Disney’s latest 3D animation, Planes is full of family fun and adventure, soaring to new heights with engaging visuals, a clever screenplay by Jeffrey M. Howard and written in conjunction with John Lassiter and Klay Hall. Planes delivers plenty of jokes pitched at adult level and all the necessary ingredients of the hero’s journey to inspire young viewers.
In the sleepy town of Popwash Junction, Dusty Crophopper (voice of Dane Cook) is ‘built for seed, not for speed’ yet he dreams to be more than just a cropduster.
In order to ‘be more than he was built for’ and become a real champion, Dusty must face his greatest fear. With the help of his best friend, Chug (voice of Brad Garrett) Dusty approaches Skipper (voice of Stacey Keach) the expert, to prepare and coach him for the highway in the sky.
Along his adventure Dusty meets a variety of characters, like the ever-so-English Bulldog (voice of John Cleese), the lovely Priyanka Chopra (voice of Ishani) and fierce competitor Ripslinger (voice of Roger Craig Smith) who all have their own reasons to win. With a hundred and thirty seven nations from around the globe competing in the Great Race, Dusty takes his chances amongst the best riders in the world.
Facing challenge after challenge, Dusty must be brave and dig deep to find enough horsepower and willpower to clear his path of danger and fly from obscurity to immortality. With the encouragement and support of his friends, he learns that ‘it’s not how fast you fly, it’s how you fly fast’ that makes all the difference and ‘you can fly a whole lot higher than you think’ because ‘it’s not speed that wins races, it’s skill’.
There are many lessons to lift the spirits in this thrilling and delightful movie. Facing challenges inspires greatness and doing more than we are built for inspires others to do the same. Wanting the best for everyone makes us all winners, co-operation is more important than competition and ultimately, it’s who we are when no-one’s looking that defines our true character.
© Patricia Herreen 2013