my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Community   » Film Handlers' Movie Reviews   » Planes

Author Topic: Planes Stu Jamieson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 524 From: Buccan, Qld, Australia Registered: Jan 2008 posted 10-05-2013 07:50 PM                     Is Planes merely Cars with wings? Yes, pretty much. It's clearly created on the same graphics engine with modified templates and it has a race-around-the-world plot which is very similar to Cars 2 (albeit without the James Bond elements). Throw in an identical follow-your-dreams theme to Dreamwork's Turbo and you have some highly derivative kiddie fodder which could easily have gone straight to DVD. Indeed, between this and [/i]Monsters University[/i], it's been a very weak year for Pixar. Strictly Speaking, though, Planes is a Disney film and not a Pixar film, even though John Lasseter had a hand in it. But the links to Cars are undeniable and a film of this quality will ultimately dilute the Pixar brand by association, especially as this is intended to be the first in a trilogy of Planes films. Overall, though, Planes is fun enough as a harmless timewaster for kids. The character set relates strongly to Cars: Dusty Crophopper is a proxy for Lightning; Chug for Mater; Skipper for Doc Hudson etc. The romantic interest for Dusty is actually Indian (played by Bollywood actress, Priyanka Chopra) which makes a nice change and is one of the few original elements in the film. Interestingly, the character of Rochelle has been localised in many markets. Originally a French-Canadian from Quebec voiced by Julie Louis-Dreyfuss, in Australia the character has been redubbed by Aussie actress, Jessica Marais. Planes will do well enough as holiday fodder but the trend set for Pixar projects, and especially it's spin-offs, is not encouraging. What used to be the most innovative animation studio in the world is slowly being milked dry. This was always the fear since the Disney studio acquired Pixar and now these fears seem to be coming to pass. Pixar's next original project, The Good Dinosaur, is slated for next year; let's hope it arrests the slide in quality from the last few years. 5.5 out of 10  |  IP: Logged Marcel Birgelen Film God Posts: 3357 From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 10-07-2013 10:15 AM                     I'm wondering how long it will take, until some suits in Burbank will conclude that they can save some bucks by merging "Disney Animation" and "Pixar" into one big animation studio... Actually, from the looks of it, this has already started.  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Goeldner Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1360 From: Washington, District of Columbia Registered: Jun 2008 posted 11-18-2013 11:09 PM                     this kind of surprised me, I was expecting the worst, but little things impressed me - the music, the animation and the voice work wasn't as grating as the Cars films. the plot though was pretty paint by numbers.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-18-2013 11:13 PM                        quote: What used to be the most innovative animation studio in the world is slowly being milked dry. This was always the fear since the Disney studio acquired Pixar and now these fears seem to be coming to pass. Pixar's next original project, The Good Dinosaur, is slated for next year; let's hope it arrests the slide in quality from the last few years. And how. Not counting quickies like this formerly-direct-to-video movie, the most recent movies from Disney Animation Studios ("Tangled" and "Wreck-It Ralph") were better than anything Pixar's come up with lately. The upcoming "Frozen" looks to be the best of the bunch.  |  IP: Logged Marcel Birgelen Film God Posts: 3357 From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 11-19-2013 04:18 AM                     It's not the quality that counts, but just the bucks. Seemingly this was sufficiently successful to be granted a sequel in 2014.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-19-2013 10:26 AM                        Actually the sequel was planned before the original even came out. It has been in the IME release list since about two or three months before the first one came out. I suppose if the first one had bombed they would've just canceled the sequel.  |  IP: Logged Stu Jamieson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 524 From: Buccan, Qld, Australia Registered: Jan 2008 posted 11-19-2013 03:58 PM                     In fact it was planned as a trilogy, I believe.  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.