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Cars, Disney, dvd review, Fire & Rescue, Fire and Rescue, Movie Review, Pixar, Planes, Planes: Fire & Rescue, review
The Sequel to a Spin-Off Manages to Glide
Planes is a bit of an odd franchise no matter how you slice it and the latest addition to the proposed trilogy, Fire & Rescue really doesn’t do much to deviate from the oddity of it all. Part of what makes the series as a whole so odd is the way it came to be: beginning with the Pixar mega-franchise Cars, Disney had decided to go the direct-to-dvd route with a trilogy of films taking place in that same universe, just a little higher off the ground. Then, because there was a gap in their CG animated theatrical feature schedule, Planes was given the silver screen upgrade at the proverbial zero-hour; an unexpected move turned even more surprising considering the Planes films were done by DisneyToon Studios, the 44-employee outfit known for specializing in direct-to-video projects.
Long story short, the original Planes somehow defied the odds and proved a very lucrative theatrical run. That leads us to Fire & Rescue, the middle child of the Planes trilogy. Or the first sequel to the spin-off of Cars. When viewed under these circumstances, logic would suggest this piece to be an utter disaster and yet it manages to deliver on some pretty lofty story telling ambitions. No, it’s never quite able to capture the military-like narrative precision we’ve come to expect from Pixar or even Disney itself of late (with films like Tangled, Frozen and Big Hero 6), it does put together enough elements to get the job done.
The story continues on the exploits of lowly crop duster turned global race champion Dusty Crophopper, though, almost as quickly as his meteoric rise to racing stardom, turns him into a forest fire battling SEAT this time around (that’s single engine air tanker for those not overly familiar with aerial firefighting terminology).
Spread across 84-minutes, Fire & Rescue starts almost like a direct continuation of the first movie, recapping some of Dusty’s aerial antics on route to racing victories. However, it doesn’t take long before we learn of a new Achilles heel for poor Dusty, having apparently completely recovered from his fear of heights in the first film, this time his engine’s internal gearbox seems to be failing and thus preventing him from achieving optimal speed.
At the same time as his apparent inability to continue racing, a new dilemma in the airport’s fire safety protocol allows for an opportunity for Dusty to train with a dedicated firefighting crew. From there the film pretty steadily balances training segments with action-laden firefighting and rescuing.
The good news in all of this is that the tired-beyond-measure racing plot element with underdog beating the odds and winning has not been recycled again here. The bad news is that the film’s pacing is quite inconsistent; starting out slow, building fairly steadily then concluding entirely too quickly and formulaic. What this leaves the viewer feeling in the end is a sort of waiting for something to arrive that never manifests. Younger viewers will likely be far more forgiving; adults used to the Pixar touch felt throughout the production will certainly pick up on the feeling of sloppiness.
Children, especially those enamored with playing with toy planes, trucks and trains will undoubtedly marvel at the action sequences here. Visually the film suffers from many of the same complaints of the first- with fairly lackluster textures more commonly associated with direct-to-dvd affairs (which is to say slightly above CG television series standards but not quite the photo-realism of the big budget features) but this time the bar has certainly been raised with blazing wildfire sequences and some stunning water and spray effects.
The scripting is certainly sharp and witty at times, albeit rife with rapid fire puns that were surely thrown in to keep adult viewers in the fold while the youngsters marvel at so many talking vehicles. Lines like “She left me for a hybrid. I didn’t hear it coming” or a cheesy-pickup-line touting “pickup” truck will surely elicit a chuckle. But perhaps the piece’s truly cleverest layered humor comes in the form of a 1970s-style take on the cheesy cop series CHiPs starring helicopters called CHoPs. Sure, there is no way the younger set will have any idea what this particular segment is spoofing, it does make for some welcome adult appeal.
In all, fans of the original film will likely enjoy the fairly straight-forward ride Planes: Fire & Rescue offers. Even though this one boasts a bigger budget than the first, some slicker animation scattered about and a lot more characters (too many to keep track of at times in fact), I was unable to shake that uncanny made-for-dvd feel this time around. Perhaps due in no small part to the final portion of the film, which really packs a bit too much into too little time and concludes in a user-friendly nature that promises sequels galore. The shame in this is that there are some interesting themes and undertones being explored in this one; outliving one’s usefulness, the finality of death (even for a machine), the untamed and terrifying power of nature, the true definition of a hero, yet the end result comes out feeling like a promise that Disney is far from done milking this cash cow just yet.