Review - Bolt

By 2008, with Pixar and Dreamworks dominating the computer generated film market, Disney's own in-house animation studio seemed to have fallen to the wayside after making the switch from traditional animation to computer generated features. Previous releases Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons didn't reach the same popularity of Toy Story or Shrek. However along came “Bolt” which did generate a fair bit of buzz and was a hit for the studio. Watching the film it's easy to see why it's a success: Bolt is a entertaining family movie with a strong cast of characters and excellent animation.

Bolt (voiced by John Travolta) is a lovable pooch starring in a action-adventure television show with his owner Penny, who is voiced by Disney tween favourite Miley Cirus. In the show Bolt is a superdog with a host of special powers, such as the ability to bend bars, stop cars with his forehead and a superbark which causes all kinds of destruction. The only thing he can't do is fly, which as Bolt points out would be “ridiculous.” Bolt has no idea that all his adventures are being filmed for a TV show and that his super powers are all fake special effects. In Truman Show-esque style Bolt is kept on set at all times and is oblivious to the outside world. Inevitably through a series of mishaps Bolt is flung into the real world and ends up in New York, and he embarks on a journey back to Hollywood to save Penny who he believes is in great peril. Joining him on his journey is sly, sarcastic cat Mittens (a solid voice job from Susie Essman) and Bolt's number one fan, an excitable hamster named Rhino (excellently voiced by Mark Walton.)

Bolts adventure back to Hollywood is a funny and exciting one. As well as the likeable and well acted characters of Mittens and Rhino, Bolt meets a host of other characters along the way, the highlight being three wiseguy pigeons he meets in New York. All the characters are expertly animated, with Disney's usual attention to animal detail translating well to CGI, the pigeons in particular with their wide eyes and twitching necks are well realised. The fast paced action sequences which make up a fair portion of the film are also very good, and manage to bring across a sense of peril and excitement often missing from CGI generated action sequences.

The plot is fairly predictable and there are few surprises - in true Disney fashion lessons are learnt and fears are conquered. But with the likeable characters, winning humour and involving action sequences Bolt is a fun ride while it lasts. Ironically after finally getting the hang of making a solid, enjoyable CGI film, Disney animation under the direction of John Lasseter are making the move back to traditional animation, starting with the upcoming “The Princess and the Frog.” While I'm all for this, I'd be happy to see further CGI releases from the studio if they follow the same standard of quality as “Bolt.”