Flyboys (2007)

Beyond a leather-clad James Franco (pictured), the fact that it's inspired by a true story — the tale of the Lafayette Escadrille, young American fighter pilots who volunteered for France during WWI — is really all that distinguishes Flyboys from any other wartime flick. The characters are clichéd (the rich kid, the vagabond, the boy out to honor his family's military legacy, etc.); the story line is one-dimensional, and the overuse of CGI in the aerial dogfights actually makes the scenes look unrealistic. EXTRAS The featurettes show the real heroes of the Lafayette Escadrille and spotlight the film's true star (sorry, James), a lion named Whiskey. They illustrate more about the flying corps than the movie. But the deleted scenes are tedious as the audio commentary. Luckily, there's a Flyboys Squadron DVD-ROM game for all of us who have secretly wished we were pilots but were too scared to try. C+