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Bolt suggests, maybe even proves, that there's life in Disney animation yet.After years of playing second fiddle to Pixar (which Disney bought in 2006) and DreamWorks, the Mouse House is finally living up to its legacy with this ode to a dog who thinks he's a superhero and the girl who loves him just for being a dog. Its script is smart, its conceit a heart-tugger in the finest of senses, and it's the first Disney effort in way too long to be more concerned with being a movie than with being a breeding ground for product tie-ins.
(Not that there won't be plenty of those, but at least the movie doesn't come across as an overlong commercial.)
Bolt, the dog, is a TV star — as is his young owner, Penny. Their adventures together, high-action thrill rides that play like a canine version of The Bourne Identity and its sequels, are chronicled in a weekly TV show. Problem is, Bolt doesn't know about TV. He thinks he really does have super strength, as well as a super bark that can make the Earth tremble.
All of this comes into play when Bolt is mistakenly mailed to New York, then has to find his way back to Hollywood and his beloved Penny, whom he believes is in the clutches of the evil Green-Eyed Man. Of course, that's only the cliffhanger ending of the last episode of his TV show, but Bolt doesn't know that.
That's most of the movie: Bolt trying to make it home on his own, without the super powers he's always depended on.
Much of the considerable joy in watching Bolt comes from his need to learn, finally, how to act like a dog. For that, he has the unlikeliest of teachers: Mittens, a scrawny alley cat he catnaps off the streets of New York thinking that she, like all cats on his TV show, is in cahoots with the forces of evil.
The two come to understand one another, and it's Mittens who teaches Bolt about the amazing things real dogs can do, like beg for food (a hilarious scene, as Mittens teaches Bolt how to look pitiful).
Along the way, a third traveler is added, a hero-worshiping hamster named Rhino who loves TV and buys into the Bolt mythology as much as Bolt ever did. In one of the movie's few missteps, Rhino comes off much better as a conceit than as an actual character. The idea of a heroic hamster, who rolls along in his own exercise ball, sounds like a can't-miss.
But somehow, Rhino, for all his unquestioning loyalty and boundless optimism, is never quite as hilarious as he should be. Maybe he should have been more hamster-like, hoarding food and other things in his pouches, or using his Habitrail skills to help his friends escape from some maze-like danger.
Bolt does much better by some of its other supporting characters, especially a trio of New York pigeons who come across as good-natured rejects from an avian Sopranos tryout.
The relationship between Bolt and Penny gives the film its emotional core, as well as making possible the requisite moral ending every Disney film requires. But it's the relationship between Bolt and Mittens that gives the film its heart and its humor. The pair prove a worthy successor to such mismatched Disney couples as Bambi and Thumper, Mowgli and Baloo, even Lilo and Stitch.
In two important senses, Bolt proves a refreshing throwback to the animated classics of yore. For one, the filmmakers don't insist on casting the film with famous voices. True, John Travolta and Disney money-machine Miley Cyrus give voice to Bolt and Penny. But neither comic Susie Essman (Mittens) nor Mark Walton (Rhino) qualify as marquee names — good voices, yes, but not marquee names.
The movie, playing in 3-D in many theaters, also avoids the myriad pop-culture references and double entendres that have become de rigueur for animated films ever since Shrek. This is a film kids and parents can enjoy together, and for the same reasons. Here's betting that a good share of Bolt's success can be traced to the established geniuses at Pixar; founder John Lasseter, now chief creative officer at Disney-Pixar Animation Studios, is listed as the film's executive producer, and his sensibilities are all over this film. But does any of that really matter? Bolt is a triumph, and it's great having Disney back in the game.
Bolt (WALT DISNEY PICTURES) Starring the voices of John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman. Directed by Byron Howard and Chris Williams. Rated PG for some peril. Time 96 minutes.
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