Bolt: Disney Revival with John Lasseter
New Animation Chief Puts The Magic Back into Disney
Jan 17, 2009
After unloved clunkers like Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons, Bolt has the verve and emotion of Disney, and Pixar, on tip-top form.
One of the first things Lasseter did on becoming chief creative officer when Pixar and Disney linked-up in 2006, was to take American Dog – as it was then called – away from director Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch) and assign it to Chris Williams and Byron Howard.
Canine Truman Show
The result is a touching, funny adventure about Penny and her dog, Bolt, who star as action heroes in a TV show. To get a convincing performance from Bolt, the studio fools him into believing he really is a dog with superpowers (a kind of canine Truman Show). But when Bolt gets lost in the outside world it slowly, painfully, dawns on him that he’s just an ordinary mutt.
The movie (US release November 08; UK February 09) is a computer-animated feast for eyes, with sharp dialogue and emotional pull as Bolt acclimatises to a real dog’s life and sets out across America to find Penny.
John Travolta and Miley Cyrus
While John Travolta (Bolt), Miley Cyrus (Penny), Susie Essman (Mittens the cat) and Malcolm McDowell (Dr Calico) bring their characters vividly alive, it is Disney animator Mark Walton voicing the gonzo hampster Rhino who steals the biggest laughs.
Walton, who, like Rhino, is a geeky guy, got the gig after doing the voice hilariously for the storyboards.
Lasseter candidly admitted some of Disney’s recent output ‘sucked’ when answering questions at the British Film Institute in London for a 3D Bolt preview in January. The Hawaiian shirts and easy-going manner aside, he has been steely enough to restore Disney as a filmmakers’ studio by ridding it of the executives who had deadened its output with straight-to-video sequels.
Steamboat Willie
The new Disney branding revealed in Bolt’s opening credits is a sequence of Mickey Mouse from Steamboat Willie. Lasseter explained that he didn’t think Disney should be embarrassed about its heritage, which should also inspire the creative teams to aim high.
The recurring theme of Lasseter’s comments at the BFI was his desire for compelling storytelling, the hallmark of all Pixar’s computer-animated hits, such as Toy Story, The Incredibles and Wall-E.
He also had no time for the previous Disney regime’s dismissal of its traditional animators after the box-office disappointment of its last hand-drawn feature, Home on the Range (2004). Lasseter likened this to an unsuccessful studio buying the same cameras as that of a successful one to emulate its triumphs.
The Princess and the Frog
He has since rehired many of the old hands to make a new traditional animated feature, The Princess and the Frog. This New Orleans-set retake of the fairytale (apparently, the princess and the frog both become frogs when the spell backfires) will be released later this year.
The jazzy score is by Randy Newman, who worked on Toy Story, and Lasseter was effusive when talking about how this is a film whose beauty was pretty special.
Lady and the Tramp is one of Lasseter’s favourite drawn animations and its ‘rounded’ style is the ideal set for ‘Frog’. It will be directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, who oversaw The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, and, Lasseter says, the reassembled pencil guys have poured themselves into it and have a point to prove with this one.
As does Lasseter himself. He, too, is an animator once fired by Disney before becoming a founder member of Pixar. Back then he felt Disney had lost its way but now, as in any good fairytale, he’s returned to take the crown of the Magic Kingdom. Bolt suggests it could be a happy reign.
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