Dusty Crophopper is a crop duster plane who dreams of being a racing plane that wants to be part of the Wings Across The World race.   He has two problems: he’s not built for speed and he’s afraid of heights.  He finds training from an old World War II plane named Skipper Riley who doesn’t fly anymore after he finds out he has been accepted to part of the race.   He finds a friend in El Chupacabra (a Mexican airplane who wears a mask and cape like a Mexican wrestler) and love with Ishani (a jet plane from India) while facing a rival in the three time champ Ripslinger.

 

PLANES is ultimately a movie about bravery and friendship as Dusty wants to pursue his dreams no matter what obstacles gets in his ways, but he doesn’t forget to help a plane in need along the way.   Cars and other planes make fun of Dusty at first, but they are won over by his determination to follow his sky-high dreams.  PLANES is a fun movie where I do think it is more geared to an older audience than little kids because some things will go over their heads (the romance scenes for example) and it will be enjoyed more by older kids and adults.   PLANES has the stereotypes and clichés you would expect in a movie like this because people expect a villain and PLANES is an underdog story.

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Two deleted scenes with introductions by director Klay Hall and producer Traci Balthazor-Flynn.

Exclusive Franz’s Song musical sequence is a sequence exclusive to the blu-ray showing Franz the German flying car in this scene that takes place in a Bavarian drinking hole.

 

KLAY’S FLIGHT PLAN- Klay Hall shares his love of aviation with his two sons while the featurette covers how PLANES was made like the director originally wanted to do a movie with Trains in the West and research was very important in getting the planes right in this film.

MEET THE RACERS- four promo shorts that introduce El Cu, Dusty, Ripslinger, and Ishani

TOP TEN FLYERS- a six minute featurette that focuses on ten flyers in the first forty years of aviation who left an impact on the world and history of flight.

Rounding out the disc are previews for various releases including PLANES: FIRE AND RESCUE (coming in 2014), Marry Poppins, The Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid movie collection (first film and sequel), and more.

 

Also included in the combo pack is the movie in standard definition on DVD and a digital copy of PLANES.

 

FINAL ANALYSIS:  I enjoyed PLANES despite it being full of stereotypical characters and cliches, but I loved the follow your dreams message.  Still it is one of those movies you don’t care to watch again.   The extras are fun to watch despite the limited amount of them on the disc.

 

This blu-ray review is ©11-19-2013 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

Like Enterline Media on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/enterlinemediaweb and follow on tumblr at http://enterlinemedia.tumblr.com