A Reminder of My Regret, or 'Planes: Fire & Rescue'

Planes: Fire & Rescue Theatrical Release Poster

The weekend that Planes: Fire & Rescue came out, we decided to take Jackson to see one of the first showings of the day at a local theater. Fortunately, when we pulled into the parking lot, it was empty. Jackson's ticket was free because he is only two and the children's ticket age starts at 3 years old. Maybe that should have tipped me off that 2-year-olds are too young for the movie theater.

TK kept Jax outside in the lobby area until the previews began. It may have been better if he waited until the actual movie started, but Jax sat and watched the previews and liked them all. One was for Annie. Another one was for Big Hero Six and another for The Book of Life. There were a few others, but I cannot remember which ones because I just wanted them to end so that the movie could start. That was out of character for me because I love the previews; sometimes they are even better than the movie. I just knew my toddler's clock was ticking and the longer he was happy, the longer we were happy.

I love animated features and my favorites are made by Walt Disney Studios. So, the fact that my son loves them too, makes me very proud. Fortunately, I was able to pass this hobby on to him already because he will sit and watch Cars, Planes, Toy Story, Frozen and even Finding Nemo. I love it and one of the main reasons is because I've loved drawing since before I started school. It is one of my biggest regrets that I did not go farther in animation than the 3D rending class during my junior year. I had a professor that didn't have the patience to teach me the things I was having trouble with. So, after I barely recreated a mug using a step-by-step process, I could not get it exactly how it should look or get any extra help, so I withdrew from the class. That was basically a turning point in my life. I had to settle with the fact that I would not become an animator or work for Disney and Pixar. It crushed me, but I went along with my art degree, which I don't actually use in my current day-to-day life, and this is where the regret lives.

As we watched Planes, I was completely captivated by the backdrop of each scene. That's exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to be the person that drew the elaborate background settings for animated features. One of my favorite scenes from an animated feature is when Peter Pan, Wendy, John and Michael fly over London and you can see the whole city lit up at night. It is just a beautiful piece of artwork. At one point during the movie, Dusty flies by a waterfall and I felt the tears well up in my eyes. I was overcome with emotion because I felt like I really failed myself and my passion. I love my family and my life, but I just wish that art (my real passion) was a much larger part of my life.

After an hour and five minutes, Jax decided that he had enough and didn't want to sit any longer. Unfortunately, we did not get to see the last 20 minutes of the movie, but we know that we will see this movie a hundred times, just like we've seen the first Planes almost a hundred times. Planes: Fire & Rescue was a good movie, from what we saw. The artwork and characters were well-developed and the jokes were funny. We would love to see the rest of the movie, and we are sure it will be part of our collection shortly after.