Good Direction
What is able to hold the game up is the art direction. Because otherwise, there's nothing that separates this from over "hover-toward-the-end" type games. The stylizing with People in Planes is a good move, and it's enough to distract from some of the issues in the game.
Try using a life based system. A default number of lives and checkpoints so users don't have to restart everytime they die. Not that I'm asking for 10 lives, but 3 could be enough. And checkpoints, so at least I can finish hearing the rest of the song.