My first reaction after seeing the early trailer for Planes was ’What took them so long?’
Surely after Cars and Cars 2 you’ve got to expect Planes, Planes 2 and next stop…Trains?

The other thing I noticed about the trailer was that the expectations were quite high. On the screen words fly out at you from the sky “For the first time ever…the World of Cars takes flight” Actually the title Planes was a sort of give-away that it was a follow up to Cars and the storyline is pretty much the same, not that the target audience will complain. But that’s where the similarity ends.

Cars was a Disney Pixar production, creators of acclaimed animation features and shorts and known for their clever scriptwriting for the last 25 years. Although Planes comes from the Disney stable it was actually produced by Disney Toon Studios normally associated with animated DVD productions. In fact Planes was due to have a straight-to-DVD release but it was decided to be made as a cinema feature. A brave move with Summer blockbusters ‘Monster University’ and ‘Despicable Me 2’ out at the same.

Planes follows the exploits of Dusty (Dane Cook) a single propeller cropdusting plane who dreams of competing in the famous ‘Wings of the Globe’ around the world race. The only thing holding him back is that he is not built as a racing plane and he is also scared of heights! Dusty is determined to follow his dream and with the help of his friends Chugg (Brad Garrett - Robert from Everybody Loves Raymond) a fuel truck and Dottie (Teri Hatcher – Desperate Housewives) the forklift, he manages to get through the qualifying round, more by default than speed. However, to help him through his fear of high places they enlist the help of Old Skipper (voiced with some gravitas by seasoned actor Stacy Keach) a WW2 American Naval fighter plane. Joining Dusty in the race is an assortment of planes from various countries including a stereo type ‘What-Ho’ British plane, Bulldog (voiced by our very own John Cleese), Rochelle a French-Canadian plane (voiced by Seinfeld’s Julia Louis-Drefus), Ishani an Indian plane and Dusty’s love interest (voiced by Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra) and for straight comedy effect there is El Chupacabra (Carlos Alazraqui) a dumpy Mexican wrestler plane. A role that would have suited the late Dom Deluise AKA Captain Chaos from Cannonball Run 2.

We mustn’t forget the bad guy Ripslinger (Roger Craig Smith) the ‘go-fast’ slick American flyer and his evil side kick planes Ned and Zed. This is all good formula stuff and we are treated to some colourful geographical tours of China, Africa and India complete with fields of sacred cows in the shape of tractors.

There are some humorous moments and some good visual gags but I personally don’t think it lives up to the Pixar standard that we all expect, where adults and kids can sit through the whole feature without fidgeting. The 3D was also a little disappointing considering the subject matter you expect to have to duck as amazing shots of planes zoom out of the screen. For film buffs there’s a cartoon cameo from Val Kilmer as Bravo a naval jet plane reprising his Top Gun character Iceman.

For other plot lines check out the musical Starlight Express, about an underdog steam train called Rusty who dreams of competing in ‘The fastest train in the world race’.

It’s difficult to criticise a kid’s film but I guess we’ve all been a little bit spoilt by some great Pixar classics such as the Toy Story series, Up, Brave, Finding Nemo and WALL-E. Having said all that I can tell you that there is already a sequel in the pipeline ‘Plans: Fire & Rescue’ out in 2014.

Don’t worry, Planes will keep the kids entertained for 92 minutes.

In UK cinemas from August 16. Certificate U.