Planes 3D Blu-ray Review
Kristy Sturdivant
December 10th, 2013
When I first saw the trailer for PLANES I was a little confused as to why Pixar was making a film about planes when they had just finished their sequel, CARS 2. Were they really trying to pull this trick on audiences in hopes that we would just see anything with the Pixar logo on it? No, they weren’t. PLANES is actually just a Disney film that is trying to copy the success of the Pixar film, with the help of the creators of CARS. If you think that is lame with the result of a boring film that takes place in the sky instead of on the road, then you are right on both accounts. Shame on you Disney, I know you can do better than this.
Meet Dusty Crophopper (voiced by Dane Cook), he’s a cropdusting plane who dreams of becoming a world class racing plane someday. His big dreams lead him to the trials for the Wings Across the World Race where he makes good time, but not quite good enough to qualify for the race. Thank goodness there was a plane who was taking performance enhancing fuel, because now Dusty Crophopper can go to the big show and prove to his friends back in Nebraska that his big dreams are completely attainable, even if he is afraid of heights.
If you have a sneaking suspicion that you’ve seen PLANES before, then don’t be alarmed because you have seen it before. In fact, PLANES is pretty much CARS except Dusty is more like Mater than Lightening McQueen. You have the down to earth and supportive group of characters that cheer Dusty up when he’s down, the mentor who used to be a big shot but is hiding a secret that is revealed in the last 30 minutes of the film, and a cast of other competitors that will do anything in their power to win, until they realize that Dusty’s really a good guy. The similarities are so great that it’s almost insulting that Disney would release a film like PLANES less than 10 years after the original (CARS). Then again, it’s Disney and they obviously think their audiences are pretty stupid.
Aside from the glaring obvious similarities, PLANES isn’t too awful of a film. Kids who weren’t around to see CARS will most likely be fine watching this watered down version with second rate voices, but parents will know better and be annoyed. When you boil it all down, PLANES has a good message about chasing your dreams and being the better person even though you are being laughed at from all sides which is a good message for the young ones in your life. With that said, just go buy CARS and never let your little ones know that this sad version even exists. Hopefully, Disney will see the error of their ways and not try to recycle their big grossing films by changing the mode of transportation. Or maybe they don’t care what the audience thinks and we’ll see BOATS in the year 2017.
PLANES 3D BLU-RAY REVIEW
The movie may have been a quick cash grab for Disney, but it had some really fun 3D scenes that made the experience more tolerable. Young kids should have a great time watching the airplanes fly at them, with some nice propeller effects to go along with the aerial footage.
PLANES BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: Even if you don’t have 3D capability, there’s nothing to complain about with Disney’s Blu-ray transfer. PLANES looks gorgeous on Blu-ray.
Audio: The 7.1 surround track is a thing of beauty and matches very nicely with the stellar video presentation.
Exclusive Musical Scene: Franz’s Song (3:03): The director and producer walk us through a scene featuring a young Franz.
Deleted Scenes (8:07): Again, we get a walkthrough of a couple of deleted scenes. Neither of which were very impressive.
Klay’s Flight Plan (15:58): This is a decent making of featurette where the director talks about his love of planes and the sources of inspiration for the film.
Meet the Racers (6:56): Fluff piece going over some of the characters in the film.
Top 10 Fliers (6:02): This might be the highlight of the special features. We get a countdown of the top ten flier of all time.
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