Let me get this out of the way... I did not like the first Planes movie. In fact, it may be one of my least favorite animated movies. It ended up being one of those movies that we saw in theaters just because we were in the mood for a movie, and it was one of the few family friendly flicks out at the time.
I found myself in a similar situation this past Saturday. We wanted to get out of the house, but with the heat, I wasn't terribly excited about being out in the sun all day. Where can I go that will be nice and cool, and also "out of the house"? Movie theater! Oh wait... There is only one Family friendly movie out that we haven't already seen. That movie, of course, was Planes: Fire & Rescue.
The movie starts out back in Dusty Crophopper's home town. He has become a bit of a local celebrity after becoming a famous racer. On a training flight, Dusty experiences engine trouble upon pushing it too hard. After being examined by his crew, they discover that he has fried some internal components, and continuing to push his engine too hard could be disastrous. Because he is an older model, the needed parts to repair him are no longer in production, and his racing career may be over.
During his pity party, dusty accidentally starts a fire in the town. A fire engine named Mayday, shows up to save the day, and all seems well. That is, until it is discovered that he is the only fire fighter, and the runway must be shut down until they can find a second. Queue Dusty's new found goal to be a fire fighter, and re-open the runway.
He travels to Yellowstone... I mean Piston Peak, where he will train with the Piston Peak Air Attack Team. They are a motley crew of various rescue vehicles, adrenalin junky smoke jumpers, Booger from Revenge of the nerds, and lead by a helicopter named Blade Ranger. While in training, Dusty must also try to hide his new found engine troubles with the rest of the team.
The remainder of the movie consists of music montages of traveling, and training. There are also more fart jokes, and puns than I really care for. I understand the fart jokes to a certain extent. We all know that kids think they are hilarious. I just really don't get the bad puns. "Kick Aston Martin". I don't know anyone who this movie is aimed toward, who could tell me what Aston Martin is. My first impression within the first five minutes was that it could also be called "Planes: Farts And Puns Edition".
When I first heard that there was going to be a second Planes movie, I instantly thought that it would look rushed, and have poor animation. The first one hasn't been out for all that long. I was pleasantly surprised. The animation on the characters looked fine, but the scenery was great. Most of the movie takes place in the woods and mountains, and they did a great job. There were even a few times where I thought I might have been watching live film. I didn't see it in 3D, but judging by what I saw, I'm sure it would look good. Between the scenic vistas, and fast paced flight scenes, I could see myself being entertained by the 3D.
At the beginning, I said that I did not like the first Planes movie. The second is a different story. I'm not going to say that it is one of my favorite movies, because its not even close. Its simply a fun movie to see with the kids, once you get past the lame puns and fart jokes. You will have a few laughs, your kids will have a good time, and it will get you out of the heat for an hour and a half. If you have kids that like Cars, and Planes, I would say its worth checking out.
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