Disney’s PLANES Movie Review #DisneyPlanesEvent

Disney PLANES logo

I’ve been talking about Disney’s PLANES for months! I even got to go behind the scenes at DisneyToon Studios. Now, the time has finally arrived for the big PLANES release in theaters. Before you head out to the movies, I want to let you know what I thought about the film.

I’m sure you’ve seen Pixar CARS (I know my four year old can recite the film word for word). Disney’s PLANES takes place above the world of Pixar CARS. If you liked Pixar CARS, you are going to enjoy Disney PLANES. I was lucky enough to see it twice already, once on my trip to California for the #DisneyPlanesEvent and once with my son in Orlando for the Disney PLANES Premiere.  So, I’ll be able to give you my thoughts, but also my four-year-old son’s review. 😉

Planes boarding pass

Disney’s PLANES Movie Review

The story follows Dusty Crophopper as he tries to qualify for the Wings Across the Globe Rally. We follow Dusty as he meets with Skipper and starts to race, meets his opponents and struggles his way across the globe. My favorite character is El Chupacabra, voiced by Carlos Alazraqi (watch for my interview with him soon).  My son’s favorite character is a tie between Bulldog, voiced by John Cleese and Dusty, the main character voiced by Dane Cook.

From above the world of “Cars” comes “Disney’s Planes,” an action-packed 3D animated comedy adventure featuring Dusty (voice of Dane Cook), a plane with dreams of competing as a high-flying air racer. But Dusty’s not exactly built for racing—and he happens to be afraid of heights. So he turns to a seasoned naval aviator who helps Dusty qualify to take on the defending champ of the race circuit. Dusty’s courage is put to the ultimate test as he aims to reach heights he never dreamed possible, giving a spellbound world the inspiration to soar.

There is a lot of action in this movie! From high flying planes, to an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean. There is even a cameo by both Val Kilmer and Anthony Edwards as fighter planes. Echo and Bravo are perfect as fighter jets and if you remember, both Kilmer and Edwards were in Top Gun. Who could forget?

There is a flashback World War II war scene that includes Skipper and explains why he is the way that he is. After watching the first time, I was worried about how that scene would seem to a child. I spoke with Director Klay Hall about the scene and the way that it is portrayed is as a flashback and only lasts a few moments, if that. The war scene did not bother my four year old, if that tells you anything. It’s part of Skipper’s story and needs to be told.

The characters in the movie are memorable and each have their own personality. Like the “cars” in Pixar CARS, the “planes” in Disney’s PLANES stick with you and there is an underlying goodness in the story. Oh, and for my son’s review he says PLANES gets a “big thumbs up.” He actually sat, glued to his seat for the entire movie with his child-sized 3-D glasses on. He bounced all the way home and told his Daddy all about it.

Disney’s PLANES opens August 9, 2013.

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18 Comments

    1. My four year old really liked it. I’ll be taking my 3 year old next week. You daughter is going to love it!

  1. Since I only have daughters, I didnt think we would like Cars…but we loved it. I’m looking forward to seeing Planes with my family.
    Thanks for the review.

  2. My whole family wants to see Planes we love Disney movies and are never disappointed ! The movie is for all ages so will take the little nieces along with the grown ups too

  3. Disney Planes is such a good family movie with Dusty and his friends! I like this story and plan on seeing the new movie. I think this is one of the best Disney movies yet, and I am going with my niece and nephew!

  4. My hubs and I are looking forward to taking my youngest brother, who is 10, to see this movie. He loves the Cars movie, so I’m sure he’ll enjoy it. =)

  5. This sounds like a great movie! I am a fan of Val Kilmer, knowing he is in it makes me want to see it.

  6. Thanks for reviewing PLANES! My sons both love Cars and Cars 2 and I know they will be so excited to get to see this when it comes out here. 🙂 Good to know that the war scene didn’t bother your son. It’s always hard to know what is going to be okay, and what will be too much. There have been times I thought some part of a movie would bother my son and he didn’t mind, and times I thought it would be fine and something scared him!

  7. Thanks for the great review. I have 3 kids that will love seeing this fun new movie! : )

  8. i debated seeing this, but decided against it after it got such bad reviews from critics on rotten tomatoes. so netflix it is!