Planes

[EricJ]

Heading for a $30m opening weekend, tho...proves that audiences prefer mediocrity over anything else these days...

Considering what else went off the rails this summer, mainstream mediocrity is now the mark of a GOOD thing.
(Which explains why Monsters and Despicable were two of the long-runs in June: They had the now unique quality of being exactly what we expected them to be, which wasn't bad. )

[Bill1978]

I haven't seen Planes yet, have to wait until September, but as I said in another thread after being subjected to the same 4 trailers in front of Monsters University, Despicable Me 2 and Epic in a space of 4 days. Where trailer #4 was one of the viewed movies, the other 3 were Turbo and Planes and Smurfs 2. And even though I'm not really the core audience for these 3 movies I felt that Planes was the 2nd best film on offer. Smurfs 2 was my pick out of the three, and the trailer for Planes made me think that erhaps it would be worth a trip to the movies, while Turbo just left me utterly bored with its trailer. So if other people are like me out there, then perhaps the family is prepared to see Planes despite its supposed mediocrity. Perhaps the thinking is well we took them to Cars 2, surely this is no worse.

[Josh]

I caught a 2D screening of Planes yesterday. Personally, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Now, I agree Planes is very formulaic, borrowing heavily from Cars. Also, the movie feels "small," despite featuring an international race. So, I'm not saying Planes is Best Animated Feature material. But it is much better than its Rotten Tomatoes score suggests, with likeable main characters and an excellent score by Mark Mancina.

Overall, I’d give Planes a score of 6/10. (By comparison, I'd give Cars a 7/10 and Cars 2 a 4/10.)

[Dacey]

I think what critics fail to take into account---and maybe they do, but they choose to conveniently ignore it--is that stuff like Planes and The Smurfs 2 are intended for children. And really, at the end of the day, there's nothing wrong with that. Sure, Pixar's movies are deeper, but every now and again it's refreshing to see a film that's just content with being a kids film, while throwing occasional bones to adults. Toy Story 3 has themes about mortality, rejection and letting go of loved ones. The Smurfs 2 just tells kids to be smurfy. And sometimes, that's enough.

To quote Anton Ego, "The bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so."

[EricJ]

I caught a 2D screening of Planes yesterday. Personally, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Now, I agree Planes is very formulaic, borrowing heavily from Cars. Also, the movie feels "small," despite featuring an international race. So, I'm not saying Planes is Best Animated Feature material.

We have to remember, it was a DTV spinoff only six months ago, and got the August-marketing theatrical engagements only recently. (Toy Story 2 at least was upgraded for the bigscreen while in production, and could rewrite some bigger ideas, but Planes was told to hurriedly put on its costume and get out there onstage.)
Disney tried premiering "Secret of the Wings" on the bigscreen to qualify it for the Oscars, but that doesn't make it a "bigscreen movie".

I think what critics fail to take into account---and maybe they do, but they choose to conveniently ignore it--is that stuff like Planes and The Smurfs 2 are intended for children. And really, at the end of the day, there's nothing wrong with that. Sure, Pixar's movies are deeper, but every now and again it's refreshing to see a film that's just content with being a kids film, while throwing occasional bones to adults. Toy Story 3 has themes about mortality, rejection and letting go of loved ones. The Smurfs 2 just tells kids to be smurfy. And sometimes, that's enough.

I remember being in line ahead of one parent taking her kids to Smurfs 1, and my holding back the urge to point out to them that, look, Winnie the Pooh '11 is still in theaters on its last week, and safe guess you haven't seen it. (I'm still wondering why I didn't. )
Parents don't like "edgy" surprises--They don't want to take their kids to a "reimagined" Superman or Lone Ranger where the director wanted to fool around with "darker, grittier and more contemporary". With Monsters U, you knew what you were getting, and could still be surprised that the story and characters delivered. Planes, at least in the later trailers, gives you that "safety" feeling too.

And Smurfs 2 may tell you EXACTLY all you need to know in the trailer (oo, Smurfette has to choose friendship over thrills, and a ferris wheel rolls around in Paris, because you always do the foreign-audience location for the sequel after the NYC one!), and parents feel the illusion of comfort.

[James]

I'm getting over a cold here so a review of this will be late.

[Josh]

"Disney's Toy Tales Hits Theaters Friday"

[ShyViolet]

LOL Josh!