Bolt

Disney

R4 DVD

Reviewers: Jeremy & Renata Kong

Bolt is directed by Byron Howard & Chris Williams with the screenplay written by Dan Fogelman & Chris Williams. The cast includes John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman, Mark Walton, Malcolm McDowell, James Lipton, Greg Germann, Diedrich Bader and Ron Moss. It runs for 96 minutes and is G Rated.

Bolt is the story of a dog who stars in his own science-fiction / action show. Since he was a puppy, he has been brought up to believe that he is a super powered canine who is protecting his young person, Penny. The producers have gone to great lengths to make Bolt believe that he truly has super powers, and that Penny is genuinely in danger.

The producers wish to keep their "method actor" fooled into believing his genuine role as protector, because they believe that the dog's believable acting is one of the main reasons the show is so highly rated (well, at least that is plausible that a dog could act better than some American sit-com actors).

As a result, poor Bolt is only ever unknowingly on set saving Penny from bad guys, or in his trailer where he is confined without normal interaction. Until the day the producers up the anti by kidnapping Penny in a cliff-hanger episode; which sets Bolt off on an adventure across America....

And thus we have the main issues in the film, and the main points that provide the comedy - what happens when a dog doesn't know how to act like a dog? What happens when he escapes into the REAL world, and finds out he doesn't have super powers? And can a cat and a hamster teach Bolt how to be a dog, and really live?

There are some very well known actors providing the voices; and their comic timing is impeccable. The main characters are funny and loveable - which works for this film because it is aimed at children. The screenplay is well written (keeping in mind we're not looking for a Pulitzer); and there is a funny and potentially 'green' message in the film: the evils of Styrofoam!

The character animation is very "caricature-ish", which works really well because the characters are caricatures themselves. The animators have captured the animals movements particularly well (the pigeons are brilliant!). The background animation was beautiful, too. It showcased many parts of America, and the animation artists went to a lot of trouble to make the backgrounds very aesthetic.

There are the usual bits and pieces in the bonus section - but the piece on the background animation was pretty interesting. It discussed how each location affected the use of light and colour in the backgrounds, and some of the techniques that Disney utilise in their animation.

It wasn't a world shaking movie, it wasn't very original, but overall it was good wholesome fun. This is an enjoyable, funny family movie, with a good old predictable ending... which is satisfying none-the-less.

This was a good kid's / family movie, that aimed itself at the right demographic. Kid's are pretty much guaranteed to sit through this at least another 8 times (and adults might handle an extra 1 or 2 as well!!).

This review will appear in Volume 2 No.4 (2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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