Penny Forrester (Miley Cyrus) is on the run. The dastardly Dr. Calico (Malcolm McDowell) wants to kidnap her so he can blackmail her scientist father (Ronn Moss) into revealing his secrets.
But before disappearing, Dad endowed her white German Shepherd – Bolt (John Travolta) – with super powers to safeguard Penny. Bolt can bend steel bars, leap long distances in a single bound, melt metal with his heat vision, and his Super Bark flattens countless enemies.
Bolt is also the unwitting star of a Truman Show-meets-The Matrix television serial. The director (Inside the Actors' Studio's James Lipton) maintains the illusion so that Bolt's reactions to Penny's myriad dangers will be more realistic.
When the season ends with a cliffhanger, someone forgot to tell the dog that Penny is all right. In his frenzy to save "my person," Bolt inadvertently ends up boxed and mailed to New York City. With the help of a streetwise cat (Susie Essman) and a fanboy hamster (animator Mark Walton), Bolt tries to find his way back to Hollywood and reunite with his grieving Penny.
So begins Bolt, the latest CGI film from Disney Animation. Originally titled American Dog – conceived by Chris Sanders (Lilo and Stitch) – the movie got a new director (Mulan script doctor Chris Williams) and a story makeover.
This could've been a disaster. Full credit to scriptwriters Williams and Dan Fogelman, who rock an otherwise wince-inducing concept. The result is a sweet flick with lots to say about loyalty and friendship.
The voice cast is universally good. Travolta proves why casting agents still call him after bombs like Battlefield Earth, and Cyrus gives heart to what could've been an annoying character. Essman's Mittens adds some much-needed skepticism, but Walton steals the film from everyone else, as a hamster with a flimsy grasp on reality.
Shades of Pixar in Bolt
This movie owes much to Pixar. Co-director Byron Howard's visuals, and the script, are reminiscent of films like The Incredibles and Toy Story – the latter especially obvious when Bolt discovers he's not a super-canine.
This isn't cause for concern – wait until The Princess and the Frog's 2009 debut – but it's a sign of how badly Disney Animation has slipped. The studio responsible for classics like Pinocchio and Fantasia still hasn't found its identity in the realm of CGI.
John Lasseter's critics will inevitably accuse the Pixar co-founder of imposing his artistic values on the Mouse House. Highly ironic, since Pixar's aesthetic was a blatant imitation of Walt Disney's own vision, something the Mouse House lost after the Old Maestro's death.
That Disney is taking Pixar's "story first" motto to heart is a good sign. Williams and Fogelman offer legitimate reasons why Bolt would believe that he's super-powered. Bolt's theories on why those powers don't work in the real world are realistic, and really funny.
However, a schmaltzy musical number at the halfway mark evokes Disney post-Lion King animated flicks, and not in a good way.
The Final Analysis
Bolt won't change the world, and it won't raise the bar for CGI animation. But it shows Disney getting back on track after derailing so badly in the mid-1990's, and delivering quality animated films the whole family can enjoy. It gets an 8/10.
Fun Fact: Chris Williams' "Glago's Guest" will no longer precede Bolt, leaving the film without a preview short. Disney reps have refused to comment, but it's believed "Glago's Guest" didn't test well with audiences.
