Bolt is the latest release from Disney Animated Studios, taking a page out of some of its most successful stories, and unleashing a film where a dog is the central character.  In this story, Bolt is a shepherd that has been adopted by a little girl who is also an actress.  For the first five years of his life, Bolt has been kept in the dark about the outside world, and has instead been led to believe that the life he portrays on a television show is his own.  The producer of the show has felt that he can get the dog to better emote if he is in real situations, and through special effects, gives Bolt the appearance that he has a lot of special abilities.  These abilities include super strength, the ability to give off a super-sonice bark, lasers that can shoot from his eyes, and many other super-powers that he only has on screen.

This life on a hit television show has presented him plenty of opportunities to save his real-owner Penny, who doesn't like that Bolt isn't able to go out into the real world.  That is all about to change though, as when Penny is kidnapped during a scene in the show, Bolt breaks out of the show to head off on a rescue mission of his own.  This puts Bolt in the real world, New York City to be specific, and still thinking that he has the super powers that are going to help him rescue Penny.  The stark realization doesn't come to him that his powers are "gone" though, and he comes up with many internal excuses about why they aren't working at the time.  Soon, Bolt gets it in his mind that he needs to make it from New York to Hollywood in order to "rescue" Penny, and he sets off on what will soon be the first real adventure of his life.

Along the journey to find Penny, he takes on two cohorts; a cat named Mittens that he takes as a hostage to lead him to the bad guys, and a hamster that has begun to idolize Bolt through watching him on television.  Together the threesome heads off to the west coast, finding many different obstacles in their way, but also finding lots of adventure as well.  This is where a lot of humor is pushed into the script, as Bolt comes across many things that he has not seen before, and starts to finally become a real dog.  One of the best parts of the story is Rhino the hamster, who also has the belief that he is much tougher than he really is.  His enthusiasm to help Bolt adds a lot of additional laughs to the story, as he too is trying to put meaning into his life after living in an RV park simply watching television for years.

Bolt is a really good family film, that blends a lot of action with a great sense of humor and a family friendly story.  The voices of the characters, especially that of Rhino the hamster and all of the pigeons that the characters come across play up the humor level perfectly, and fill out what is already a great story.  The voices of Bolt and Penny are from John Travolta and Miley Cyrus, who were also up to the task of entertaining, and who were perfect for these roles.  The story gives a little bit of everything to the audience, encompassing a lot of laugh-out-loud scenes with a story that really is heart-felt in the end.  I enjoyed Bolt a lot, and felt that it was well worth the full price of a night showing, and well worth the time of seeing it as at a special premiere.  I think it has all the makings of the next Disney classic, and I give it a very high recommendation.  The only warning I would give, is that parents taking their children may come away with kids that want a puppy.

Recommended: Yes