Bolt…James
Bolt. Bolt is a true Hollywood action hero. Dog hero extraordinaire.
Thing is, he doesn’t know the action is all Hollywood lights and
mirrors. Bolt’s handlers and Director feel he delivers a more
convincing performance because he believes in his superpowers. The sets
are designed to keep the action moving along without a boom mic in
sight. If you’ve ever been on location, you can only gasp at the thought
of the expense to actually accomplish that feat. Who cares? It’s
animation and Bolt is escapism at its funniest. All they have to
do is draw it without cameras and mics. Bolt is a delightful
superhero. Even if he isn’t a superhero. By end of movie he has found
himself and we know he is a superhero at dog heart.
One note—very
young children may find the opening sequences a bit scary. Bolt
and Penny, his human, encounter bad guys that would keep Daniel Craig
busy. Sophisticated eight year olds, however, did fine in the screening.
One spoke to the screen, “What an idiot!”, at one juncture, which netted
laughs from the audience…and demonstrated the kids were fully engaged.
Not viewed in 3D
for this screening, I am indulging this weekend with the 3D version,
taking my family and grandkids—it’s just worth it for the laughs. This
is the first Disney animation made 3D from the outset.
John Travolta is
the voice of Bolt, and does a bang up job. Miley Cyrus is Penny,
Bolt’s human. They even do the duet playing over the closing
credits. The voice cast is superb, including an interesting escapist
turn by James Lipton (Inside the Actor’s Studio) as the method actor
director for Bolt. Malcolm McDowell, the veteran actor with the
most cameos and bad guy roles in Hollywood today, plays the bad guy.
Susie Essman (comedienne) expertly plays Mittens, Bolt’s
street-wise, mentor kitty friend. Mark Walton tries out voice acting
with his Rhino, the overfed hamster sidekick. He stole the scenes he was
in, as well.
My favorite
characters/voice actors were the pigeons—they stole their scenes.
They’re a coupla generations off, but foget a ‘bout it! They are a riot
of one-liners and repartee. They steal the scene. Their west coast
counterparts are stereotypical and set up a later pay off scene. And
last but not least, Greg Germann plays Penny’s Hollywood agent, and you
can see him having fun with this character. He is a veteran actor, and
still my favorite character in Ally McBeal.
What of the movie?
Exquisite. Sometimes a movie becomes a classic due to one of its
elements. This simple little animation by Disney and PIXAR expatriates
takes slapstick by animals to the level of hilarity. BOLT manages
that fine art of comedic timing with the simplest of gimmicks, sight
gags, masterfully set up punch lines, and reliance on shared humor.
Resident pigeons encountered along the road are nonsensical stereotypes
that nonetheless engage in standup comedy with split second timing. The
Madagascar penguins wanted to be this funny.
The list of truly
funny, animated movies from the brightest and best animators, past and
present, for PIXAR is monumentally impressive. I am a big fan of
animation humor, in particular, with Cars, The Incredibles, Monster’s
Inc., Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and most recently the sophisticated
Ratatouille and Wall-E. Walt Disney Animation Studios, with these guys
and a bunch of animators are attempting to fill the shoes left by Pixar.
Bolt is a solid second attempt, after Meet the Robinsons. Let’s hope
they are off and running. After all, Pixar can only do so much. Their
next up is called UP, promising fun for adults. One can only
hope. Raised on animation, I see no reason to leave it to kids’ stories
only.
Bolt
joins this short list of animation comedy, with its own brand of humor
and heroism. Kids love this stuff. They don’t know the plot lines are
tired, the story rehashed, the characters composites of previous ones.
Disney has always relied on straight forward portrayals of good vs evil,
heroic protagonists, and really bad, bad guys.
Adults don’t have
to think about these points either if the movie is sweet enough. Bolt
pleases on many levels. No one character in this story comes off as
lovable as Bolt. No matter, the others are still fun. The overstuffed
hamster-in-a-plastic exercise ball is an over the top Bolt
groupie.
Production: Walt
Disney Animation Studios.
Voices: John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman, Mark Walton.
Directors: Chris Williams, Byron Howard.
Screenwriters: Chris Williams, Dan Fogelman.
Executive producer: John Lasseter.
Producer: Clark Spencer.
Art director: Paul Felix
Music: John Powell
Rated PG, 96 minutes
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