Cars, In Planes' Sight

You've probably read it everywhere by now (maybe even saw it for yourself) --Planes is indeed Cars with wings. Observe these character spoilers!

HEROIC HAS BEEN
Doc is to Skipper as Skipper is to Doc. But we liked Skipper's back story better. Plus, he rose from it all and fought the bad guy in an aerial dogfight, creaking bolts and all. Coolness.

TOUR GUIDE LOVE
Sally toured McQueen down the Canyons. Ishani toured Dusty around India. Both to give emotional insights about the story and to create a spark towards a blooming love affair.

GREEN AND MEAN
Chick Hicks and Ripslinger. Separated at birth. Connected by... eeeeviiil!

RUNNING...er flying... JOKE
Mater and El Chupacabra are the comedians of each movie.  El Chupacabra is crazy in love while Mater is plain crazy.  El Chuppie, however, was given a better production number with a better singing voice.

Planes mirrored the formula Cars ran on except for the part where the hero, Dusty Crophopper, totally changed the game by going against what he's designed for to win an international race. That part is... 'Planes is Turbo with wings'. :P

Still, my boys loved this animation flick for its dynamic action scenes, brilliant colour, and that fact that it involved war planes. No plane can be cooler than fighter planes. And the scene where all the planes pitched in to help Dusty get back on his wings is a beautiful, genuine touch.

So, even if Planes is not the most original of Disney's offerings, I'm not totally knocking this movie out of the sky. It's for kids. And kids love airplanes!

Watch, release your inner child, and enjoy!

Tripping out on Turbo!

SPOILER ALERT!

Wow!  This is definitely a month of movie reviews!  All the family movies we were expecting to be showered with in the summer all came in like a massive hurricane as soon as school started.

On our plate today:  Escargo!  Oh wait... TURBO! 
It's a tiny player compared to the bigness of Monsters University and Despicable Me 2.  Save for the usual trailer, Dreamworks didn't put much fanfare to this flick.  There's not even a single spot of merchandise at the cinema door.

That's why it was so cool to realize that this movie is actually awesome!

Admittedly, I was skeptical at first.  It reeked so much of Disney Pixar's Cars.  You know, downtrodden town (in this case, mall) gets back on the map, thanks to a race car (in this case, race snail) but not before said race car (in this case, race snail) gets arrested (in this case, snailnapped), and then taken in by a misfit band of town cars (in this case, misfit --yet badass-- snails) and given the blind support of a broken-down tow truck (in this case, a very broke taco guy).

But you know what, Turbo has more heart than Cars.  That's because it's an underdog story.  It's a rising against the norm story.  It's a brotherhood story nicely played by snails Chet and Theo --and their human counterparts, Angelo and Tito.  And it's a reality story where your biggest hero can be your biggest enemy.  My kids loved that twist!
Speaking of twists, the best line in the movie ironically came from said hero/archenemy.  'No dream is too big and no dreamer is too small.'  Imagine that!

Turbo is solid with the right amount of moral lesson and breathtaking action.  The incredible snail attachments got my boys geeking out, too.  They might just gear up our dogs with rocket boosters soon.  Uh-oh.

Starring Ryan Reynolds as Turbo and Paul Giamatti as Chet (my favorite character.  haha!).  TURBO --don't miss it.  Seriously.  Because this snail is fast!

Yep, it's my boys' favorite song right now.