Planes: Fire & Rescue

The first "Planes" was a pleasant surprise. It may have had practically the same "race-against-all-odds" story as "Cars", "Turbo" and many other animated films. But "Planes" still managed to be distinct and charming on its own, for both kids and adults.

We get a lot of this homespun country charm again in this second installment called "Planes: Fire and Rescue." Our hero cropduster Dusty is having problems with his gear box and cannot push his engine to racing anymore. A fire at his hangar revealed the inadequacy of the fire-fighting capabilities of his area, so Dusty decided to try and have himself accredited as a Fire-Fighter.

For adults, this may be an average affair for the most part. Even my tween kids did not too interested about watching it. Personally, my favorite part was when it was revealed that Dusty's stern mentor Blade Ranger (authoritatively voiced by Ed Harris) was once an actor in a TV cop-show called "CHoPs", which had the very familiar theme song of 70's motorcycle cop show "CHiPs"! The nostalgia brought a smile to my face.

The story is pretty slim, standard and predictable, so this episode spent a lot of time showing grand forest vistas, amazingly realistic and scary fire scenes and more amazing aerial feats by Dusty and the other fire-fighting aircraft. Despite the fact that this is a film for kids, I give it props for tackling a form of heroism not usually shown on the big screen -- fire and rescue teams.