Bolt Review

[robertsona]

WARNING: SOME SPOILERS BELOW
When I came out of a theatre after watching Kung Fu Panda I was happy, not because it was a great movie, but because it confirmed that studios such as Dreamworks who had been lagging behind in terms of quality were now putting more effort into their children's movies, instead of having a gem every now and then and a load of bombs in between. If Kung Fu Panda was the confirmation of this fact, then Bolt is the follow-through.
Bolt is a movie that is a joy to watch for the first two-thirds, but when the last third comes around, its cliches start to make themselves visible. About two years ago in a magazine I can't recall the name of, I read an article describing the plots of upcoming Disney movies. One told the story of a dog that was a television star, until he was kicked out of the show. He was then picked up by a cat and traveled on the road with the cat. However, he still thought he was on television, even on the road. Bolt somewhat follows this, only the opposite: he never thought he was on television. Bolt is a dog who stars in an action show that somehow combines all the stereotypes of cheesy action television you can imagine into one show. With the help of all the people on the set, he performs ridiculous and impossible stunts, such as his sonic “Super-Bark”. However, the fact that these people on set are doing the work for him isn't presented to him; he thinks it's all real. And the producers like it that way. When one of the producers sees a boom microphone on screen for a second or two, he “freaks out”, fearing any more mistakes would ruin the act. The show basically follows him and his companion, Penny (voiced by Miley Cyrus), as they chase after the evil Dr. Calico, who captured Penny's father. Throughout the show's span, Bolt has grown to become friends with Penny, and vice versa. So when, in the most recent episode, Penny gets kidnapped, Bolt is determined, even after the shooting of the episode ends, to “find” Penny. He runs away in search for her, not knowing she is on the set the whole time. Due to his jumping in a box being shipped to New York City, he is sent there from the set in Hollywood. Along his trip back to Hollywood and to where he perceives Penny was kidnapped, he meets two companions who join him in his travel. The first of the two, who he meets in New York, is Mittens, an alley cat who makes pigeons give her food in exchange for “protection”. He thinks her to be a worker for Dr. Calico, or, as Bolt calls him, “The Man With the Green Eye”. Bolt forces her to help him find Penny, and, even though she has no idea what he is talking about, he “convinces” her by holding her over speeding cars on a bridge. The second is Rhino, a hamster in a ball who resides in a trailer. Rhino is a huge fan of Bolt's television show and eagerly joins their party, to the exasperation of Mittens. The movie mostly chronicles their travels across America, which is one of my favorite things about this film. Their travels are frequently interesting and funny, as are the characters. The conversations between Mittens and Bolt sometimes get tiresome and predictable, with Bolt always convinced he is the “super-dog” and Mittens always taking the sarcastic side, but overall these characters bring joy to the movie.
After a while, Bolt finds his superpowers not working, and he starts feeling things like pain and hunger. He is confused by these feelings because they aren't familiar to him, but finds temporary solutions to his problems. After a long while of traveling, Rhino inadvertantly tells Mittens that Bolt is on a television show. She then realizes that all of his superpowers do not exist and are only fabrications for the television show, an explanation for why they weren't working. She tries and tries to convince him that his powers aren't real, when they get captured by Animal Control, where he realizes he actually doesn't have superpowers after all. They both escape, and thus begins my favorite part of the movie, where she teaches him how good being a dog can be, by teaching him how to do “dog-like” things, such as fetching and sticking his head out the window of a moving vehicle, all during their travels across the backdrop of cities and towns in America, such as Las Vegas.
However, this happiness does not last forever, because Mittens refuses to go to Hollywood, telling Bolt that Penny doesn't really care for him, because she is just an actress (in the scenes showing Penny while Bolt is gone, she actually does miss him). All of this is told in a speech that is much too reminiscent of Jessie's speech to Woody in Toy Story 2, which is when the movie's flaws shine through a little more than the scenes before. Bolt leaves for Hollywood without her, convinced Penny loves him. When Rhino is told of this, he tells Mittens that no matter what he says, they should follow him. The following events which make up the ending semi-successfully attempt to wrench at your heart, at the price of coming off as strange and forced. Still, the movie is fun and, while still blown away by the quality of WALL-E, or basically any Pixar movies for that matter, the movie still has heart, and is a good Disney animated movie, if not the nostalgic classic we have been looking for.
3 out of 4 stars.

[MalReynolds]

Agreed. After John Lasseter took over at Disney - he's the guy in charge of Pixar - he dramatically changed what the movie was about. In addition to Bolt being aware he is on a TV show in the original draft, he travels the desert (?) with a cat (??) and a large mutated rabbit (?!?!) looking for a home. Of course you can tell where Lasseter touched the most - the actual heart warming, emotion tugging schtick, and he's a strong believer that for every laugh, there should be a tear.

I thought it was great, and I plan on seeing it again this weekend.