Last July, word arrived that Disney and Pixar were planning to go one step beyond sequelising the Emeryville gang’s output, and were gearing up work on a Cars spin-off called Planes, which would touch down direct-to-DVD. The response, it must be said, pushed the React-O-Meter firmly into the negative section. Now the first teaser trailer has arrived via Collider, and you can watch it below.
Planes follows Dusty (voiced by Jon Cryer), a small-town plane with big dreams of entering the biggest around-the-world race and finally proving himself against the best flyers out there. There’s just one problem – he’s afraid of heights...
One thing strikes you immediately when you watch it – there’s zero mention of Pixar, and in fact the creative team behind the new film is credited as DisneyToon Studios, the usual mob behind Disney’s direct-to-DVD spin-offs. And though John Lasseter has given it his firm stamp of approval and there are definite touches that show this is the same world as Cars, the teaser itself, White Zombie song and all, is not yet enough to convince the naysayers that it’ll be seen as anything other than a cash in. But there’s a ways to go until 2013, when the movie will hit shelves, and who knows if anything shown in the trailer will make it to the final product?
Take a look at the teaser and let us know your thoughts.