Bolt is about a white German Shepherd (named Bolt, obviously) who plays a superhero dog with super powers on TV and is a national celebrity. The catch, though, is that he doesn't know it. He thinks that the events of the TV show are all real; he thinks he really has a Super Bark, heat vision, and that his owner (or, as Bolt refers to her, his person), Penny, is constantly in danger from the evil Green-Eyed Man and his cats. Life is quickly turned upside down for Bolt, however, when he is accidentally shipped from Hollywood to New York. He then begins his long, arduous, and enlightening journey to get back home to Penny. Along the way, he picks up the classic Disney sidekicks. One is a mangy, ex-house cat named Mittens who embodies the classic abandoned animal cliche. She spends most of the movie trying to convince Bolt that what he believes is real is actually fake; mostly because he has taken her prisoner and demands her to take him to Penny. The other sidekick is a TV-obsessed hamster, Rhino, who is almost always rolling around in his plastic exercise ball. He is a new character type for a Disney movie; an extreme fanboy of Bolt and his TV show. Some of the funniest lines and scenes in the movie belong to him.
The movie is also littered with smaller characters who pop in for quick comedic interludes with the main characters; another classic Disney element. Among these interludes are encounters with pigeons in different parts of the country, and each time the pigeons are embodiments of those parts of the country. New York pigeons with heavy accents and Hollywood pigeons who talk like college students pitching movie ideas. The pigeons were, actually, my favorite part of the movie. The dialogue was well written and pigeons' personalities were spot on.
The animation and digital effects in the movie are superb. And this is what we have to come to expect from Disney. The movements of the characters, especially the animals, look extremely realistic. When we first see Bolt as a puppy playing with a toy, I was hard pressed to identify any extreme difference between that and watching my dog play. The facial expressions of the animals and the people also look powerfully real. We see joy, fear, and sadness in ever aspect of the face. Disney has always taken pains to make their animated animals and their movements realistic and it pays off. What I find interesting, though, is their choice to make some of humans look the most unnatural; the female animal control officer with a large head and tiny body is a perfect example.
The plot is typical Disney fair: the journey. A main character ends up displaced and far from home. Naturally, a long and difficult journey back home must occur. Along the way, they meet unlikely friends and learn important life lessons. More often than not they have an identity crisis and have to find out who they really are and figure out their place in the world. All of these elements appear in the Bolt story, but somewhat predictably. Disney has used this formula many times over and have made some very good movies with it. With using the same formula over and over, however, it can be easy to be a little unoriginal. Unfortunately, this seems to have happened with Bolt. All of the elements of a really good Disney movie are there, but it seems to be missing that little something extra that made movies like Wall-E and Finding Nemo so magical.
Now, that being said, I also understand that this movie was not made to cater mainly to adults and movie reviewers. I believe it is a movie made to cater to families and children. After attending the advanced screening last night with a theater full of kids between the ages of 2 and 13 and their parents (as well as some other adults like myself), I can honestly say that Disney has another successful movie on their hands.
I had the opportunity to talk to a couple members of the movie's target audience after the screening. I felt that it was important to gather some of their reactions in order to give the movie a fair rating.
Katie, a 12 year old young lady who sat beside me in the theater with her mother, thought that the movie was "pretty good" and that, if given the chance, she would "probably see it again." I asked Katie what rating she would give it on my 4 star rating system. Katie said she would give it 3 1/2 stars, and her mom piped in with an emphatic 4 stars.
I also talked to a young 9 year old girl named Liesl (that's right, just like in The Sound of Music.) Liesl had a huge smile on her face when she told me that she thought the movie was "really funny" and that her favorite character was Mittens. When I asked her to pick her favorite scene, she wasn't able to do it because she "loved the whole thing!" I also asked Liesl to rate the movie on my 4 star system. She didn't hesitate to give Bolt a perfect 4 stars.
I am giving Bolt a 3 star rating. The animation is spectacular, the characters are satisfyingly funny, and it clearly pleases its target audiences. The lack of that certain magical Disney touch is what prevents from giving the movie a higher rating. A 3 star rating is not a bad one by any means; a movie must be rated based on what it is trying to do or say. It, first and foremost, is trying to reach and please its target audience of youngster. This it certainly does, unquestionably. Bolt also tries to earn its place among the many Disney classics, as all of their movies do, and I believe that it will succeed. It will not, however, make it above the line that movies like Toy Story and The Incredibles surpass. I definitely suggest going to see it, especially with young ones. The sound of their laughter can sometimes make up for a bit of that missing magic.
Until next time....
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