Planes 2: Fire & Rescue is a 2014 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Disneytoon Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Bobs Gannaway, written by Gannaway and Jeffrey M. Howard, and produced by Ferrell Barron, it is a sequel to Planes (2013), itself a spin-off of Pixar's Cars franchise. Dane Cook, Stacy Keach, Brad Garrett, Teri Hatcher, Danny Mann, and Cedric the Entertainer reprised their roles with new additions to the cast including Hal Holbrook, Julie Bowen, Ed Harris, Regina King, Wes Studi, Patrick Warburton, and Dale Dye. In the film, Dusty Crophopper (Cook) is assigned to become a wildland firefighting plane in Piston Peak National Park after he learns that his engine's gearbox is damaged.
Production began for six months after the start of the previous film. Gannaway intended to give each film its own different genre, Planes: Fire & Rescue being an "action-disaster film". The filmmakers researched the world of air-attack teams and smokejumpers by working with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CALFire), and sent a crew to the US Forest Service's annual training exercises for smokejumpers. Mark Mancina composed the musical score again, while Prana Studios returned to provided work on visual effects, animation and compositing.
Planes: Fire & Rescue premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on July 15, 2014, and was theatrically released on July 18, 2014, in Disney Digital 3D, RealD 3D and D-BOX formats. The film received mixed reviews from critics, with many calling it an improvement over its predecessor, and grossed $147 million worldwide on a $50 million budget.
Plot
Since winning the Wings Around the Globe Rally, Dusty Crophopper has a successful career as an air racer, but his engine's gearbox becomes damaged due to him constantly overstressing his engine. His gearbox model has been out of production for years, forcing Dusty's mechanic Dottie to fit a warning light to prevent further damage. Disappointed, Dusty goes on a defiant flight, but in doing so, clips a transmission tower and is forced to make an unstable landing back at Propwash Junction's airport, colliding with a pole and inadvertently causing a fire.
Mayday, the town's only fire truck, fails to extinguish the fire due to poorly maintained equipment, forcing the residents to topple the nearby water tower out of desperation. The accident leads to government inspectors shutting down the airport for inadequate firefighting protocols until Mayday is refurbished, and another firefighter is added. Dusty, feeling remorseful, offers to become a firefighter to get the airport reopened, so he travels to Piston Peak National Park, where he meets a forest fire and smokejumper crew under the command of a helicopter named Blade Ranger, and is converted into an air tanker by Maru, the team's mechanic. Blade is initially unimpressed by the small newcomer, as Dusty's training proves to be difficult due to his damaged gearbox, which he initially does not reveal. Dusty learns that Blade was a former actor who played a police helicopter on the TV series CHoPs but left for unknown reasons. The next day, Dusty is devastated by a call from his friends back at Propwash Junction, revealing that all attempts at finding a replacement gearbox have failed, effectively ending his racing career.
Lightning from thunderstorms over a forest near Piston Peak starts several spot fires which unite into a larger, serious fire. The team seems to have extinguished it; but a day later, during the grand reopening of the park's lodge, visiting VIPs flew too low and restarted the fire, turning it into a much larger one and forcing the entire park to evacuate. Meanwhile, a forlorn Dusty struggles to contain the fire, much to Blade’s frustration, and things escalate when Dusty tries to refill his water tank in a dangerous river, only to be swept through the rapids with Blade racing to pull him out. They eventually reach land, where Dusty admits his gearbox is damaged, and Blade urges him not to give up. Taking shelter in an abandoned mine as the fire passes, Blade suffers severe damage while shielding Dusty from the intense heat, leading to his evacuation by airlift. While Blade recovers at the base, Dusty learns from Maru that Blade’s co-star and best friend, Nick “Loopin’” Lopez from CHoPs, died in a stunt gone wrong that Blade couldn’t prevent, inspiring him to become a firefighter to save lives for real.
Cad Spinner, the park superintendent, diverts the park's entire water supply to the roof sprinklers to prevent the lodge from burning. This would cost his job as the crew were unable to produce fire retardant and as a result, is forced to use their remaining supply to help guests evacuate after the fire initially blocked the park's only exit. Dusty is then alerted that two elderly campers, Harvey and Winnie, who Dusty and his crew had met earlier, are trapped on a burning bridge at the other side of the park. He races to the bridge and is forced to push his engine to maximum power while scaling up a waterfall to refill his tank. Blade shows up to assist Dusty, who successfully extinguishes the bridge, allowing the campers to escape; only for Dusty's overstressed engine to catastrophically fail immediately after, causing him to crash into the forest.
Dusty is airlifted back to base and recovers five days later. Learning that in addition to fully repairing him, Maru successfully refurbished Dusty's gearbox, allowing him to race again. When the new superintendent, Jammer arrives, Blade, impressed at Dusty's skills and heroism, certifies him as a firefighter. Propwash Junction airport is reopened with Mayday being fully refurbished and Dusty assuming duty as a firefighter. The town celebrates with an aerial show with his new colleagues from Piston Peak.
In the mid-credits scene, Cad is seen working as a Death Valley National Park ranger.
Voice cast
Dane Cook as Dusty Crophopper, a crop duster plane in the town of Propwash Junction who used to be a successful racer ever since winning the Wings Around the Globe Rally, but after learning that his engine's gearbox is damaged, he can no longer race and ultimately becomes a firefighter. He was inspired by the Air Tractor AT-502, Cessna 188, and the PZL-Mielec M-18 Dromader. Ed Harris as Blade Ranger, a veteran fire-and-rescue helicopter. He used to play a police helicopter in CHoPs with his co-star Nick "Loop'n" Lopez but became a firefighter when Nick died during a stunt gone wrong on set. He is inspired by the AgustaWestland AW109, AgustaWestland AW139 and Bell 429 GlobalRanger. Julie Bowen as Lil' Dipper, a Super Scooper who has a massive crush on Dusty. She is based on the Grumman G-21 Goose and CL-415 SuperScooper Curtis Armstrong as Maru, a forklift mechanic at the Piston Peak Air Attack base John Michael Higgins as Cad Spinner, a self-absorbed luxury sport utility vehicle whose sole concern was the grand reopening and protection of the park's luxurious lodge Hal Holbrook as Mayday, an old fire and rescue truck from Propwash Junction Wes Studi as Windlifter, a Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane heavy-lift helicopter who is Blade's second-in-command Brad Garrett as Chug, a fuel truck at Propwash Junction and Dusty's friend Teri Hatcher as Dottie, a forklift who is also Propwash Junction's mechanic Stacy Keach as Skipper Riley, a Chance-Vought F4U Corsair and Dusty's mentor Cedric the Entertainer as Leadbottom, a biplane at Propwash Junction Danny Mann as Sparky, a forklift who takes care of Skipper Barry Corbin as Ol' Jammer, a tour bus based on the White Model 706 Regina King as Dynamite, the leader of The Smokejumpers, a team of ground vehicles who parachute into fire sites Jerry Stiller as Harvey, an RV and Winnie's husband Anne Meara as Winnie, an RV and Harvey's wife. This would be Meara's final role before her death in 2015. Fred Willard as Secretary of the Interior, a green four-wheel-drive with a roof rack Dale Dye as Cabbie, a Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar retired from military service Matt L. Jones as Drip, a smokejumper equipped with a skid-steer claw to clear fallen trees and brush Bryan Callen as Avalanche, a smokejumper equipped with a bulldozer Corri English as Pinecone, a smokejumper equipped with a rake tool to clear brush and debris Danny Pardo as Blackout, a smokejumper equipped with a circular saw Erik Estrada as Nick "Loopin" Lopez, a helicopter police officer who was the co-star of CHoPs who was killed before Blade became a firefighter Kevin Michael Richardson as Ryker, a transportation management safety truck with a roof-mounted watercannon for firefighting Patrick Warburton as Pulaski, a yellow structural firefighting fire truck with a roof-mounted watercannon for firefighting. Pulaski's namesake, Ed Pulaski, was known for his heroism in saving most of his crew during the Great Fire of 1910 by sheltering in an abandoned mine. He also invented the firefighting axes/adze used by wildfire firefighters that bears his name. Brad Paisley as Bubba, a pickup truck Kari Wahlgren as Patch René Auberjonois as André Steve Schirripa as Steve Brent Musburger as Brent Mustangburger, a Ford Mustang John Ratzenberger as Brodi
Production According to director/co-writer Roberts "Bobs" Gannaway, "The first film [directed by Klay Hall] was a race film. I wanted to look at a different genre, in this case, an action-disaster film." Production on Planes: Fire & Rescue began six months after the start of the previous film. "We've been working on this film for nearly four years." The filmmakers researched the world of air-attack teams and smokejumpers by working with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and sent a crew to the US Forest Services' annual training exercises for smokejumpers. Gannaway explained, "We actually hooked cameras onto their helmets and had them drop out of the airplane so we could catch it on film." Nearly a year of research was done before the filmmakers started work on the story. The idea of Dusty becoming a fire and rescue plane was based on reality. Gannaway stated that during their research they discovered that in 1955 cropdusters were among the first planes to be used in aerial fire-fighting, "There was a group of cropdusters who reworked their planes so they could drop water." Gannaway also noted that in the first film "Dusty is doing things to his engine that should not be done to it—he is stressing the engine out and causing severe damage. It's great that the first movie teed this up without intending to. We just built on it, and the results were remarkable." Producer Ferrell Barron stated "I think we've all experienced some kind of loss at some point in our lives—an end of an era, a lost love, a failed career. We've all had to recalibrate. In Planes: Fire & Rescue, Dusty can't go back to being a crop duster, he left that behind. He has to move forward." Prana Studios provided work on visual effects, animation and compositing.
A pre-release screening of the film was conducted at the 2014 National Native Media Conference, where screenwriter Jeffrey M. Howard and art director Toby Wilson joined actor Wes Studi in Q & A to discuss the Native American themes in the film. They noted that the character of Windlifter, and the folkloric story he tells of how Coyote was renewed by fire, was developed in consultation with Dr. Paul Apodaca, an expert on Native American myths and folklore.
Release Planes: Fire & Rescue was released on July 18, 2014. The second official trailer for the film was released on April 8, 2014. The film's premiere was held at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on July 15, 2014.
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