Blu-ray review: Bolt

Dan — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:00:14 +0000

When boiled down to it’s elements Bolt is made of the same ingredients as Beverly Hills Chihuahua. The protagonist is a dog which has been ripped out of it’s comfort zone, the sidekick a reluctant and world weary ally, the plot surrounds the heros efforts to get back to it’s owners (in LA no less), and there is a strong motif of “finding your bark” running through both films.

But the difference is, Bolt works.

The story is well paced, the protagonists sympathetic, the comedy funny, and the tragedy poignant. Sure, it doesn’t break any molds as far as plot goes; but it’s a kids film, it doesn’t need to. It’s story of love lost and then regained, an archetypical tale that never goes stale.

To steal a synopsis from the mighty Wikipedia:

The film’s plot centers on a small white dog named Bolt who, having spent his entire life on the set of a television series, thinks that he has super powers. When he believes that his human, Penny, has been kidnapped, he sets out on a cross-country journey to “rescue” her.

The vocal acting was very good. I was particularly taken by Mark Walton as Rhino the hamster, but even have to give a grudging nod of respect to the normally excruciating Miley Cyrus who portrayed Penny, Bolt’s owner, excellently.

And the animation? Well I must admit that I approached the movie expecting something a little under par. Despite being a Disney film, Bolt did not have any input from Pixar studios and so I wasn’t anticipating anything overly spectacular. Other non Pixar CGI films include Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons which, while they were perfectly acceptable, didn’t really raise the bar as far as moving the genre of CGI forward.

But the animation in Bolt was spectacular. It could have something to do with the Blu-ray but blimey, the first ten minutes of the movie really took my breath away. it wasn’t so much the rendering of the character’s themselves (although they were great), but the backgrounds. Wonderfully realistic textures that meshed exquisitely with the main action. The cinematography was pretty damn good too. Visually the movie was very satisfying.

I’ve read a few negative reviews from my fellow Disney reviewers criticizing the movie for being overly melancholic and even a bit hypocritical (the villains of the piece being a large money driven movie studio, a bit like Disney in fact). To them I say a respectful pish and piffle. Bolt’s a great film, a bit sad in places true and there is a certain irony to it if you’re in a cynical enough mood. But it’s overwhelming message is that of doing the best you can with what you’ve got, and that seems a good enough thing to be teaching my kids to me.

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Blu-ray review: Bolt