Bolt

Bolt

By Jonathan Fisher, January 12th, 2009



Let me begin with a relevant side-note: I love dogs. I would have been quite happy with Bolt if it provided me with ninety minutes of a cute, animated puppy doing cute, animated things. It does that, but it also goes a little further. It hits the ground running with a beautifully animated (it seems that's a given with most animated movies these days) and witty chase sequence involving Bolt (voiced by John Travolta), the star of a TV series about a dog with super-powers. The reason the show is so successful? Bolt is convinced its real. The show's producer insists on obscuring any camera, boom mic or crew member from Bolt during the show's shooting so that the dog will truly believe he is super. Canine Method Acting, I'm sure the course would be called at NIDA. Don't even bother trying to work out how the show executes its elaborate special effects (including Bolt running and supersonic speeds and using heat vision) without its main character knowing it.

Bolt's sidekick in the show, and in real life, is Penny (Miley Cyrus). She shields Bolt from the real world, playing with him in her trailer and leaving him inside when she leaves for the weekend. Bolt is tormented by two cats who work on the show who know that is isn't real, but speak to Bolt as though it is. What with one thing and another, Bolt finds himself in the outside world, separated from Penny by several thousand miles. At this point the movie becomes a light, funny, enjoyable race to get home. He meets an alley cat named Mittens (voiced by Susie Essman) who he presumes is one of the TV show's villainous cats who was involved in separating him from Penny and stealing his powers (Bolt blames his lack of powers in the real world on the kryptonite-like effetcts of styrofoam packaging that he was inadvertantly packed into).

Bolt is a family film, but unlike the greatest of family films it leans toward pleasing a younger audience than an older one. The typical 'kids' movie theme of adults being untrustworthy, innoble and not understanding of childrens' needs is prominent, and the movie has a lot of fun with its portrayal of Bolt's human counterparts, including a funny Hollywood agent voiced by Greg Germann. The film is easy enough to sit through for adults, even providing a few genuine laughs along the way, but I got a little restless towards the end when the 'moral of the story' was hammered home. I think my love of dogs and general affection for family films got me through this one -- if you don't share my passion for both of those things, perhaps Slumdog Millionaire would be worth a repeat viewing.