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There's no gentle way to put this: Disney's Bolt is riddled with Hollywood cliches. It's figuratively (and literally) all over the map and the script is highly predictable and completely formulaic. It absolutely should have made me want to cringe and walk out and yet I was left wanting for more. Overall, Bolt is easily one of the best Disney animated films I've seen in years and that includes Pixar's contributions.
The premise is simple enough: Bolt (John Travolta) is adopted as an irresistible puppy and raised to believe that his beloved owner Penny (Miley Cyrus) is perpetually in danger at the hands of the arch villain Dr. Calico (Malcolm McDowell), aka the Greened Eyed Man. The only problem is Bolt is unwittingly the star of a network television series in which all of these capers occur and he's deliberately the only one who doesn't know it for fear he may turn in a phony performance.
The movie takes extraordinary care to unravel just how all of this occurs. Think Lassie meets Kim Possible meets The Truman Show. The action sequences from the show (and even one that takes place later on) are amazing and intense and done on a grand scale - these really could be scenes from any big budget action movie, only enhanced because of the super-reality of animation. Each show runs Bolt through the emotional mill but by the time the show's over, Penny's saved once more and Bolt can sleep comfortably.
Every night that is until a cliffhanger leaves Bolt stewing in his trailer wondering what evil torture his person is being subjected to at that very minute. An incredibly funny run-in with his cat co-stars (the Veteran Cat so wonderfully played by Diedrech Bader of the Drew Carey Show fame) who taunt their on-set enemy ultimately leads Bolt to escape from the confines of the soundstage and ultimately end up on the mean streets of New York City.
Bolt meets up with a street-wise alley cat named Mittens (Susie Essman) whose mean spiritedness and stoicism convinces Bolt that she's in cahoots with the Green Eyed Man. Taking her prisoner, the two embark on a cross-country trek to Hollywood. Along the way, Mittens seizes the opportunity to instruct Bolt on how to act like a real dog in such a freakishly cute way that only Disney can pull off. There they also meet up with hyperactive couch potato hamster Rhino who manages to steal just about every scene he's in. Rhino is a huge Bolt fanatic and can't wait to assume the role of sidekick, believing that everything he sees on tv is real.
Here enters one potential flaw in the film: the pace. The movie does spend a lot of time investing in its story that by the time the trio is halfway across the country, you'd expect it to be much further along. Enter the obligatory montage which fortunately proves to be just as entertaining as the rest of the film while not appearing to appear forced.
Then there's the moment where Buzz learns he's really just a toy. Oops, sorry about that. Then there's the moment where Bolt learns he's really just an actor and doesn't possess any super powers. And cliche after cliche, we finally get to the ending where Bolt also learns that he doesn't have to have powers in order to be someone's hero.
So with all the negatives that would make me throw popcorn at any other film, Disney still manages to pull them off expertly. Which also means that all of the postives (and there are plenty of those) make the film even more enjoyable. The animation is superb with the humans not being creepy looking or too highly stylized to avoid looking creepy, the amount of detail is incredible (serial numbers on electronics, the lens flare from the animal control truck, etc) and Bolt's (and Rhino's) constant melodramatic one-liners (which one easily expects in any Michael Bay movie) in real life are complete gems. Not to mention Mittens' tear jerking monologue (if only an instrumental of 'When Somebody Loved Me' was playing in the background).
This movie literally made me laugh, cry and sit up and beg for more.
If I had one genuine complaint, it's that the Veteran Cat was drastically underused. Here's hoping for a lot more of him on the DVD, maybe even a short.
If I had one wish, it's more Bolt. In a perfect world, I think Bolt could lend himself incredibly well to a cartoon series, especially if it were the show itself and ignored the real life aspects.
Bolt opens nationwide November 21, 2008. In 3D where available.
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