Planes?

[jaykorf001]

Just returned from seeing Planes with my 5 year old son and his 4 year old friend -- a girl. We saw the regular version (not 3 D). I was glad we didn't see the 3D as the motion on the flying on the regular movie gave me a little motion sickness where I had to look away. 3D may have been too much for me.

The movie was enjoyable and both kids really enjoyed it. It has a very similar storyline to Cars with respect to the racing (underdog vs naughty favorites). However, IMO it was lacking with respect to the underlying message in the original Cars movie that appealed to adults -- mainly speaking of the nostalgic aspect of Route 66/interstates/stopping to smell the roses. I admit I personally really enjoyed Cars -- especially the first one.

I didn't notice any difference with respect to the animation or anything like that. Perhaps I do not have the most discerning eye but I doubt the average adult could tell any difference and certainly the kids won't.

Nutshell: enjoyable experience on a dreary summer day but not equivalent to Cars or the Toy Story trio which I think are all excellent. I think most young kids will enjoy it.

 

[jadelane1]

Just saw Planes also. We really liked it! Very cute movie!

 

[Kitkat6595]

Speaking as the mother of two boys, age 3 and 6, who are OBSESSED with Cars, Cars 2 and Mater's Tall Tales, this movie was made for my boys. We have been anticipating this movie for over a year!! I'm looking forward to it and they can't wait. And we have already seen the merch at Target. I see our Christmas...

 

[Postal68]

I may be pressing for Planes this weekend so I can avoid The Smurfs 2.

Oh, well... when you put it that way.

my God, Planes looks like Citizen Kane compared to Smurfs 2

 

[winkiez721]

Just saw Planes this afternoon! I thought it was really good! Don't judge it till you see it!!!

 

[The Great Figment]

It looks like straight to DVD because it is a straight to DVD movie. Pixar was going to do it as a straight to DVD film. Then cut it. Disney picked it up. But they didn't have Feature Animation do it, they sent it to their Toons Studio.

Their Toons Studio is pefectly fine. So much goes into a film, I do not think which studio created it necessarily alway translantes to one final outcome. If the Toons Studio was incapable of producing a good film they would be out of a job.

Pixar is amazing, but even they have titles that are better loved than others. And everyone knows Disney Feature Animation has had its share of flops.

I can see how the previews might not be appealing to some. But to write such strong opinions about a movie you have not even seen reflects poorly on you.

There are many people who will want to see it. The most of which are little boys 2 to 12 (I think thats the target demographic, I forget). Little boys LOVE Cars. Planes is a natural extention of that.

Cars merch is one of their largest franchises even when a movie isn't coming out. Disney releasing this movie as feature is just smart business. Think of the boon if Planes merch takes off like Cars merch? If they released the film direct to DVD then they wouldn't have the merchandising opportunity they now have.

As a devoted Disney fan who only has boys for children. I appreciate the Planes franchise and truely hope it does well. A person can tirer of nothing but Cars and Pirates. Another franchise for boys is very welcomed.

So while Planes may not be for you. I believe it does have an audiance. Will it do numbers as big as Monsters University or the blockbuster of the summer Despicable Me 2? No, of course not. But it doesn't have to. Its production budget was only 50 million. The original Cars was 120 million and Cars 2 was 200 million.

Planes is a very smart move for Disney. They have risked relatively little, and if the movie takes off, they stand to gain a ton.

That makes sense to me.

Its funny, my 2 year old loves Cars, since the first time he's seen the movie he's loved lighting mcqueen, but lately, its been all mater.

 

[PoohsFan1]

I always keep in mind that Toy Story 2 was going to be direct to video once upon a time as well.

Definitely true .

I am taking my girls today to go see it, I happened to mention that to my mother (who does not like Disney movies ) and she said that she wanted to go with because she says it looks like it will be lots of fun (she did like Cars BTW). I have heard that it is hilarious and I can't wait to see for myself.

 

[Ana~n~Joseph]

I took my son (soon to be 4 years old) to watch the movie this past Saturday. He really liked it and well, so did I. I actually liked it better than Cars (I know I'm probably in the minority there). At one point, I even got a little teary eyed. That same day we went to Target and my son wanted every single Planes thing he could find ....I think Disney's job here is done

 

[germ539]

DS & I went and saw it on Sunday and it was pretty good. I think that if people are wanting to compare it to cars, it's like apples to oranges. It had a very good plot and storyline. I'd get it on DVD when it comes out.

 

[wiigirl]

I saw it on Sunday....loved it.

 

[jcjen519]

Planes was actually quite good.

i didn't see it, our 4 year old went with grandma but he seemed to like it a lot.

 

[tgenius]

We were on the Disney dream this weekend and they premiered planes. I thought it was horrible to be honest. The movie was very cliche and seemed to follow some cars themes a bit too much in my opinion.

From what I've seen on rotten tomatoes I'm not alone.

 

[lilmom4]

My husband has loved airplanes since he was a kid and has naturally gotten both kids very excited about airplanes. So we loved the movie, but we also loved planes before it came out. My 4 DD even loved it. Not to mention my 1 year old will NOT hardly share his Dusty airplane. If you could care less about planes, you just might not like the movie.

 

[skier_pete]

First off, I really, really liked the first Cars movie. I loved the message of the movie that the world is in such a rush to get places and succeed and be the best, yet sometimes the best of life comes when you just slow down. The second one was just OK, it was everything that most Pixar movies are not, a bunch of action scenes strung together with virtually no character development, far and away the worst Pixar movie.

The trailer for Planes looked pretty bad to me - to much of a rehash of Cars/Cars 2. However, I am not going to criticize. The Tinker Bell movie series is all about selling merchandise, but the quality level of those movies is actually quite high for what they are (direct-to-DVD), they are fairly entertaining and inncouous.

The success of Cars merchandise meant that this was bound to happen. To keep merchandise sales high - you need to have new product out to keep it in everyone's consciousness - Disney understands this, and you are going to continue seeing you "World of Cars" movies for the foreseeable future - if you were paying attention at D23 you'll notice that they already have a sequel to this movie coming out next summer.

(On a slightly OT note - this is what most people don't seem to understand about the weakness of the Harry Potter franchise. I am a huge HP fan, but Universal with have a hard time sustaining it's popularity past the next 5-10 years unless Jo Rowling decides to write more books or liscenses the characters for more stories. With nothing new coming out, the popularity will face quickly. My feeling is this will eventually happen, once Rowling gets some distance from it and realizes the money to be made.)

 

[redshoepaul]

Another abomination of a new IP by Disney to the critics and to half the people that saw it. 22mil is pretty bad for opening for a Disney film.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

We saw it in a packed theater (ok not a very big theater) but packed and really enjoyed it. Good story line and well made. The adults and kids were eating it up!

Considering it really had little advertising or build up until just 2 or 3 weeks before it opened and even then not a big push, I think 22 mil is a good start.

time will tell, these type of well done little movies have a habit of becoming very popular.


AKK

 

[mvk]

Another abomination of a new IP by Disney to the critics and to half the people that saw it. 22mil is pretty bad for opening for a Disney film.

Highest ever opening weekend for an animated movie that was released in August. Made almost half of its budget back its first weekend. Hasn't been released to foreign markets yet.

I'm sure Disney is very happy with how the movie is doing. The people who went to see it seem to like it as well, it's pretty well liked here on the different threads on this board. I enjoyed it, my kids loved it. Not every movie has to be a $300M+ movie to be successful.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Saw it with the kids on Saturday...


Not an interesting story for the adults because it was obvious...you knew what was coming

But the kids loved it and it was reasonable funny/ visually fun to watch.

It will do fine and make money... And perhaps they may put more effort into the story of the already announced sequel.

This is one case where what the critics say doesn't matter...not every film goes to the Academy

 

[Twin Dad]

We saw it Friday. The kids loved it. The adults were mildly entertained.

 

[Mellabella]

My husband and I took our seven year old son to see Planes last Friday. We thought it was fantastic! We will be buying it when it comes out on dvd.