Disney’s Planes

Dusty Crophopper (voiced by Dane Cook) is a bored cropdusting plane in Propwash Junction, with big dreaming above the fields, he’s watching top 10 crash videos in the garage with his best friend Chug (voiced by Brad Garrett), a gas tanker.

 Against his friend Dottie’s (voiced by Teri Hatcher) advice, Dusty enters the Wings Around the World tournament. After coming in sixth place — needing to finish fifth to qualify — Dusty is allowed to enter after the fifth place plane is disqualified for using illegal fuel intake. Now, Dusty must face his fear of heights (har, har) and enlist the help of Navy fighter jet Skipper (voiced by Stacy Keach) and prove himself to the other racers — French-Canadian Rochelle (voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus), Indian Ishani (voiced by Priyanka Chopra), British Bulldog (John Cleese), Mexican Chupacabra (voiced by Carlos Alazraqui), and fellow American Ripslinger (voiced by Roger Craig Smith) — and win the big race to make a name for the little people… err, planes.rrett), a gas tanker.

-Dusty-

For somthing clearly animed at the youngest crowd possible, I was pretty surprised that the film carries a PG rating. That was until a flashback sequence involving Skipper’s days as a Jolly Wrencher when he leads his fellow jets into battle and they start getting blown up. I can’t help but imagine what’s going through a youngsters mind as they see all these characters essentially getting killed off in a great big scary action scene. It’s like someone wanted to remake Saving Private Ryan for toddlers. While it may look spectacular to the adults — the animation is admittedly top-notch — it’s just too much for the wee ones to take in my opinion. At least in this day and age; maybe had the film been able to see release back in the ’80s it would blow over easier, but kids these days are just too weak for that kind of bombastic action.

The whole film seems to drift on autopilot from beginning to end and offers absolutely no reason to see it in the theaters.Padding rears its head in the most clichéd fashion too with at least two unnecessary montages. At one point, Skipper tells Dusty, “It’s not how fast you fly, it’s how you fly fast,” but apparently director Klay Hall and writer Jeffrey M. Howard weren’t listening to their own advice. When Chupacabra makes his big entrance to the sound of crickets, that’s pretty much how the film plays out for its entire 92 minutes. But still to younger viewers Planes passes the standards.

Grown Ups 2

Back in 2010 the original Grown Ups was one of the worst movies of the year. And as it made a few bucks, a sequel was always going to be on the cards. The biggest downfall of the original was not a lack of a good cast, but a lack of story. Safe to say, the sequel manages to out-do the original ten fold.. The cast are all back including Adam Sandler, David Spade, Chris Rock, Kevin James and Salma Hayek.

Now, normally at this point of a review we try and outline some kind of plot synopsis, but I’m afraid when it comes to Grown Ups 2 that we’ll have to skip that. Not because I can, but because there really is no back story.

The only thing I can say is that this time around, the grown-ups are the ones learning lessons from their kids on a day notoriously full of surprises: the last day of school.

4.8/10

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Smurfs 2

The Smurfs are back with this follow-up to the blockbuster smash hit from 2011. J. David Stem and David Weiss provide the script, from a story they wrote with Jay Scherick and David Ronn.

Like its predecessor, Smurfs 2 may amuse small children, but it’s largely an unambitious, charm-free collection of slapstick gags and one-liners.

The Smurfs team up with their human friends to rescue Smurfette, who has been kidnapped by Gargamel since she knows a secret spell that can turn the evil sorcerer’s newest creation – creatures called the Naughties – into real Smurfs.

4.5/10

World War Z

The story revolves around United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Pitt), who traverses the world in a race against time to stop a pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity itself.

The film is impressive in its big set pieces. The initial panic on the streets of Philadelphia is thrilling, as is the fall of Jerusalem to the un-dead horde and an airborne sequence that might easily have been called Zombies On A Plane.

But the film is horrifyingly feeble when it comes to characterization. All we know about Pitt’s Gerry is that he loves his family, but no one has given this hero any exceptional qualities. The same goes for the other characters: as uninteresting a lot as I’ve seen in a disaster movie.

We never know why the powers-that-be at the United Nations think so highly of Gerry. He’s resourceful, but doesn’t seem particularly brave, bright or knowledgeable. It is a central weakness that, without any particular expertise, he solves the mystery of how to fight the zombies before anyone else.

World War Z isn’t terrible. Parts are impressive and exciting. But the incredibly long distance it falls short of its source material means it is a woefully wasted opportunity. It has been estimated that the movie will have to gross £350 million merely to break even. Yet its lack of ingenuity and personality — all avoidable at the script stage — means it has virtually no chance of making that back.

Last year’s most under-performing blockbuster, John Carter, is said to have lost Disney more than £125 million and resulted in regime change in the studio. If I were a senior Paramount executive, I would be afraid. Very, very afraid.

6.25/10

Despicable Me 2

Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment’s worldwide blockbuster Despicable Me entertained audiences around the globe in 2010, grossing more than $540 million and becoming the 10th-biggest animated motion picture in U.S. history. In summer 2013, get ready for more Minion madness in Despicable Me 2.

 

Resilient in its daftness, reliable in its silliness, Despicable Me is on the threshold of franchise-status with this likable sequel. Steve Carell again voices Gru, the once-evil genius who has gone over to the side of light. He is recruited by the Anti-Villain League, led by a corpulent Englishman called Ramsbottom, voiced by Steve Coogan, but facially resembling a very pudgy James Fox.

Gru must go undercover to track down a bad guy who has stolen an entire research laboratory using an airborne magnet in order to get his hands on a serum that transforms nice creatures like bunnies into hideous killers. Gru is given an assistant, Lucy, voiced by Kristen Wiig, who is smitten with Gru. Could romance be on the cards – along with this sensational return to the battle between good and evil, which Gru has now joined on the correct side? Nothing here to challenge anything from the Pixar golden age, but Despicable Me 2 is a sweet-natured family film.

8/10