"Bolt" is one of Disney's few non-Pixar cracks at computer animation. Of course, Pixar's John Lasseter was heavily involved, so the pedigree is still there. "Bolt" is the story of a TV dog who plays a dog with superpowers, Bolt (John Travolta). In order to get the best from the dog, they have managed to convince him that he really is a super-dog and that the shows are actually happening (canine method acting). This all works beautifully until Bolt gets out of his trailer and thinks his Penny (Miley Cyrus) is in trouble. In a series of unfortunate events, he finds himself in New York City, on the opposite coast from Penny and begins to learn he is not really a super dog after all. With the help of stray cat, Mittens (Susie Essman), and a hamster, Rhino (Mark Walton), Bolt must find his way home to be reunited with Penny. "Bolt" pretty much hits all of the spots it needs to hit. It is funny when it needs to be funny, cute when it needs to be cute and warm when it needs to be warm. It mixes those styles very well and the result is a very entertaining movie the whole family could enjoy. In fact, in many ways, it is more Pixar than Pixar. Pixar's early films were more straight entertainment and humor. Lately, while still very good, the Pixar movies seem to be more message-based, culminating in "Wall-E", which turned out to be very heavy on the message, not so much on the funny. We enjoyed this movie and had a lot of laughs and my daughter has already seen it twice.Grade: B
Trailer:
3 comments:
Not only was WALL-E not intended to be funny (and if all animated films have to be funny, I feel sad for society), but it also did not feature a heavy-handed message, instead Andrew Stanton wasn't even going for an envrionmental theme, and only used that as a backdrop, with a very simple tale about love and humanity instead taking front and center and not being "heavy" at all.
To clarify, I never said they had to be funny, nor did I say I did not like Wall-E. However, it WAS a "message" movie, which is also not a problem necessarily. Here is how I reviewed "Wall-E" when I saw it:
http://gallagherreviews.blogspot.com/2008/11/wall-e-g-2008.html
Very good movie, but I do think it was a bit over-rated.
I agree with your rating! Huzzah!
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