If you’re like me, then Cars is far down the list of Pixar films (with probably only Cars 2 below it). So it was with some trepidation that I went to see the new movie Planes, set in the same world as Cars. Two things to note: First, I was dragged to see this against my will and second (and possibly more important) it’s not a Pixar movie. Planes is the first sequel to a Pixar movie made by Disney studios (which confuses everyone since Disney owns Pixar). Basically, a different group of people made Planes than made Cars. Sorry to say that they didn’t make it any better in their attempt. Let’s check it out.

Dusty is a crop duster who has dreams of being a race plane. He has hooked his friend (the fuel truck) Chug into his dream and together they convince the mechanic Dottie to help him out. As the last entrant into the qualifying, Dusty almost makes up enough time to get into the race, but finished sixth (with the top 5 going on to the race). But, since we are only 15 minutes into the film, you know it’s not going to end this way. The fifth place contender is found to have cheated (illegal fuel additives) and Dusty is on his way to the race. But he needs more training. That’s where Skipper comes in. Skipper is an old military plane down the airfield who can no longer fly, but is rumored to be a legendary teacher who flew dozens of missions in the war. Dusty begs Skipper to train him and, after the required back and forth, Skipper agrees. But along the way they realize that Dusty, since he’s a crop dusting plane, can’t fly above 1000 feet due to his fear of heights.

Then we get to the race and, after a slow start, Dusty is one of the main competitors. We get our required villains and silly sidekicks. We get our drama about whether Dusty will win (with the required crash) and Skipper’s secrets come out. The movie runs along the generic underdog storyline as our hero finds out more about himself and others and has to confront his fears to try to win.

Overall, it was a perfectly bland movie. It wasn’t offensively horrible, it was just aggressively mediocre. It feels like someone wrote the script from an underdog storyline taught in a scriptwriting class. The characters are all bland and the plot unfolds as you expect throughout the entire movie. You can pretty much predict how what’s going to happen and how it will end. The visuals are decent and the voices are perfectly acceptable. I wouldn’t tell anyone to run away from the movie, but I can’t really recommend it for anyone who is above the age of 10. Kids who loved Cars or have a love of planes will like the movie. Everyone else should avoid it.