There’s a moment in Planes Fire & Rescue that is so incredibly poignant and touching that it just grips the audience by the throat. Dusty and company are flying through a gigantic cloud of fire, death and destruction and the only audible sounds are a ghostly, fiery rumble topped off with the faint sound of plane engines. No soundtrack, no dialogue, just a masterful touch by director Bobs Gannaway.
Unfortunately, up until that point, the sequel that’s not a sequel (it’s a continuation) splutters around at times with a few scenes that only serve to fatten up it’s relatively short running time of 82 minutes.
Dusty Crophopper finds himself at the end of his racing line when his gearbox decides it can’t take much more and to make matters worse, our lovable little plane manages to set fire to part of his airfield. With an aging firetruck no longer up to the job and the airport shut down, Dusty decides to leave his racing days behind him and become a certified fire fighting plane. Arriving at Piston Peak Dusty must overcome his busted gearbox and begin a quest to get certified and save his airfield.
The good far outweighs the bad in Planes Fire & Rescue, with the biggest criticism one can point to being the script. In the first 40 minutes, the movie delivers some snappy dialogue with a bunch of funny scenes and jokes that adults and kids will lap up. The fire fighting story is a refreshing change from the racing stuff, which has been done so many times at this stage, it’s just boring. In between those enjoyable moments though, the movie stalls and splutters for minutes at a time as it just labours with pointless dialogue and events that have no baring on the overall movie and only serve to slow it down.
Ultimately though, this is a perfectly functional kids movie. There’s enough here to keep the adults entertained as well, in particular a brilliant parody on a well know 80s TV show and the little ones will relish Dusty (Dane Cook) and a new bunch of characters, voiced by Ed Harris, Julie Bowen, Terri Hatcher and Cedric the Entertainer.
Once you get over the bumpy take off, Planes Fire And Rescue ascends into a fantastic and inspiring finale that will have you grinning from ear to ear! Definitely worth getting on board!
Check out our interview with director Bobs Gannaway and producer Ferrell Barron by clicking here
