I continue to love animated movies and tend to see most of the new ones at one point. Disney has made many of the best animated movies, though they were struggling for a while. That seems to be changing now that John Lasseter is in charge of all animation at Disney. Their newest animated movie, Bolt shows that Disney animation is back on the right track.
Bolt had been on many dangerous adventures with Penny. Her father was a scientist and he had done something to give Bolt super powers. Those powers allowed him to save Penny from the various dangerous situations she found herself in. What Bolt didn’t know was that he and Penny were actually in a television show and he had no powers. Because of the director’s insistence, Bolt never left the set, the crew hid from him and there were never redid any shots so that Bolt’s emotions would be real.
The network felt that the show had become too predictable, so the director cooked up a cliffhanger that had Penny in danger and separated from Bolt. He was sure that she was really in danger and set off to rescue her. Unfortunately, he ended up stuck in a box that was shipped to New York City. Bolt had to find his way back to Penny in Hollywood with the reluctant help of Mittens, a somewhat grumpy cat and Rhino, a television watching hamster who loved Bolt.
I thought that Bolt had an interesting, entertaining plot. Certain aspects of it were predictable which may bother some viewers. That didn’t bother me and I still thought the movie was entertaining and there were a few minor surprises that I didn’t expect. The whole concept of having an animal and person somehow separated with the animal having to make a long journey wasn’t anything new. The reason for the separation was a bit different and having Bolt believe the things from the television show were real did add a different element to the plot. Several things were going on without making the movie overly complicated.
The first part of Bolt included a lot of action while Penny and Bolt were dealing with a large group of bad guys. The action, which might be a bit too intense for younger children, was nonstop for a while. The action things were very well done and actually I think worked better than some of the action scenes in more recent live action movies. The action scenes moved at a fast pace before things slowed down once the reality of Bolt’s life was shown. There was some more action later in the movie, though not that much. There was a little bit of minor violence that wasn’t graphic. The tiny bit of violence might upset younger children. Overall, this is a good movie for families.
I thought that there was a good amount of humor in Bolt. Several of the laughs came from Bolt trying to cope and make his way back to Hollywood. He had no idea how to deal with certain things, which was funny. Mittens and Rhino were responsible for many of the laughs. Mittens had a somewhat sarcastic way of saying things that was funny. I think Rhino probably provided the most laughs with how enthusiastic he was to go along on the journey and his belief that he could do anything while in his little clear plastic ball. He was just a very funny character. A few different groups of pigeons turned up in different cities and interacted with Bolt. I thought the birds were funny with how they were talking and moving. The movie also had a few more serious and even touching moments. One or two scenes were rather sad and could upset younger children. Overall, I felt that there was a good blend between the humor and serious moments.
The animation for Bolt was very well done, though it wasn’t quite as good as what Pixar has been doing. The animals and people really didn’t look realistic, but they still had a good look. Bolt and Mittens did move in realistic ways. The backgrounds were detailed and bright colors were used throughout the movie. There was some animation used during the first part of the end credits. That animation had a more primitive look, but it still fit in fine with everything that was going on. The movie is supposed to be in 3-D at some theaters. The one here doesn’t show movies in 3-D, so I have no clue how the movie would look in 3-D.
Bolt was a kind dog who was devoted to Penny. He had no idea that they were characters in a television show though, which caused him to get in a huge mess and end up on the other side of the country. He did manage to deal with the situations he ended up in fairly well. I thought that the voice John Travolta did for the character fit him very well. Penny was in the television show with Bolt. It was clear that she really did care for him and hated that he was kept so confined on the set and she had concerns about him being a normal dog. She was very upset when Bolt went missing. Miley Cyrus did fine with the voice for the character. She and Travolta sang a song that played during the end credits.
Mittens was the alley cat that Bolt was forcing to help him find his way back to Hollywood. Bolt believed that she worked for Dr. Calico, the man who took Penny. Mittens didn’t seem that nice at first and she was not happy that Bolt was dragging her across the country. She had an understandable disdain for having an owner. Susie Essman did fine with the voice for the character. Rhino was a television loving hamster who realized that Bolt was on a television show. Rhino was running around in a clear plastic ball and seemed to believe that he was invincible while in that ball. Mark Walton, an animator, did a perfect voice for the character.
The director of the show that Penny and Bolt were on turned up in a few scenes. He was only identified as The Director and he ended up being a rather flat character. That was alright since he wasn’t in much of the movie. Penny’s agent also had no name. He popped up a few more times, but also wasn’t around much. It seemed to only be concerned with making sure that Penny made a lot of money, so he wasn’t that understanding about certain things. He seemed like a huge jerk. Dr. Calico was the villain on the television show featuring Penny and Bolt, so he was only shown a few times. Penny’s mom was in a few scenes and really didn’t have much to do.
Voice Talent
Miley Cyrus - Penny Susie Essman - Mittens Greg German - The Agent James Lipton - The Director Malcolm McDowell - Dr. Calico John Travolta - Bolt Mark Walton - Rhino
Directed by Byron Howard and Chris Williams
Bolt is a wonderful animated movie that was very entertaining. This is a great family friendly movie. People that enjoy animated movies should check this one out.
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