Planes: Fire & Rescue

Planes: Fire & Rescue ~ I saw this one as part of a double feature at one of the state's only surviving drive-ins, the Delsea Drive-In in Vineland NJ. It was paired up with Guardians of the Galaxy, which was the second time in two days The Bride and I had seen that. If I'm being honest, I think the drive-in experience itself was far more interesting than the Planes flick.

Let's be honest, Planes: Fire & Rescue is a sequel to a sequel/spin-off that was meant only for DVD release but got pushed into theaters because of the success of its forefather, Cars and its official sequel Cars 2. We're seriously treading on King Kong Lives territory here. This can only be so good, and from what I saw, it's serviceable.

To be fair, I have to say we came in late as the folks at Delsea had to search our car to make sure we didn't bring in any outside food contraband, so we missed the first five to ten minutes of the movie. It's the same old story, old plane teaches a new plane new tricks, and learns a lesson himself as well. Dane Cook, Ed Harris, Julie Bowen, Wes Studi, and Patrick Warburton are fun as the voice cast.

I enjoyed the original trailer for this flick as it didn't betray right away that it was either animated or part of the Cars world right away. I kinda wish the movie had taken some of that tact. I liked the use of AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" here, a nice touch. I did doze off a couple times, and while I could blame that on being tired, it should be noted that I did not blink during Guardians of the Galaxy.

I also have to admit that the viewing of any movie happening in the Cars universe bothers me somewhat as I wonder what happened to the people. I highly suspect that this world exists in the aftermath of Stephen King's "Trucks" short story, and is sorta hinted at in Jon Negroni's Pixar Theory. I also can't help but wonder if Thomas the Tank Engine is also part of this world... brrrrr...

Underdog

Underdog ~ When I first heard about this flick, a live-action version of General Mills' animated "Underdog" with Jason Lee in the title role... I have to admit I was more than little turned off. Recently however I was checking out the movies of Peter Dinkage from HBO's fabulous "Game of Thrones" and I saw that he was in it. Then after seeing a pic of him in the role of Underdog arch-villain Simon Barsinister, along with "Seinfeld" supporting cast member Patrick Warburton as his henchman Cad - I was sold. I had to see it, if for nothing else, the inspired casting.

The opening credit sequence showed clips from the cartoons, I had a little more hope but still wasn't sure. We had to sit through the mandatory origin story, which was interesting as we had never seen it before. I was a little disappointed the hero was linked to the villain as happens so often in movie versions of superhero origins. Although as the movie went on, even with Jason Lee's annoying voice and voiceovers, there were more and more things that made me smile. It's not perfect, but they tried real hard.

I would recommend this version of Underdog for the kids on one condition. When it's over, sit your kids down with the real "Underdog" cartoons, so they know what's what.