Planes

Feelings before seeing Planes was more the "not sure how it was going to turn out" sort of feeling. On one hand, there was the hope that Disney(or Disney Toon Studios to be exact) would continue the return to form trend started with 2009's The Princess and the Frog, which later saw even better films with Tangled(their best film since The Hunchback of Notre Dame) and Wreck it Ralph, Winnie the Pooh was also very sweet. There was also the feeling of trepidation as well because reading the plot line gives the sense that it would be predictable and unoriginal. Regardless of any initial feelings, the only way to judge Planes was to see it. Sadly, Planes was very disappointing for this viewer and possibly their weakest since Chicken Little. And this is coming from somebody who hopefully knows how to judge family films, yes guys this is a family film not a kids' film.

Planes does have things that it did do well. The animation is the best aspect by some considerable distance, it is great, not the best animation there's ever been but it looks beautiful all the same. It manages to be colourful and well-textured with detailed backgrounds and well-designed characters. The camera angles as well are a source of wonder, they're very well-incorporated and really give the sense that you're journeying in the air with the character. The music is catchy, with very well-chosen songs, and serves the film very well, the mariachi version of Love Machine is very sweet and fun. The aviation at least shows that the writers have done their research. The voice acting too is commendable all round, with Dane Cook in particular voicing with enthusiasm. John Cleese, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss and Val Kilmer are pleasing too, though they have been better.

Unfortunately Planes is also one of those films where it starts slowly and unpromising and never really takes off, sorry couldn't resist. The story just doesn't have any spark, the storytelling is predictable and lazy and the pacing sedate. People have said that it is basically Cars in the air with touches of Top Gun, Jay Jay the Jet Plane and The Ugly Duckling story and that is true, it is a very derivative film that makes a bigger problem in that there is nothing of surprise or distinction. The script lacks freshness, charm and wit, instead it's full of tedious down-time talk, tired one-liners and jokes(crazy like a firefox for example) and has no emotional impact. The air-force/aviation jargon might go over children's heads as well. The romance between Dusty and Ishani comes across as a cliché that is poorly developed, almost like an afterthought. The characters are annoyingly shallow, Dusty is not so bad but the rest are not very interesting and their development is thin, Skipper's back-story especially felt shoe-horned in and forced. El Chupacabra has his moments but is a stereotypical character(something that people may take a dislike to) and too many of his jokes are lame. In fact there are a lot of cultural stereotypes, and much of them border on the insensitive. The villain Ripslinger is also stereotypically designed and is possibly one of Disney's blandest villains, with some of the most annoying and unnecessary goons of any animated film in recent memory. The action looks good in the animation but fails to generate any excitement, much of it suffers from too much predictability and that the pacing is too sedate throughout.

In conclusion, far from a truly terrible film or the plane wreck it's made out to be but a disappointingly lazy one where it's easy to see the things Planes has been criticised for. Then again this is personal opinion and be taken with a pinch of salt instead of being discarded for being an opinion being different to your own. 4/10 Bethany Cox

I'm not sure why there is so much negativity aimed at this movie. I enjoyed every second of the movie and would definitely watch it again.

Yes the story line is predictable and we all know what the outcome is going to be, but don't we know that already is most animated movies?

I thought it was an inspiring story and gives out the message that if we treat people well , and help people, then good things can come your way when you need it, which works out well for dusty when everyone gives him spare parts for the goodness he shown them and the courage he shown making the journey.

It teaches the lesson you can be what you want and you don't have to be told what you are and i like that.

There is a bimodal distribution (2 peaks) in the user review scoring of Planes: 1-star, this is a horrible rip- off, nothing new here, Pixar's image is tarnished - and 10-star, what a wonderful kid's film, details are excellent, funny, good message.

First, this is not a Pixar film. You read that right. It's Disney, not Pixar. But it does have common cast of writers/producers. You may even note the tag line, "From above the world of Cars," overtly acknowledging the connection. If you can get past the notion of a rip-off, then, you'll find a lovely, joyful movie with enough to keep parents entertained while children are having a blast.

Yes the characters resemble those in Cars. Yes some of the plot lines are familiar. Yes the animation is similar to Cars (although the flight scenes are spectacular in spots). You know what I remember? Cars was a great movie! I'm pretty sure I remember that since I've seen it 147 times with my son (not really).

This is not an academy award winning movie. But it is a lot of fun. Before giving this children's cartoon 1-star, be clear what you're watching.

Not sure WHY this movie has received such a poor rating - i thought it was actually a pretty solid, pretty fun movie. Could it have been better?... sure - not many movies in the history of cinema that you can say 'no' to, but if you just want to go have some fun and enjoy a 3d animated film with the kids for the night?... you certainly won't go wrong with Planes.

The irony to me about most of the negative reviews was that this movie borrowed a lot of the material from 'Cars' but most of that was to be expected, no?... isn't that half the reason of going to see this movie in the first place? ... meanwhile, most of the architecture and outline from Cars was blatantly stolen from 'Doc Hollywood' but that didn't seem to bother too many people did it (haha - believe it!)

Anyway... i thought it was a fun movie - pretty predictable, yes, but how many animations aren't? I don't think we watch these movies for the twist endings do we?

I was pretty happy to see the return of Dane Cook, who has seemingly vanished since his (cringing) attempt at romantic comedies (thank god that's over)... but as with many of these animated movies today, it was the supporting cast and the eccentric characters that regularly steal the show. (El Chupacubra anybody?!)

All in all - i'm glad i didn't listen to everyone's negative reviews and went and saw this on the big screen... my daughter is too

I enjoyed this movie as did my 3 1/2 year old son. While not quite as 'warm and cuddly' as the original Cars movie it was still loads of fun (and far better than Cars 2). The landscape views from the air were tremendous as were the snow and water scenes. The dialogue was good but a bit more for kids and a bit less for adults. Still, they got a lot of the aircraft stuff right and the take on VF-17 was a nice touch and did a simple but effective job of helping to tie in Skipper's appearance in the film.

Overall I rate this one a 7...it invariably will be compared to both Cars movies but really it should stand as its own flick. And on that it holds its own and has real merit. Worth a look-see and BTW my son REALLY loved it.