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"I've flown thousands and thousands of miles, and have never gone anywhere."
Dusty Crophopper

Planes is a Spin-Off film based on the Disney/Pixar franchise Cars, produced by Disneytoon Studios, the studio behind the Tinker Bell film series. The film is directed by Klay Hall and is under the creative leadership of John Lasseter, who also directed Cars and Cars 2.

Dusty Crophopper is a young single-prop agriculture plane that lives in the small town of Propwash Junction. Dusty dreams of competing alongside his high-flying heroes in the "Wings Around the Globe" Rally, but suffers from a crippling fear of heights. His mentor Skipper is convinced that Dusty has the engine to compete with the best, and helps encourage him to pursue his lifelong dreams. But if Dusty wants to make his dreams a reality, he'll need to face his fears and push himself further than he ever imagined.

Planes, originally planned for a Direct-to-DVD release in Spring 2013, was released theatrically instead on August 9, 2013. A sequel, called Planes: Fire & Rescue, was released July 18, 2014.

No relation to Plane.


Tropes:

  • Achilles' Heel: Chug discovers this from Ripslinger while Dusty is being repaired; during the instant replay of Ripslinger winning, he slows down and leans for the cameras whenever he crosses the finish line. Chug reminds Dusty about this, and he uses this to his advantage to finally beat Ripslinger.
  • Acrophobic Bird: Dusty. Skipper, too.
  • All Is Well That Ends Well: Not a single one of Dusty's fellow racers is bothered at all about the fact that they handed him the victory by giving him parts, making all of them finish one position back from where they would have if Dusty wouldn't have flown. Given that he earned earned the respect and friendship of a good many of them during the race, and that he helped dethrone a real Jerkass of a competitor and his lackeys, it's fairly understandable.
  • Armor-Piercing Question: Skipper ask Dusty this question after Dusty's terrible crash and revealing his past as a Jolly Wrencher.
    Skipper: Let me ask you something, Dusty: If you knew the truth about my past, would you have ask me to train you?
    Dusty: (Beat) No.
  • Artistic License – Military: Due to reusing assets, the fleet that Skipper and his squadron attempt to attack is composed entirely out of Yamato-class battleships, with at least six ships in the fleet. Only two Yamato class battleships had ever been build as battleships (with a third one converted to an aircraft carrier and two more cancelled), and at the time of the equivalent operation in real life, only one, Yamato, was in active commission, and even then Yamato was kept in drydocks during the real-life Guadalcanal campaign due to the uncharted seas and concerns over fuel and ammunition shortages.
    • The reuse of assets also implies that Skipper was based on a carrier similar to the Flysenhower, whose class, the Nimitz-class would not be commissioned until 1975.
    • Skipper himself is anachronistic to the campaign, as the first F4U Corsairs were not deployed until mid-Feb 1943, a few days after the Guadalcanal campaign ended, and the first F4U Corsair carrier wing did not operate until late 1943.
    • The Nimitz-class carrier USS Dwight D. Flysenhower is given the designation CVN-81. The actual Nimitz-class designations only go up to 77, with CVN-78 and onwards given to the newer Gerald R. Ford-class carriers, with CVN-81 now given the name USS Doris Miller.
  • Ascended Fanboy: Dusty to the racing circuit and to the Jolly Wrenches in the end, though it's only an "honorary" position.
  • Berserk Button: Chug nearly tears Ned and Zed a new one when they refer to him as a "leaky old fuel truck".
    Chug: Who are you callin' leaky?! I'll leak on you if you don't watch your intake!
  • Big Bad: Ripslinger, the defending champion.
  • Big "NO!":
    • Dusty when Ripslinger overtakes him in the last leg.
    • Ripslinger when he's about to crash following Dusty's win.
  • The Big Race: The Wings Around the Globe Rally.
  • Big "WHAT?!": By Ripslinger when Dusty overtakes him before the finish. Followed by a...
  • Big "YES!": By Dusty when he wins the race.
  • Bland-Name Product: skyPad and FlewTube, got it?
  • Broken Pedestal:
    • Skipper when Dusty learned he exaggerated his accomplishments.
    • Dusty used to idolize Ripslinger, but by the time of the tryouts, he's angered when he begins insulting him, and becomes his main rival for the race.
    • Dusty when discovering that Skipper isn't the war hero as he thought he was after looking at the Hall of Fame and seeing that Skipper only flew one mission.
  • The Cameo:
    • Brent Mustangburger from Cars 2 appears as the announcer for the race.
    • Van (or his character model) can be spotted in the crowd of photographers. Also two of the Tokyo party chef forklifts from Cars 2 can be spotted during a montage.
    • Despite not being a Pixar movie, John Ratzenberger voiced a one-scene cameo, Harland. Harland is a somewhat-ditzy Motor Mouth jet tug that Dusty asked the direction to the pit row, and he told Dusty the long and complicated description of the navigation until Tripp, the boeing plane he accompanied, told Dusty to just go straight ahead and to the right.
  • Change the Uncomfortable Subject: When Dusty brought up the Wall of Fame and saw that Skipper only flew one mission, Skipper tries to avoid answering until he gives in and admits to Dusty that he lied about his war record.
  • Chekhov's Gun: The tailwind.
  • Clueless Aesop: The movie falls into the same trap as The Emoji Movie did 4 years later by having the main character embrace who he truly wants to be in a world of anthropomorphized vehicles, where everyone is created for a very specific purpose.
  • Coming in Hot: Dusty helps Bulldog pull out of his death dive, and then guides him to the runway. It costs him though in that he's dead last for the second leg in a row.
    • At one point, Dusty gets lost over the Pacific ocean and has to land on a moving aircraft carrier. Their procedure on the ship follows the opening description of the trope almost verbatim.
  • Conjoined Twins: There is an in-Universe rumor that Ned and Zed were originally this, but were literally separated at birth. Neither confirmed, nor denied.
  • Cool Plane: The trailer features a pair of jet fighters who appear to be major characters, as well as a stealth bomber. One of Dusty's friends (El Chupacabra) is based off of one of the most famous racing planes of all time, the Gee Bee Sportster.
    • Ripslinger is based mostly off of the Sharp Nemesis NXT, with his underlings at least partially based on the original Nemesis racer.
    • Skipper is one of the great Cool Planes: The Vought F4U Corsair.
    • Bulldog is one of the greatest racers, and mail planes, of the inter war years, the de Havilland DH.88 Comet, most famous for having an all wooden construction, and being a sort of technological demonstrator, mostly the wooden construction, for one of the most successful, versatile (had every imaginable role except day-fighter, too sluggish for that, and heavy bomber, too light) and fastest allied planes of WWII the de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito.
  • Covered in Kisses: El Chupacabra, as seen the day after his serenade to Rochelle, which worked a little too well...
  • Covers Always Lie:
    • The soundtrack cover of the movie features Ripslinger taking most space on it, and Dusty shifted inches away from him, and El Chupacabra far, far away in the front right corner, whereas on the poster, Dusty and El Chupacabra are way at the bottom. Ripslinger is actually not the hero...
    • Averted with the boxart of all home media releases, which features Dusty front and center while Ripslinger is to his left.
  • Creative Closing Credits: The end credits retell scenes from the movie in 2D illustrations.
  • Crush Filter: When El Chupacabra first notices Rochelle, the border becomes pink with hearts.
  • Cultural Translation: Rochelle is a different nationality and paint job (and sometimes has a different name) depending on which country you're in.
  • Darker and Edgier: Cars 1 was a very cheerful movie where the worst that happened to anyone was to get banged up during a race. Cars 2 upped the ante by showing guns, missiles and explosions, and at least one implied - but not directly shown - death. Planes got even darker, with a military confrontation resulting in several planes getting blown out of the sky or shot down in full flaming detail.
  • Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: In the final race, Ripslinger and his lackeys try to knock Dusty out of the race in an area with no cameras, only to be foiled when Skipper flies in. Given that Ripslinger is demonstrably faster than Dusty, he could have won the race fairly if he had simply kept flying.
  • Disqualification-Induced Victory: Dusty competes in a test race deciding which planes will get into the big "Wings Around the Globe" race. He manages to get to the sixth place, just below the winner planes. He comes back home depressed, but a day or so later, a guy arrives to tell him that one of the winner planes was using an illegal fuel, and therefore Dusty got in after all.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?:
    • Dusty gets into the race when one of the planes that timed better than him is found to have used an illegal formula in his fuel.
    • Dusty has his sprayer removed to reduce his drag. While off-screen, we hear him yelp and complain about the cold tools and procedure, hoping it's reversible. He re-appears sprayer-less, complete with (rather Mickey Mouse sounding) Instant Soprano before he clears his throat.
  • Dream Intro: The movie opens with Dusty racing two military jets only to wake up realizing it's just a daydream he had.
  • Drowning My Sorrows: El Chu, while being rejected by Rochelle, drinks oil (which seems to equate to alcohol in their universe) to drown his sorrows. Notable in the German bar with a few empty cans and later in China, his hanger is filled with them! Lampshaded by the bartender: "You sad! You drink!"
  • Dub Name Change: Repeatedly with Rochelle, accompanied by a Palette Swap each time. In the North American and U.K. versions she's Canadian with a Quebec accent and a Maple Leaf paint scheme, but most export releases change her nationality, paint scheme and usually name to suit the home audience. In the Australian and French versions she's still named Rochelle, but her name gets changed to Azzurra in Italian, Carolina in Latin American Spanish, Heidi in German, Sakura in Japanese, Tanya in Russian and Yun Yan Fei in Chinese.
  • Dudley Do-Right Stops to Help: In the second leg, Dusty Crophopper went out of his way to prevent Bulldog from crashing, ending up in Last Place again.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Skipper, Sparky, and all of Propwash Junction appeared in the short Air Mater.
  • Emergency Transformation: Dusty gets one after his near-fatal dive into the ocean. Most of the other racers pitch in by donating parts to allow Dusty to fly in the final leg of the race. Also doubles as an 11th-Hour Superpower, as most of Dusty's donated parts are far superior to what he was previously working with, including the ability to retract his landing gear to decrease drag.
  • Et Tu, Brute?: Dusty felt this way toward Ishani when he realizes she struck a deal with Ripslinger to trick him into falling back.
  • Epic Fail: While Dusty and Chug are watching the news about the "Wings Around the Globe" Ralley, the show takes time to show off clips of the top 10 plane crashes. Number 10 features a series of racing planes taking off from an elevated platform, with a blue plane being last in line failing to take off, instead nosediving straight into the ground. Chug even wonders aloud how that happened.
  • Everything Sounds Sexier in French: Rochelle sometimes speaks Canadian-French.
  • Eye Scream: Towards the end of the second leg, Bulldog gets oil spilt all over his eyes, leaving him blinded. Fortunately, Dusty helps him finish.
  • Fade to White: Happens when Dusty closes his eyes and narrowly misses crashing into a train. Afterwards, Dusty meets some monks whose cryptic answer to where he is makes him think he's dead, and the audience could reasonably think the same.
  • Family-Unfriendly Death: Skipper's entire squadron is shot down on-screen during their attack on the enemy fleet.
  • Fighter-Launching Sequence: Done by Dusty, El Chu, Ripslinger, and the other contestants of the Wings Around the Globe as they prepare to start the first leg.
  • Flight of Romance: Ishani takes Dusty on one to see the Taj Mahal. Subverted in that her real purpose is to tell him a "shortcut" that is supposed to put him behind, but nearly winds up killing him.
  • Fly-at-the-Camera Ending: As expected from a movie about planes.
  • Flying Car: Franz aka Von Fliegenhosen, a German flying car and one of only six ever built. He happens to be Dusty's first fan and aids him before the third leg.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • During the German bar scene, Ripslinger can briefly be seen talking to Ishani, convincing her to trick Dusty into following the railroad during the Himalayan leg of the race.
    • Ripslinger can be seen leaning slightly during the replays of his last three wins when Colin introduces him, foreshadowing Chug discovering Ripslinger's Achilles' Heel when crossing the finish line.
  • For Want Of A Nail: If the fifth place qualifier Fonzarelli hadn't used nitromethane which got him disqualified, then the rest of the movie wouldn't have occurred in the first place, Dusty wouldn't have gotten over his fear of heights and Ripslinger would've won.
  • Furry Confusion: There are "human" airplanes and "bird" airplanes (perhaps drones?) in the movie's universe.
  • Gratuitous Mariachi Band: Dusty hires one to assist El Chu in his bumbling attempts to romance Rochelle. What makes this more impressive is that they were in China at the time.
  • Grease Monkey: Skipper's righthand forklift Sparky.
  • Helicopter Blender: During the final leg of the race, Ripslinger uses his propellers to clip Skipper's rudder. Ripslinger then explains that his brand of propellers are called "skyslicers" for precisely that reason.
  • Impairment Shot: One from Bulldog’s perspective as the oil is washed off his windshield and we get an oily and blurry view of Dusty which focuses itself.
  • Ironic Fear: See Irony.
  • Irony: Dusty is a plane who's afraid of heights.
  • The Kiddie Ride: From Cogan, we have Dusty himself. The ride features music, sound effects and lights.
  • Lampshaded Double Entendre: When Dusty had just arrived in airport near pit rows for the racers, he saw two female forklifts were gossiping. One of them said: "He's way too much baggage, if you know what I mean."
  • Latin Lover: El Chu.
  • Little "No": Dusty says this after Skipper asks his Armor-Piercing Question.
  • Lucky Seven: Dusty's racing number is 7, he wins.
    • Skipper also has a 7 on his hull. Skipper was the only one of his squad to come out alive.
  • Male Gaze:
    • Parodied when El Chu gets his first look at Rochelle.
    • Dusty takes a long look at Ishani's rear propeller when he first meets her.
  • Military Salute: The forklifts and planes on the aircraft carrier. See Strange Salute below.
  • Never Say "Die": Averted; Dusty believes "I'm dead!" when he ends up in Nepal following the near-collision with the train, and he tells Ishani she could've gotten him killed when calling her out.
  • Never Trust a Trailer: Trailers suggested a plane dropping outhouses made a commentator describe it as disgusting. The commentator was describing a previous scene where a plane spits on the floor.
  • Nice Guy: Dusty helps out whenever he can, which pays off when he's severely damaged and the other racers donate new parts to keep him in the race.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Dusty is tricked by Ripslinger into following the train tracks through the Himalayas, which end at a tunnel through the mountain. Too scared to fly above and too determined not to proceed, he decides to fly through, allowing him to advance to first place. He even taunts Ripslinger to this effect.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: United States Navy version at work:
  • "No. Just… No" Reaction: Rochelle's initial reaction when El Chu attempts to serenade her before Dusty interferes.
  • Nose Art: In spades. Only types A and C.
  • Only Friend: El Chu and Ishani are the only competitors who don’t insult Dusty when he arrives in New York.
  • Overcrank: The scene where the flagman drops the flag to signal the start of the race and Dusty managing to beat Ripslinger are shown in dramatic slow motion.
  • Palette Swap: Rochelle's Canadian paint scheme from the North American and British versions gets changed in most export versions along with her nationality and usually her name. She has completely different Australian, Brazilian, Chinese, German, Italian, Japanese and Russian color schemes, while the French version of Rochelle is essentially her default Canadian paint job with the maple leaves removed and a subtle hue shift to a more magenta base color.
  • Parodies for Dummies: Chug briefly reads Air Racing for Dummies at the beginning.
  • Power Makes Your Voice Deep: The soft-spoken and meek Franz suddenly gains a deep, heroic voice when he powers up into his plane alter ego, Von Fliegenhozen. El Chu lampshades such.
  • Product Placement:
    • Trippnote , an American Airlines 777 makes a cameo appearance and is featured in promotional materials. Probably one of the more not bad cases of product placement in recent memory since it works perfectly in the context of the movie's universe.
    • Chug is shown reading a book called Air Racing for Dummies.
    • Chug selling all the Dusty memoralia can be seen as in-universe parody of the trope.
  • Punny Name: The U.S.S. Flysenhower, which is a clear pun on CVN-69, the U.S.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
  • Rags to Riches: Dusty starts out as a regular run-of-the-mill crop duster but slowly progresses into a racing plane over the course of the movie until he finally becomes a superstar in the end.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
    • El Chupacabra and Ishani gives one to Ripslinger, knowing that he had something to do with Dusty's disappearance and tells him that Dusty has 10 times the things Ripslinger will ever have.
      El Chupacabra: Señor Dusty has 10 times the engine you do.
      Ishani: And 10 times the integrity.
      Ripslinger: Said the plane with the shiny new propeller. How much integrity did that one cost you, sweetheart?
      Ishani: Too much. You used to be a great champion. How the mighty have fallen.
      El Chupacabra: (scoffs angrily) You are not even worthy of a cape swish.
      (El Chupacabra swished his cape and leaves)
      Ripslinger: Really?
    • When Dusty gets prepared for the final race, he gives one to Ripslinger, showing that he's not scared of him since his comments are meaningless.
      Ripslinger: Bolting on a few new parts doesn't change who you are. (sniffs) I can still smell the farm on you.
      Dusty: (unfazed and laughs sarcastically) You know what? I finally get it. You're afraid of getting beat by a cropduster. Well check 6, cause I'm coming.
  • Recycled In Space: Cars WITH PLANES!
  • Request for Privacy: When Dusty demands to know why Skipper has only one mission listed for his time with the Jolly Wrenches, the old plane tells everyone else to leave the room.
  • Rewatch Bonus: Eagle-eyed viewers will notice Ripslinger leaning to the side as he crosses the finish during Colin's description of his 3-time win, foreshadowing Dusty's winning tactic.
  • Rule of Symbolism: When Dusty is calling Ishani out for betraying him, he is standing in the sunlight while she is in the shade. This symbolizes Ishani is literally and figuratively under Ripslinger's shadow and struck a deal with him when he insisted.
  • Secret Identity Vocal Shift: When flying car Franz powers up into his plane mode alter ego Von Fliegenhosen, his voice changes from high and nerdy to heroic and deep.
  • Serenade Your Lover: El Chu to Rochelle, to the song "Love Machine". Subverted at first, when he tries a more upbeat version with a boombox. Dusty stops him and calls in a mariachi band to perform a more romantic rendition of the song.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran: Skipper, who, after witnessing his entire squadron killed by enemy fire in his first mission, is torn by guilt to the point that he cannot fly again.
  • Shout-Out: To two legendary United States fighter groups.
    • Skipper's squadron, VF-17, a.k.a. "The Jolly Wrenches", is directly based on the real VF-17 squadron (Now VFA-103), "The Jolly Rogers".
    • Judge Davis is explicitly mentioned to be a "Red Tail" P-51 Mustang, which makes him a member of the 332nd Fighter Group, better known as the Tuskegee Airmen, one of whom was Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., a pilot who ultimately became a United States Air Force General.
    • Another is to Top Gun, when the two Navy jets do a flyby of the Flysenhower, disturbing the Air Boss's coffee. Made more of a shoutout by the identity of the actors voicing the two jets.
    • In Skipper's World War II flashback, his squadron is using the callsign "Jigsaw", a reference to the old John Wayne movie Flying Leathernecks.
    • Also the plane that gets disqualified at the beginning is called Fonzarelli, who used illegal fuel intake.
  • Shut Up, Hannibal!: Dusty gives this to Ripslinger, showing he's no longer afraid of him and he's proud of being himself.
    Ripslinger: Bolting on a few new parts doesn't change who you are. (sniffs) I can still smell the farm on you.
    Dusty: (chuckles loudly) You know what? I finally get it: You're afraid... of getting beat... by a crop duster! Well, check six, because I'm coming.
  • Softer and Slower Cover: When attempting to serenade Rochelle, El Chu starts with the original fast rock version of "Love Machine" but she denies. Dusty has a mariachi band provide a slower Mexican version of the song which helps El Chu successfully win Rochelle’s heart.
  • Species Title: The movie is about a world of living planes.
  • Stalker Shot: After Ripslinger plots to take Dusty down during the final leg, Skipper peeks out from behind a wall, revealing he heard what he's going to do to him.
  • Stalker with a Crush: El Chupacabra toward Rochelle. At least until his successful serenade (assisted by Dusty) helps win Rochelle's heart. It worked... a little too well.
  • Stiff Upper Lip: Bulldog doesn't cry, he's British.
  • Strange Salute: Since they have no hands, the forklifts salute with their forks and the military planes salute by folding up their wingtips. Corsairs like Skipper and F-18 Super Hornets like Bravo and Echo can actually do this. It looks like the American Military Salute.
  • Survivor's Guilt: Skipper has it - the reason he didn't fly for most of the film.
  • Take Our Word for It: Whatever was the number one crash at the Wings Around the Globe in the show that Dusty and Chug were watching.
  • Tempting Fate: El Chupacabra tells Dusty pre-race, "Don't let anything distract you." then he sees Rochelle and becomes completely lovestruck.
  • Theme Twin Naming: Ned and Zed.
  • 13 Is Unlucky: Ripslinger's racing number is 13, he loses. But that was pretty much a Foregone Conclusion, anyway.
  • This Explains So Much: Upon being told Chug came up with the "Strut Jetstream" nickname for Dusty, Dottie says it explains everything.
  • Those Two Guys: The two jet fighters.
  • Touché: When El Chu criticizes the identity issues of Franz Fliegenhosen, who switches personalities based on which mode he's in, Franz counters that El Chu is wearing a mask. "Touché," he says simply.
  • Toilet Humor: At the end of the race, Ripslinger crashes into some portable toilets and oil is splattered all over.
  • Triumphant Reprise: The first time "Nothing Can Stop Me Now" is heard, it is during Dusty's daydream and sounds quite ironic, since he's afraid of heights. Then when he finally gets over his fear near the end, the song plays again in the end credits and becomes unironic, since there's literally nothing that can stop him.
  • Twitchy Eye: Dusty gets one when Chug mentions all the dangerous obstacles he’ll be facing after learning he got into the Wings Around the Globe.
  • Underdogs Never Lose: Naturally.
  • Vertigo Effect: Whenever Dusty flies higher than he's accustomed to before he overcomes his Acrophobia.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Because Ripslinger wants to become the first four-time champion of the Wings Around the Globe and gets upset when the attention of the press turns to Dusty. He really snaps when Dusty takes first place after Ishani's trick to get the crop duster killed by a train goes wrong. It's then when he decides to cheat during the race so that he can win. He gets worse after losing to Dusty and has to endure a Humiliation Conga.
  • We Can Rebuild Him: Using all the parts that the other racers donated to Dusty, Dottie and a few other pitties repair Dusty and turn him into Military Mashup Machine with a crop duster's body, a pair of wings from a T-33 Shooting Star, and a fourbladed Sky Slycer prop.
  • What the Hell, Hero?:
    • Dusty chastises Ishani for setting him up for a loss and almost getting him killed when she tells him to take a dangerous shortcut.
    • Dusty gives one to Skipper after finding out that Skipper lied to him about his war record.
      Dusty: One mission. So much for Volo Pro Vertias.
  • World Tour: The big race.

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Roper gets an uncomfortable ride from a truck who doesn't seem to care.

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