Disney’s “Planes”: Cute for Kids, Just OK for Adults #DisneyPlanes

Disclosure: I was provided with two tickets to see Planes for the purpose of this post.

Kinley and I were invited to a sneak peek of Disney’s Planes earlier this week. Being a fan of Cars, I figured she’d get a kick out of it, and was happy to accept a couple of tickets.

Being not-quite-3 years old, I’m always nervous to take her to the movies. Let’s face it: Toddlers are unpredictable…especially at a 7 p.m. showing.

But as always, with a little popcorn and a lemonade, she was in heaven. Couldn’t help but spoil her a bit…She’s such a daddy’s girl, so sometimes I stoop low for brownie points 😉 It was nice having some time together just her and I.

After getting our treats, we settled down in the theater between two of my favorite local bloggers Metro Detroit Mommy and Yes/No Films, and popped on our 3D glasses.

If you’re not familiar, the Planes plotline is a very familiar one. Dusty, the underdog crop dusting plane is looking to become a racing plane. In typical Disney fashion, he has to overcome bullies and obstacles to find his way into first place. Predictable? Of course. But nonetheless, adorable and inspiring.

To be honest, I wasn’t that impressed with the start of the film. It didn’t really rope me in, and I was a bit nervous it might not hold Kinley’s attention. However, it definitely got better as it went along and she intently watched thanks to her popcorn keeping her company.

I found myself laughing at some of the more adult humor {it is rated PG after all} and was impressed with the cast of voices. It was really incredible how every voice fit the character so well. Dane Cook was the voice of Dusty, and it truly was a good choice…even though I kept picturing him as the chef in Waiting…

While Dusty is the star of the film, my favorite character was El Chupacabra, a flirty womanizing plane from Mexico. He had some great one-liners {although it was definitely stereotypical}, and I loved all the scenes where he was trying to win over the French-Canadian plane, Rochelle.

I enjoyed most of the characters, with the exception of Chug, one of Dusty’s sidekicks…I just thought he was dumb and didn’t really serve much of a purpose.

It was neat that all the racing planes hailed from different countries, too, and I liked that it brought in a bit of culture to the film and made it a little deeper in comparison to many other kid’s films. In fact, I wasn’t super impressed with the 3D animation until a scene where they are in India and flying over the Taj Mahal. It was hard to believe we were looking at animation and not at a photo. Other than that scene though, I could’ve done without the 3D.

VERDICT

Is the movie worth seeing in the theater? If you have kids who will sit still for it and love airplanes, then absolutely. It was cute, but definitely not my favorite in the Disney collection, and probably not one I would rush out to buy when it comes out on DVD.

With that said, when we got outside after seeing the movie,Kinley told me she was a plane and flew around with her arms spread out until we reached the parking lot. She was super excited to tell daddy all about it when we got home, too. I think her verdict is clear: It’s worth taking the kids to see…Especially if you can splurge on popcorn.

Watch the official trailer here:

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Do you plan to see Planes? Remember it opens in theaters TODAY!