Planes

Disney...Pixar...Pixar...Disney-- with "Planes" we get an animated film that looks exactly like a Pixar Studios film, but is an only Disney Pictures film. Disney and Pixar are basically one and the same, but they might as well have put the Pixar logo at the front of the film    
considering the similarity.

From above the world of "Cars" comes Disney's "Planes", an action-packed 3D animated comedy adventure featuring Dusty Crophopper (Dane Cook), a plane with dreams of competing as a high-flying aerial racer. But Dusty's not exactly built for racing--he is built for cropdusting, and he is incredibly afraid of heights. So he turns to a seasoned naval aviator, Skipper (Stacy Keach) who helps Dusty qualify to take on the defending champion, Ripslinger (Roger Craig Smith) of the race circuit. Even with the other support from Dottie (Teri Hatcher), Chug (Brad Garrett), Bulldog (John Cleese), El Chupacabra (Carlos Alazraqui), and others, Dusty's courage is put to the ultimate test as he aims to reach heights he never dreamed possible, giving a spellbound world the inspiration to soar.

Others to round out the cast are Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Rochelle, Priyanka Chopra as Ishani, Cedric the Entertainer as Leadbottom, Anthony Edwards as Echo, Val Kilmer as Bravo, Sinbad as Roper, Gabriel Iglesias as Ned/Zed, Brent Musburger as Brent Mustangburger, Danny Mann as Sparky, Oliver Kalkofe as Franz, Colin Cowherd as Colin Cowling, and John Ratzenberger as Harland.

This was directed by a virtual newcomer to feature films, Klay Hall ("Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure" '09). This guy has a real love for planes which obviously gave him his inspiration to portray these planes as the characters they were meant to be. It was written by Jeffrey M. Howard based on an original story by John Lasseter, Hall, and Howard. Suffice it to say, this was actually much better than the trailer let on--don't always believe the trailers. The recent "Turbo" was a family film as this is, too, and with that demographic fact, both are laden with an obvious "follow your dreams no matter what" message attached. Now, with a world that is so negative, volatile, unsure, and downright nasty, this type of message we certainly don't see enough of, so kudos to the writers. All this and great animation makes for a great family flick.

Even though you see the "Cars" logo at the beginning, and even though Disney should've given part credit to Pixar Studios for this, it was still a great stand up and cheer type film that we see all too little of these days.

Out of 4 Stars: 3                           Rated:PG                         92mins.