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What is it about some titles that just sort of write themselves?
It would be too easy to say the title of this animated movie would also be a suggestion before seeing it. Again that would be way too easy. We’ll get back to that later.
The movie is from Walt Disney Studios, which has had a very good year when it comes to animating things. “Bolt” will no doubt do very well at the box office this weekend since any movie that the entire family can attend is going to do good business. With the voices of Miley Cyrus (of “Hannah Montana” fame), Susie Essman (from HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” fame) and John Travolta who is just plain famous, “Bolt” has the added attraction of being in 3D, which gives the characters more dimension and more realism.
When it comes to dogs, Disney has a history of branding purebreds all its own. “The Shaggy Dog” in 1959 had that droopy-eyed sheep dog in the title role, 1966’s “The Ugly Dachshund,” animated flicks such as “Lady,” the golden cocker spaniel from 1955’s “Lady and the Tramp,” and of course 1961’s “101 Dalmatians” made owning a purebred very popular. But there’s just something about a mutt that seems to identify with most of us. And with “Bolt” you have a dog that is on par with “Underdog,” except that he’s a white shepherd mix who thinks he’s a super dog with super powers. He even has a black lightning bolt (ahhh now I get it) on his side as his brand (sort of like Harry Potter but his is on the forehead).
The only problem is that no one will spill the truth about Bolt and that he’s not built for speed. He’s an actor who plays the hero on the hit TV show that bears his name, but in real life he is just a regular dog. He was adopted by Penny (Miley Cyrus) who also is an actress. Bolt is what you might call a product of the old studio days where they owned you so the less he knows really the better. His television show is very popular and takes him on location all over the place.
That is until he is “misplaced” and finds himself in one of the toughest cities around, New York. Of course Bolt isn’t worried because he possesses incredible powers but others in the real world know better. It’s kind of like a built-in placebo since Bolt is already confident anyway and gives off an air that no none can do him harm.
Many animated features seem to have the same theme. Lost and on a journey to reconnect with loved ones thereby making the experiences on the way a lesson of some sort. Not being stubborn to think that you alone can take on the whole world but needing a variety of cohorts along for the ride to make you feel safe and also to teach a fellowship even if we’re all different.
“Bolt” certainly fills that need with an array of characters that works best as a whole and not as an individual part.
Oh yeah. It doesn’t hurt either when in the animal kingdom they all can communicate with one another. That seems to also be a theme in animation. Bolt’s naiveté is balanced with that of the very street-smart feline named Mittens (Susie Essman). Their interaction is OK but doesn’t click that well.
Probably the funniest character in the movie is Rhino. Think “Boy in the Bubble” but with motion. Mark Walton provides the comic relief as the roly-poly hamster inside a plastic ball in where he spends most of his time when not maneuvering at high speed around objects that don’t move. Think of Rhino as the referee between the predictable dog and cat exchange of Bolt and Mittens. I did like the trio of Italian speaking pigeons who, after they find out who Bolt is, want to green light their own project when he gets to Hollywood.
What’s interesting in “Bolt” are the humans who are pretty much like watching a Peanuts television show. They don’t seem to exist and there are plenty of bad ones. Most are shown in a dark light as they are incidental to the main characters. You almost feel bad for Hollywood agents because they are always painted as slimy and think nothing about using their clients to squeeze as much money out of them as possible.
Penny’s agent (billed simply as “The Agent”) is voiced by Greg Germann and tells Penny that after Bolt is lost tells her to just find another white dog as a replacement.
It would be too easy to say the title of this animated movie would also be a suggestion before seeing it. Again that would be way too easy. We’ll get back to that later.
The movie is from Walt Disney Studios, which has had a very good year when it comes to animating things. “Bolt” will no doubt do very well at the box office this weekend since any movie that the entire family can attend is going to do good business. With the voices of Miley Cyrus (of “Hannah Montana” fame), Susie Essman (from HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” fame) and John Travolta who is just plain famous, “Bolt” has the added attraction of being in 3D, which gives the characters more dimension and more realism.
When it comes to dogs, Disney has a history of branding purebreds all its own. “The Shaggy Dog” in 1959 had that droopy-eyed sheep dog in the title role, 1966’s “The Ugly Dachshund,” animated flicks such as “Lady,” the golden cocker spaniel from 1955’s “Lady and the Tramp,” and of course 1961’s “101 Dalmatians” made owning a purebred very popular. But there’s just something about a mutt that seems to identify with most of us. And with “Bolt” you have a dog that is on par with “Underdog,” except that he’s a white shepherd mix who thinks he’s a super dog with super powers. He even has a black lightning bolt (ahhh now I get it) on his side as his brand (sort of like Harry Potter but his is on the forehead).
The only problem is that no one will spill the truth about Bolt and that he’s not built for speed. He’s an actor who plays the hero on the hit TV show that bears his name, but in real life he is just a regular dog. He was adopted by Penny (Miley Cyrus) who also is an actress. Bolt is what you might call a product of the old studio days where they owned you so the less he knows really the better. His television show is very popular and takes him on location all over the place.
That is until he is “misplaced” and finds himself in one of the toughest cities around, New York. Of course Bolt isn’t worried because he possesses incredible powers but others in the real world know better. It’s kind of like a built-in placebo since Bolt is already confident anyway and gives off an air that no none can do him harm.
Many animated features seem to have the same theme. Lost and on a journey to reconnect with loved ones thereby making the experiences on the way a lesson of some sort. Not being stubborn to think that you alone can take on the whole world but needing a variety of cohorts along for the ride to make you feel safe and also to teach a fellowship even if we’re all different.
“Bolt” certainly fills that need with an array of characters that works best as a whole and not as an individual part.
Oh yeah. It doesn’t hurt either when in the animal kingdom they all can communicate with one another. That seems to also be a theme in animation. Bolt’s naiveté is balanced with that of the very street-smart feline named Mittens (Susie Essman). Their interaction is OK but doesn’t click that well.
Probably the funniest character in the movie is Rhino. Think “Boy in the Bubble” but with motion. Mark Walton provides the comic relief as the roly-poly hamster inside a plastic ball in where he spends most of his time when not maneuvering at high speed around objects that don’t move. Think of Rhino as the referee between the predictable dog and cat exchange of Bolt and Mittens. I did like the trio of Italian speaking pigeons who, after they find out who Bolt is, want to green light their own project when he gets to Hollywood.
What’s interesting in “Bolt” are the humans who are pretty much like watching a Peanuts television show. They don’t seem to exist and there are plenty of bad ones. Most are shown in a dark light as they are incidental to the main characters. You almost feel bad for Hollywood agents because they are always painted as slimy and think nothing about using their clients to squeeze as much money out of them as possible.
Penny’s agent (billed simply as “The Agent”) is voiced by Greg Germann and tells Penny that after Bolt is lost tells her to just find another white dog as a replacement.
