Courtesy: Lionsgate
Lionsgate will release the latest installment in its family friendly Wings franchise next Tuesday, July 8th. Wings: Sky Force Heroes is the follow-up to Lionsgate’s 2012 CG-film Wings. Ace and Colonel are both back in this latest installment. But unlike the franchise’s first flick, neither is a fighter jet. Colonel (voiced once again by Tom Skerritt) is a high performance biplane while Ace (voiced again by Josh Duhamel) is just as high tech as a double prop plane this time out. The return of the entire voice cast from the first film in the series is only one of the positives to this high flying, family friendly flick. Anyone that is familiar with Disney’s Planes franchise will appreciate that as with the previous Wings this latest installment bears its own story despite its close similarities to Disney’s franchise. That is the primary plus to this story. And last worth noting in this movie is its CG-based “animation” style. While the story is similar to that of Disney’s new Planes sequel, its look is more closely akin to Fox Searchlight’s 2005 movie Robots than any more recent CG-based movies. This includes Disney’s properties. All three of these factors together make Wings: Sky Force Heroes a good family friendly flick that’s worth at least one watch.
There’s no denying that Wings: Sky Force Heroes bears a distinct similarity in its script to that of Disney’s recently premiered Planes sequel Planes: Fire & Rescue. Despite the similarity in question, Wings: Sky Force Heroes does manage to establish its own identity separate from that of the previously noted movie. Rather than trying to make this movie into a sequel, the movie’s writing team—Harry Glennon, Mychal Simka, and Jordan Winsen—made it its own movie, complete with its own world. It just so happens that in this story’s case the two leads go by the same name as the leads in the first of the Wings franchise. Accepting that, it makes suspension of disbelief much easier in a case such as this. The ability of viewers to suspend their disbelief makes taking in the story much easier and more enjoyable.
The ability of the writers behind Wings: Sky Force Heroes to craft a story similar to yet dissimilar to Disney’s Planes: Fire & Rescue is central to the overall enjoyment of the story. Just as worth noting in the presentation’s success is the return of the entire lead voice cast from the original installment in the Wings franchise. This is one area in which Lionsgate has truly scored. Lionsgate has scored in this aspect in that Disney’s animated sequels (and sequels in general) rarely re-unite the cast from their predecessors. This means potentially entirely new casts must get to know one another. And that can hinder said sequels greatly. The chemistry developed between Duhamel (Transformers 1 – 3), Skerritt (Alien, Ted, Top Gun) and the rest of the Wings cast obviously carried over into this latest high-flying family friendly flick from Lionsgate. And because it did, the cast had no trouble interpreting the story’s script and working together. The end result was a movie loaded with plenty of family friendly content worth at least one watch.
The return of the complete voice cast from Wings and the ability of the writers behind Wings: Sky Force Heroes to craft a story that established the movie’s own identity both play integral parts in the success of this latest movie from Lionsgate’s Wings franchise. Last but not least of all worth noting about this direct-to-DVD feature is its animation. The movie’s animation sets it apart from anything that Disney, 20th Century Fox, and any other studio has churned out in recent years. It’s tough to tell one studio from another nowadays because it is all so cookie cutter. The closest comparison that can be noted with Wings: Sky Force Heroes is perhaps to Fox Searchlight’s Robots. As forgettable as Robots proved to be, few other studios if any have attempted a movie with a similar look since then. That serves to make the look of this piece stand out even more. That mostly original look to the movie combined with its cast and script come together to make Wings: Sky Force Heroes a truly fun, high-flying, family friendly film worth at least one watch. One thing is for sure, one watch will have spirits soaring just as high as the planes in the movie, given that chance.
Wings: Sky Force Heroes will be available exclusively in Wal-Mart stores and online on DVD/VUDU combo pack next Tuesday, July 8th. More information on this and other titles from Lionsgate is available online at http://www.facebook.com/lionsgate, http://www.lionsgate.com, and http://twitter.com/lionsgatemovies. To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment reviews and news, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it. Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment reviews and news in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.
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