Post by Mark T. Locker.

Nothing like staying home with a kid who is technically sick but bursting with energy. Thank goodness for second-run movie theaters, especially the kinds that serve pizza and beer. On a Thursday afternoon, you can stroll in with a pretty reasonable expectation to be the only people in the theater, on the teensy off-chance that the kid is still contagious (he wasn’t). I must admit, I was not only dubious of the Disney talking plane movie Planes; I was downright dreading it. I couldn’t make it through more than twenty minutes of Cars, that merchandising darling of the Disney empire. You know what? It wasn’t that great. On the other hand, it wasn’t that bad. From a three-minute trailer, or from watching the first five minutes, you can accurately predict every aspect of the movie. And the stereotype attributed to the planes of different genders and ethnicities was definitely cringe-worthy. But in the end, I was not in physical pain watching this, which is saying a lot considering what some children’s programming is like. I’m not going to run out and buy it when it comes out on DVD (November 19th!). But it’s a good way to kill two hours with a sick kid.