animation, including Roald Dahl’s ‘Matilda,’ and he also co-wrote the screenplay for Turner Feature Animation’s ‘Cats Don’t Dance.’
PLANES 2, which has extensively researched over a period of four years with real fire-fighters at a base known as CalFire, has a lot of thrills and details. The jargon used in the film might not appeal to kids in the age group of 3-12, the film’s main audience. Neither will the language-based jokes and puns like Fusel Lodge (fusillage). Most likely, the no holds barred beginning, with a battery of sound and visuals will dazzle kids. So will the vehicles that use tyres as hands, lower bonnets and fenders as mouths and wind-shields as eyes. Repeated refrains of “old is better than new” would strike a chord among senior citizens, many of who mourn the phasing away of 35 mm film, radio sets, turn-tables and cassettes. But children are usually attracted to the very latest, only the very latest.
Voices are lent by, among others, Dane Cook (Dusty Crophopper), Ed Harris (Blade Ranger), Julie Bowen (Lil' Dipper), Curtis Armstrong (Maru), Hal Holbrook (Mayday), Stacy Keach (Skipper). Even at the cost of sounding older than 12, one cannot help enjoying veterans Harris, Keach and Holbrook. And Armstrong? Was he trying to sound like an existentialist Red Indian? Ha ha!
Award-winning composer Mark Mancina, who won a Grammy for Best Soundtrack Album (with Phil Collins) for his work on Disney's 1999 feature Tarzan, produced and composed the score for PLANES: Fire & Rescue. “There's a lot of orchestral percussion, French horn, strings and woodwinds,” he says. “There is added texture from other types of instruments, but the heart of the score is an orchestra.” The melodic score was recorded with a 90-piece orchestra. For Dusty's training montage, film-makers agreed it called for a bold acoustic piano that would stand out from the orchestra.
Brad Paisley performs two new songs for the film, including 'Runway Romance,' which was written by director Bobs Gannaway and Danny Jacob, and 'All In,' a song Paisley signed on to write and perform after hearing of the film's firefighting themes. 'My father's a firefighter,' says Paisley. Newcomer/singer/songwriter Spencer Lee performs 'Still I Fly,' a song he co-composed with his writing partners Windy Wagner and Michael 'Smidi' Smith. 'Still I Fly' can be heard when Dusty, after discovering that he may never race again, leaves Propwash Junction en route to Piston Peak to train as an aerial firefighter. Music add to the texture of the film.
There is little doubt that the film is being used by Disney as a marketing tool to sell plane and car models. Check out the accompanying picture from their website (the top toy plane reatils at about $30).
Rating: From my adult eyes: **1/2
From the eyes of the 6 year-old within me: ***
