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Blu-ray Review Planes: Fire & Rescue Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

Matt Hough

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Planes: Fire & Rescue Blu-ray Review

Disney’s 2013 toon Planes did enough business to justify this 2014 sequel Planes: Fire & Rescue, but the two features, both animated by Disney’s second-tier cartoon unit used mostly for television animation, have the kind of sparseness and lack of drive that easily differentiate them from the studio’s more mainstream efforts like Frozen and Tangled. The stories aren’t nearly as compelling, the characterizations are much less complex, and there’s a feeling of ho-hum about them once they’re over. The family’s younger folk will certainly be drawn in, but these efforts do not offer for an adult audience the charm, wit, and complexity that the best of Disney and Pixar can manage.

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Studio: Disney

Distributed By: N/A

Video Resolution and Encode: 1080P/AVC

Aspect Ratio: 2.39.1

Audio: English 7.1 DTS-HDMA, Spanish 5.1 DD, French 5.1 DD

Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French

Rating: PG

Run Time: 1 Hr. 24 Min.

Package Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital Copy

keep case in a slipcover

Disc Type: BD50 (dual layer)

Region: ABC

Release Date: 11/04/2014

MSRP: $39.99




The Production Rating: 3/5

When his antiquated gear box goes on the fritz, champion racer Dusty Crophopper (Dane Cook) is at loose ends wondering what to do with his life. He’s not anxious to return to crop dusting but realizes that his former skills might come in handy as a fire fighting apparatus that can spread water over a wide area. To do that, he’s got to get trained and certified, so he heads to Piston Peak to be trained by the best: EVAC helicopter Blade Ranger (Ed Harris). Not used to taking orders and not being in top flight shape due to his faulty gear box, Dusty has a hard time excelling in training, but with wildfires breaking out all over the area, he’s needed even with less than first-rate skills.The script by director Bobs Gannaway and Jeffrey M. Howard works in the requisite training snafus and growing frustration for Dusty until a critical situation brings out the best in his abilities: it’s writing by the numbers that seems overly familiar and completely predictable. There are some tried and true caricatures with vehicles, planes, and copters that give the banal storytelling some spice: besides the all-business Blade, there’s the flirty come-ons of Lil' Dipper (Julie Bowen) who’s thrilled to work alongside a celebrity like Dusty, the sage old timer Mayday (Hal Holbrook) who could be a good partner for Dusty if he’d snap up his training, and the mighty heavy-lift helicopter Windlifter (Wes Studi). (There’s backstory with Blade Ranger once being a famous TV star alongside Erik Estrada’s Nick "Loop'n" Lopez that might have been developed into something more than a throwaway, but that comes and goes in the blink of an eye.) The awesome animation of the many forest fires that dot the story is the best thing about the movie while Dusty caught in a swift river current headed toward a waterfall doesn’t do the dire peril justice, but the direction of the piece often lacks urgency, and the derring-do just doesn’t have the thrill that would have lifted this routine tale to another level despite quite a few situations where it should be present.The voice work by a first-rate cast is indisputably fine, but there are no standout characters here despite actors like Julie Bowen and Stacy Keach (as Skipper) working overtime to make something memorable out of their cardboard characters. As a tribute to firefighters who risk life and limb for complete strangers at considerable peril to their own lives, the movie does honor to them (and is dedicated to them), and its forthright acknowledgement that teamwork is what saves the day is a valuable lesson, as familiar and obvious as it might be to all but the youngest of the viewers of this piece.


Video Rating: 5/5 3D Rating: NA

The film’s 2.39:1 theatrical aspect ratio is presented in 1080p using the AVC codec. As one would expect, the visuals are remarkable throughout with vivid sharpness and outstanding color reproduction (the fire and ash looks realer than real) that constantly produces eye-popping moments without a trace of blooming or any banding. Black levels are at reference levels, and contrast has been consistently maintained to produce the most stunning picture possible. The film has been divided into 18 chapters.



Audio Rating: 4.5/5

The DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 sound mix is a terrific one filled with a constant array of sweeping, panning effects as the planes, trucks, and copters whoosh across and around the soundfield. There is also very effective use of directionalized dialogue to expand impressively the use of character voices in the center channel (at one point Windlifter traveling in a circle on-screen also traverses the entire left to right soundfield via the back channels in a very impressive display of sound imaging). Mark Mancina’s music (and country songs by Brad Paisley and Spencer Lee) likewise receive excellent spread through the soundstage building in momentum as the climactic events of the runaway fire and rescue operations approach. The LFE channel seems a little light in the mix compared to other animated features, however.


Special Features Rating: 3/5

Vitaminmulch: Air Spectacular (5:55, HD): a Planes short subject with Dusty and Mayday masquerading as a great stunt team.Welcome to Piston Peak (2:49, HD): a faux-travelogue introducing the traveler to the pleasures of the national park.CHoPs TV Promo (0:44, HD): a faux-advertisement for the television program that once starred Blade.Air Attack: Firefighters From the Sky (4:47, HD): producer Ferrell Barron and director Bobs Gannaway pay tribute to the real-life firefighters who inspired the story. Technical advisors for the movie also offer sound bites.Deleted/Extended Scenes (4:32, HD): three scenes may be viewed either separately or in montage with introductions to each by director Gannaway and producer Barron.“Still I Fly” Music Video (1:31, HD): Spencer Lee performs the music video of a song used in the film.Planes Shorts (HD): Dipper (1:45) and Smoke Jumpers (1:44).Promo Trailers (HD): Big Hero 6, 101 Dalmatians, Frozen: Sing Along Edition.DVD/Digital Copy: disc and code sheet enclosed in the case.


Overall Rating: 3/5

As was the case last year with the maiden effort Planes, this new installment Planes: Fire & Rescue will more likely appeal more to the younger members of the family than the older ones though it’s certainly an innocuous way to spend a little more than an hour. Shown in 3D in theaters, one wishes that version of the movie had been offered on this side of the Atlantic for home video viewers.


Reviewed By: Matt Hough


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Ejanss

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Matt Hough said:
there’s the flirty come-ons of Lil' Dipper (Julie Bowen), and the mighty heavy-lift helicopter Windlifter (Wes Studi).
(There’s backstory with Blade Ranger once being a famous TV star alongside Erik Estrada’s Nick "Loop'n" Lopez that might have been developed into something more than a throwaway, but that comes and goes in the blink of an eye.)
Yes, but Dipper's come-ons were the cutest part of the movie, in a Dory sort of way. :D
And Wes Studi is one of the few native actors who can display a sense of humor about himself (qv. Mystery Men, Street Fighter), and parodies the cliche' "Native mystic" trope into the Cars-verse without losing dignity.
Even when it's not "officially" Pixar, just getting a little booster shot of Pixar into your scripts creates better stories and characters than most other studios do on a good day. They didn't have to do the CHiPs parody, you know.

Case in point: Guardians of the Galaxy didn't have the monopoly on Cool Classic-Soundtrack Moments in a Disney Movie--
 

revgen

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Matt Hough said:
Shown in 3D in theaters, one wishes that version of the movie had been offered on this side of the Atlantic for home video viewers.
A 3D version will be released in Mexico on November 21st. Which should theoretically work on Region A players. It costs roughly 35 USD plus shipping.
 

Matt Hough

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Since this 2D version is all region, I would think a 3D version released anywhere else in the world should be all region, too, but I could certainly be wrong about that. I just hate that it's not getting a domestic release. Last year's Planes did.
 

Edwin-S

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I would have picked this up if they had released it with a 3D version, since that is how I saw it in the theater. There are aspects of both of the PLANES flicks that I like better than the original movies, not the least of them being the fact that the flicks are about planes, another passion of mine. While these flicks are not great movies, they are not as bad as a lot of people like to make them out as. Like Ejanns said these second-tier Pixar influenced films are better character-wise than a lot of other studios "A" output.

Predictable as it was I still enjoyed this flick a lot more than FROZEN which I thought was rather dull.
 

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