MOVIE REVIEW
“Planes: Fire & Rescue”
Grade: C
Starring the voices of Dane Cook, Ed Harris, Julie Bowen and Teri Hatcher. Directed by Roberts Gannaway.
Rated PG for action and some peril. Check listings for theaters. 1 hour, 23 minutes.
Bottom line: Occasionally rousing, but mostly just adequate
Four movies and several more short films into the world of “Cars” and “Planes,” cynical adults will continue to ask hard questions.
When a “Planes: Fire & Rescue” character puts an AC/DC album on a record player, does this mean that there is an airplane version of the Australian band, or is the music left over from the now extinct/annihilated human race? Who lives in the skyscrapers we see in the film? Has anyone explained how the vehicles reproduce?
Children, who don’t think about these things, are the clear target audience for “Planes: Fire & Rescue,” an occasionally rousing but mostly just adequate sequel to last year’s “Planes.”
The sequel quickly removes spunky hero Dusty Crophopper from his established past as a racing plane, and into the visually pleasing world of aerial firefighting. The isolated forest setting seems to be 75 percent inspired by Yosemite and 20 percent by Arches National Park in Utah, with a Yellowstone Park geyser thrown in for fun.
Much is made of Dusty’s celebrity from the previous film, and the more humble/noble work of his new comrades. Although there are once again no humans (Are they underground? In a “Battlestar Galactica”-style spaceship looking for a new home?!?), the movie serves as a fitting tribute to smokejumpers and other real life forest service workers.
“Planes: Fire & Rescue” is at its best during the frequent aerial firefighting scenes, which have a storybook feel, while maintaining a disaster movie-style momentum. The movie is rated PG, but other than a few scenes of planes-in-peril, it will play well with all but the most scare-prone children in the G crowd.
The “Planes” writing team comes up with another pop culture nod (with a voice acting cameo) as pleasing as the “Top Gun” interlude in the first film. There are a few other lines that will elicit adult chuckles, many in a country bar scene. The “pick-up truck” definitely delivers.
The rest of the dialogue is hit and miss, with too much sincerity and little attempt at nuance in the plot — which includes an over-the-top bureaucrat, and yet another mentor figure for Dusty with a mysterious past. Also worth noting, sadly: “Planes: Fire & Rescue” is more reliant on cheap bodily function humor than anything else in the recent Disney catalog.
It’s not a poor movie. But it’s definitely a better movie for the kids.
