Bolt Review

In the tradition of family get-togethers on thanksgiving weekend, I loaded up the black front wheel drive sedan, and headed off to the magical land of Huntington, Long island. Where the architecture and culture of the rest of the island hold no sway, and they even call it "a village". It was here I went to see Walt Disney Picture's Bolt. This was basically the only option, since we were attending with my almost 3 year old sister-in-law. So, what you may ask was the outcome. Was I, a grown man, dragged to some kiddie dribble like so many of my kind before me, or was I actually entertained. To find out...read on.

First, the obligatory details:

	John Travolta	...	Bolt (voice)
	Miley Cyrus	...	Penny (voice)
	Susie Essman	...	Mittens (voice)
	Mark Walton	...	Rhino (voice)
	Malcolm McDowell	...	Dr. Calico (voice)

Plot: For the plot, I'm going to try something new this week, and show the trailer. Unless the plot differs significantly from the trailer, like what happens sometimes. I think this is better then me basically regurgitating the trailer week after week. Let me know if you like a typewritten plot, or the trailer.



Review: I went into Bolt with a slight disadvantage. I had not intended to see the movie in the theaters, and therefore had not stopped my friend from telling me what he thought about it when he saw it with his kids. This gave me a preconceived notion that I generally try and avoid when doing reviews. So, since he had described it as "Ok, but not as good as some of the other recent animated fare like Kung-fu Panda or Wall-E", I was not expecting much. It turns out that while my friend and I are generally in tune with each other, this was the exception. Now, despite this slightly lackluster review I had received, I found myself enjoying Bolt. The humor is more focused to children, but not juvenile enough that adults are bored. While I did enjoy the film, I must say that I enjoyed the first ten minutes much more then the rest of the film. This was the part of the film where Bolt is displaying his "superpowers", and honestly, I found myself wanting these scenes to continue, and was slightly dissapointed when they were over. Maybe that's just me, but I thought that for what was essentially filler and just to set-up Bolt's world, what could have easily been a bunch of "throw-away" scenes was actually very well choreographed and executed. I admit, that I'm a tad bias towards liking anything with superpowers, but this was a new type of execution that I hadn't seen before, and enjoyed.

Pros: The animation in this movie was really top-notch. It almost rivled the current champ Of computer animation Pixar. What was missing, is what Pixar calls "imperfecting". The enviroments are just too perfect/clean. The grit and grime of everyday life seems to not effect this world. It's little things like that which separates this very similar crop of animated pictures. The good news is that the animators definitely did their homework on their animal subjects. These creatures actually moved like cats and dogs, and little idiosyncrasies you only notice if you've owned a pet were present in their behaviors, and it was nice to see for a change. The plot moved along at a steady pace, and there was enough humor to keep you entertained.

Con: I guess you can't really blame the movie for this, but I'm a big late night movie goer, and I haven't been to a kids movie matinee in quite sometime. It was crying babies, the constant "I'm scared" from the child in back of me whenever the screen was dark. Now, I know what your thinking "It's a kids movie, duh. Of course there's going to be kids". I know I know, just saying it was an experience I had not been privy to in a while. Also, my father-in-law chose a non-stadium seating movie theater, slippery floors and everything. These are the kind of theaters where I'm glad that I'm tall, but even then I still had to crane my neck when the equally tall guy sat directly in front of me. Anyway, the actual cons of the movie is that its not memorable. It was a decent watch, and there were some funny moments, but as far as I'm concerned it's a one watcher.

Synopsis: A decent Disney film to enjoy with the kids. If you don't have kids, it can wait till DVD.


Ratings out of 10:
Performance: 7
Plot: 6
Animation: 7
Enjoyment of experience: 6
Desire to own: 2