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After seeing Planes: Fire & Rescue during the press day at Walt Disney Toon Studios a few weeks ago, I was excited to see it a second time and enjoy the little details, I might have missed. I also brought along my two grand daughters and a niece to get some Disney kids’ perspective of the movie. Although I knew the plot and ending, the movie still had me once again gripping the edge of the armrests as Dusty and his fellow fire fighting friends fly around trying to put out the fires. I was able to sit back and appreciate some of the amazing scenes in detail, this time around and was again so impressed with how well Disney is able to take a story line and turn it into magic. The facial expressions and the emotions portrayed on the planes, cars and other vehicles is something that you need to see several times to appreciate fully.
Sitting in the dark, watching Planes:Fire & Rescue again took me through a roller coaster ride of emotions. The theme of second chances, not only tugs at your heart strings but allows you to dream and hope that your second chance will be bigger and better. As for the huge tribute to our firefighting men and women, Planes: Fire & Rescue honors them as only Disney can, with humor, accuracy and pride for all their hard work and dedication to their careers and our safety.
Planes: Fire & Rescue is the story of Dusty Crophopper’s second chance career. Dusty has become a world famous racer, but after pushing himself once too often, develops engine problems. Dusty is grounded and told he may never race again. Dusty (Dane Cook), and his friends, Skipper Riley (Stacey Keach), Sparky the forklift (Danny Mann) along with fellow forklift, Dottie (Teri Hatcher) try to come up with a plan to fix his engine but because of his age, the parts are not available. On top of his engine trouble, there are other troubles brewing in PropWash Junction especially for old fire engine, Mayday (Hal Holbrook). Dusty decides to help MayDay and sets out to Piston Peak National Park to train with Blade Ranger (Ed Harris) the Fire and Rescue Helicopter and his crew and become a fire fighting SEAT (single engine air tanker. Blade’s team includes Super Scooper -Lil’ Dipper (Julie Bowen), Windlifter (Wes Studi) who is a heavy-lift helicopter, Cabbie (Dale Dye) who is an ex-military transport plane and mechanic, Maru (Curtis Armstrong) who are the air attack team. The smokejumpers – which are the all-terrain vehicles include Dynamite (Regina King), Pinecone (Corri English), Avalanche (Bryan Callen), Blackout (Danny Pardo) and Drip (Matt Jones) and provide lots of comic relief even in the middle of fighting fires and jumping out of planes. Also included in the movie are real life married couple (Jerry Stiller & Anne Meara) Harvie and Winnie as husband and wife RVs, Ol’ Jammer the tour bus (Barry Corbin), Helicopter Police Officer – Nick Loop n Lopez (Erik Estrada), Biplane “Leadbottom” (Cedric the Entertainer), and the beautiful luxury SUV “Cad Spinner (John Michael Higgins) along with Pulaski (Patrick Warburton) who is a structural firefighting truck and Ryker (Kevin Michael Richardson) a transportation management safety truck, Secretary of the Interior Jeep (Fred Willard) and a special appearance by Brad Paisley as Bubba the pick up truck round out the cast.
Dusty starts his training with Blade and the crew, but had a hard time passing his tests, due to his know it all attitude. One night at a party, Dusty learns about Blade and his crew of second chances. But just as Dusty is starting to take things more serious, a lightening storm sets off fires in the park and it is up to Dusty, Blade and the crew to fight them together. During a fill up, Blade comes to Dusty’s rescue and ends up “injured” resulting in Dusty and Blade spending the night in a cave to escape the fires. There Blade realizes that Dusty is more than just a cocky kid and Dusty in turn learns of the sacrifices firefighters make. Meanwhile the fires continue raging out of control and there is water shortage thanks to the movie’s villain, Fusel Lodge’s manager, Cad Spinner who has redirected the water supply to the Lodge. This results in the need to evacuate the park and has Dusty going the extra mile to save his friends. However, his engine trouble causes him to crash land. Of course as with all Disney movies, there is a happy ending and everything works out in the end.
My name is Loretta Garcia and I am a Contributing Writer for Socalthrills.com and a Travel Agent with Destinations in Florida. Follow me on Facebook for travel news, discounts and updates for your next Amazing Magical Adventures to your favorite destinations.
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