Planes: Fire and Rescue product reviews

We had been to see Planes previously and Mr Four has been telling me about the new movie (Planes: Fire And Rescue) that he would like to see. Every time we go to the mall, he sees the movie theatre and the advertising and wants to go.

Finally he got the chance to go this morning. We were lucky enough to get a double pass from KIWIreviews. The joy on a little boy's face when he finds out he is going to see a movie that his friends have been talking about was priceless.

I had read some reviews prior to going about the fact that there were some sad/emotional and I prepared both Mr Four and Miss Two and told them to pop into my knee if they felt sad. During the movie, I kept checking on both kids and most of the time they were both as happy as Larry. In fact, during one of the scenes, when 'Thunderstruck' was playing, Miss Two was bopping up and down to the music. Toward the end of the movie, Miss Two did hop onto my knee and burried her face in my jacket. The fire scenes were a bit too much for her. I still think that it was ok as long as she had me close-by to be able to cuddle up to when she needed. Mr Four was very much engrossed during the entire movie and loved it. My husband and I both enjoyed the movie as well. I used to think that animated movies were for kids, that was until we had out own children. Now I am of the opinion that there is plenty of entertainment in there for adults too. Planes: Fire and rescue has humour to keep the adults happy as well.

The topic of firefighters and the job they do is a serious topic and I think that the movie, although aimed at children, did a lovely job of honouring the job that firefighters to for the communities to which they serve.

Like the original movie, Planes, Dusty is the main character in this movie. These are some lovely messages about how you can make a difference if you work hard and keep challenging yourself. I think it is great if there are some wholesome messages in a movie even if the main purpose is for pure entertainment.

The movie was 84 minutes long and this made it quite manageable for my family to sit through. Miss Two was a bit unsettled toward the end, but it was within the realm of acceptable (considering that she is only two and also not overly used to watching a screen for a prolonged period of time.)

When we got home from the movie, Mr Four ran to his Lego table and spent quite some time designing and creating his version of Dusty. He was very excited to have created it and I am sure he role play parts of the movie in the days and weeks to come.

Overall, it was great entertainment for our family. I know that it is one that we will get out on DVD when it is released.

I had seen the trailer for this film, so I had a general idea of what to expect from this film. Yet I was still surprised at how dark the movie was. I suppose you have to be realistic about the risks of firefighting, but still there was a lot of emphasis on the deaths or "crashes" as they were referred to. Even though there was a significantly darker element, in a cinema that was at least 5-10% young children under the age of 7, I never heard a single child cry or complain. There was no shifting or toilet breaks that I was aware of. Everyone remained glued to their seats throughout the film.

The bad guy in this film becomes apparent very quickly, and is a very irritating character to have to put up with, but his role is easily understood by all, he creates a lot more suspense, and in the long run, children prefer a movie that has a bad guy that they can place blame with.

There is a wide variety of vehicles in this film, that have important roles, so there is a lot of importance placed on teamwork, following directions, and how there are people that risk their lives for the good of the community. The large crew of vehicles almost had a 'Thunderbirds' feel to it, which I enjoyed.

Being a comedy, there were many little puns and wordplay that managed to illicit some laughs out of the crowd; I particularly enjoyed the herds of Deere moving through the wildlife park (No that is not a spelling error). And being a children's movie, I knew how it would end - clues were placed throughout the film - but it was still unknown how it would get to that point.

My only real gripe with this film, was that it felt incomplete. You never got to see them completely extinguish a fire. They would start, but we wouldn't see the job finished, so I felt that it did not fully portray the difficulty of fire-fighting wildfires (Imagine a baking show that skips steps; we mix the dry ingredients, add an egg, and here's a complete cake that I prepared earlier).

But I enjoyed it, it had a fair share of side stories to keep the plot moving along, and the humour was in abundance. Definitely worth a watch.

I make it a point not to watch too many trailers as then I find that you have expectations of what will happen and that the movie rarely lives up to this expectation. I knew it was a child's movie so was expecting a good laugh and a lot of cartoons and effects but I never expected such a dark movie, yes fire fighting is dangerous just didn't expect the movie to portray it quite like that.

I really liked the dedication at the beginning of the movie, I feel that fire fighters don't always get the recognition that they deserve.

I was watching the movie thinking of buying it when it is out on DVD for my kids and there were some parts I thought a definite yes and some where I was a bit worried about how they would react. There were a lot of kids in the movie and I never heard any crying or unsettled kids so I guess it would depend on the child. I know mine would love it so I'm going to be putting it on the Christmas list.

I enjoyed the music, it was well placed and appropriate for the movie. The 3D effects were good, it felt like I was right there only thing missing was the intense heat of the fire. I also liked how Dusty trained after he realised he might not be able to race anymore, it showed that you are never too old to learn.

The bad guy was easy to see right from the start and yes he acted selfish and exactly like you expect bad guys to act. It was rather funny watching how Dusty got a female admirer, she was always saying that they were on a date and he would open his eyes and she was right there.

I know I'm going to be seeing this movie again as the kids will want to watch it, over and over again as I can guarantee a DVD sale to this family.

I had seen the trailer while we were watching a different movie and my 4 year old son really wanted to go, he loves cars and the first planes movie and it was all he talked about for a while. When I had the chance to take him to see this movie I didn't tell him but for some reason he just knew he was going to see planes the second one is what he calls it.

To be honest while watching it I felt a bit sad though some of it when dusty learns he can no longer race going really fast pass his red line, I thought that was sad. I could see my son watching with wide eyes and could almost see he was a little sad to, but I liked that he never gave up and ended up doing something else, fighting fires. I believe that is a great lesson for children if you can't do something, don't give up on yourself find something else you are good at. The move seemed very real in places with so much going on, so much flames going on and not shying away from the fact you crash you die pretty much.

I heard no crying or screaming form children as the movie was pretty much packed with young children including my own son, there was laughing at certain parts and I found a lot of humor jokes for adults would sneak in there, that you heard adults laughing about then children would chime in, cause as we know we laugh they laugh too. You learnt who the bad guy was and who were the good guys and that was clearly seen. I loved they taught teamwork with putting the fire out and sticking together, no plane left behind. There were a few areas I didn't think they would make it, but lets face it its a childrens movie aimed at little ones and the good guys always does their best.

Talking with my son afterwards he was so hyped up with all the excitement telling me that fire is hot and it burns and you have to put it out fast but the fire engine man has to do it cause it is their job. he also was telling his dad all about it and how he liked all the fast planes and loves dusty he told his dad that dusty helps with fire and he can help him when he gets bigger.

This movie will be brought on DVD for him as he loves it so much, he never moved from his seat the whole time which is unlike him, he normally moves around a fair bit. I'm not really sure on what age this is actually aimed at but could easily scare some children, but if you know your child and how they react to certain things, go for it, well worth a watch, even if your sitting their on your own watching it