Planes

This was originally intended as a direct-to-DVD thing from DisneyToon Studios, the B-picture division of Disney. Then they decided to give it a theatrical release, and that was a damn good idea, as it made well over $100,000,000, and that will be in addition to the DVD. It’s set in the Cars universe, where there are no people but machines inexplicably keep on doing what they do in our world. That makes sense, I guess, for a crop duster like our hero, or a dedicated racing plane, but I can’t help wondering what a jumbo jet in this world thinks its doing. It’s a passenger plane, right? Oh, well, there’s no point wondering, really, so just relax and enjoy. This is definitely second-tier Disney-Pixar, with a thin and predictable story, but the animation is bright and imaginative, just like in Cars. They’ve already got a sequel in the works.