Bolt (C+ or 2.5/4 stars)
Bolt, an American White Shepherd, has lives his whole life on the set of his action TV show (very Truman Show-like). On the show he has superpowers. When Bolt gets separated from his owner, a sweet girl named Penny, he gets shipped to New York; where he meets a cat named Mittens & a hamster named Rhino. Bereft at the discovery that he really 'doesn't' have any superpowers, & missing Penny terribly, he hopes that with some help from his new pals, he'll get back home to Hollywood. 'Bolt', directed by Chris Williams, is a cute movie. The animation is stellar. But I honestly don't believe that most kids will 'get' Bolt.
The movie opens with the wonderful scene of puppy Bolt being selected from the pound by his owner, little Penny. From here, the film jumps 5 yrs. later, & frenetically leaps itself into a high-action chase sequence (Penny & Bolt star in their own kids television show). Bolt (voiced wonderfully by John Travolta) can't separate what's real from what's fake. So, he basically assumes that he's the strongest, fastest, most invincible dog ever (humor ensues). Things go terribly wrong though for Bolt & Penny (voiced by Miley Cyrus) when he's accidentally shipped off in a package to NY. It is there where he meets Mittens & Rhino.
Mittens is an all-knowing alley cat who tells Bolt that cats are actually jealous of dogs (the source of their hatred towards them). The cute & fuzzy hamster, Rhino, is trapped inside his ball, but always up for an adventure. And so, the 3 of them set-off on a cross country trek not only to get Bolt back to Penny, but to him ... she is in real danger of being captured by a villain (though, it's really only part of the plot in their television show). Get it?
'Bolt' has a lot of things going for it. Travolta's vulnerable, crackling voice is used well for Bolt. And Bolt is an adorable little doggie. The character of Mittens is quite clever. Rhino has some great one-liners. And a trio of goofy pigeons (who recognize Bolt from his TV show) are absolutely hysterical! From a technical standpoint, the animation is quite good; including all the faux-Jerry Bruckheimer-like action sequences. And I MUCH preferred the endearing last half of the movie (the animals trying to survival in America) than it's hectic, culturally savvy 1st half.
'Bolt' is a fairly simple tale to follow, but if it tripped me up once or twice, won't it trip up young kids? I don't think that many of them will quite understand or ENJOY all the Hollywood jargon/narrative that commences throughout the story. Producers, directors, actors, TV minutia, action sets ... kids won't be too interested in this stuff & it takes up a lot of the plot. The human characters have little-to-no personality or charm. I appreciate an animated film trying to stretch itself. But its inspired premise doesn't play-out well onscreen for most of the time. 'Bolt' is a fine movie by which kids will say afterwards, 'I liked it'. That's all.
The movie opens with the wonderful scene of puppy Bolt being selected from the pound by his owner, little Penny. From here, the film jumps 5 yrs. later, & frenetically leaps itself into a high-action chase sequence (Penny & Bolt star in their own kids television show). Bolt (voiced wonderfully by John Travolta) can't separate what's real from what's fake. So, he basically assumes that he's the strongest, fastest, most invincible dog ever (humor ensues). Things go terribly wrong though for Bolt & Penny (voiced by Miley Cyrus) when he's accidentally shipped off in a package to NY. It is there where he meets Mittens & Rhino.
Mittens is an all-knowing alley cat who tells Bolt that cats are actually jealous of dogs (the source of their hatred towards them). The cute & fuzzy hamster, Rhino, is trapped inside his ball, but always up for an adventure. And so, the 3 of them set-off on a cross country trek not only to get Bolt back to Penny, but to him ... she is in real danger of being captured by a villain (though, it's really only part of the plot in their television show). Get it?
'Bolt' has a lot of things going for it. Travolta's vulnerable, crackling voice is used well for Bolt. And Bolt is an adorable little doggie. The character of Mittens is quite clever. Rhino has some great one-liners. And a trio of goofy pigeons (who recognize Bolt from his TV show) are absolutely hysterical! From a technical standpoint, the animation is quite good; including all the faux-Jerry Bruckheimer-like action sequences. And I MUCH preferred the endearing last half of the movie (the animals trying to survival in America) than it's hectic, culturally savvy 1st half.
'Bolt' is a fairly simple tale to follow, but if it tripped me up once or twice, won't it trip up young kids? I don't think that many of them will quite understand or ENJOY all the Hollywood jargon/narrative that commences throughout the story. Producers, directors, actors, TV minutia, action sets ... kids won't be too interested in this stuff & it takes up a lot of the plot. The human characters have little-to-no personality or charm. I appreciate an animated film trying to stretch itself. But its inspired premise doesn't play-out well onscreen for most of the time. 'Bolt' is a fine movie by which kids will say afterwards, 'I liked it'. That's all.