The little man had been wanting to see this new Disney movie, Planes, since he first saw the trailer on youtube. That is why on his very special day, we decided to go to Manila and watched the film as part of our celebration. After a hearty lunch at Aristocrat and a short visit to the toy store, where the little man got a complete set of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures, plus another new Cars diecast, as his birthday gifts, we then trooped to the cinema to finally see the film.

The characters in this movie are rather familiar as it was made by the same guys who created our favorite Cars film and this was a spin-off of our beloved Lightning McQueen adventures.

Planes in a nutshell

The film is all about Dusty Crophopper and his dream to be a high-flying air racer someday. The problem is as his name suggests, Dusty is not built for high-flying and racing as he is a simple crop duster plane. Even his mechanic friend, Dottie, advise him against it. But this will not dishearten Dusty, together with his friend, Chug, they practiced hard through the night so he can join the qualifiers for the upcoming race, Wings Across the World. Come race time, he wowed the audience and the contestants alike with his well-maneuvered moves and his bold flying. Unfortunately he came in 6th in the race where the first 5 qualified. But a sudden turn of events led a representative of the qualifier  to Dusty’s town  bearing the good news that he is now in 5th place as the original 5th placer was disqualified due to illegal activities.  Dusty then set out to train with navy war plane, Skipper, and worked on his speed and agility in preparation for the contest.

During the race, Dusty made friends with the eccentric Mexican race-plane El Chupacabra and fell in love with another race plane, Ishani. He also bumped into fellow racers, Ripslinger, who is the crowd favorite, as well as the beautiful French-Canadian racer, Rochelle.

The race brought Dusty and his fellow racers to different parts of the world, from New York to Iceland, to Germany, to Agra in India where they visited the Taj Mahal, to Nepal, to Shanghai, from Pacific Ocean to Mexico, and finally, back to New York for the finish. At the beginning of the race, Dusty started slow and always ended up last. Although, he slowly gained popularity among the racers and the spectators with his commendable show of sportsmanship and concern to his fellow racers. Towards the middle of the race, Dusty slowly gained speed and started placing in the race. And even when Ripslingers’ sidekicks, Ned and Zed tried to thwart him too often, he managed to land top spot in the race.

Dane Cook gives his voice to Dustry Crophopper while other popular celebrities also lend their talent to give life to the other characters, including Teri Hatcher {Dottie}, Cedric the Entertainer {Leadbottom}, Val Kilmer {Bravo} and Anthony Edwards {Echo}.

 Why We Love The Film

Everybody loves the underdog so I bet everyone will love Dusty Crophopper and his adventures, the little man + I did! His story is one that inspires anyone to persevere and to work hard to be successful in the end. Also, apart from showing an all-too-familiar landscape and with the tractors making a cameo, Planes is very much like the movie Cars and Cars2, you’d expect Lightning McQueen and his friends showing up at any given time. The friendly yet fierce mechanic Dottie also reminds us of the lovable Guido.  The little man also enjoyed the lovely songs played throughout the film.

Go watch it with your little ones, if you haven’t already!