Review of Bolt (2008) by Carl M — 23 Dec 2012

Though sadly overshadowed by the overrated dynamic duo of Wall-e and Kung Fu Panda, this sweet and charming animated movie with stunning visuals and beautiful, hand-painted backgrounds marks a successful return for Disney on the animated scene. This is perhaps amongst most underrated animated feature of the decade but a movie I think everyone should see.

Meet Bolt; a brave and ridiculously adorable canine actionhero tasked with the mission of protecting his owner Penny from an evil villain. At least so he thinks. The truth is that Bolt's reality is nothing but the ridiculous fictional framework of a popular Hollywood TV-show, and Bolt, unbeknownst to himself, is an animal actor. The programmer makers have kept has the dog locked inside an Hollywood studio for most of his life where they have been conditioning him, year after year, into thinking he has superpowers and that his owner Penny, the young girl to which he directs all his love and devotion, is in real danger. The cruel experiment is done to make the dog's performance more authentic and for it to work, Bolt is not allowed to get a glimpse of reality and is therefore locked in a trailer inside the studio where he is allowed to spend a few minutes together with Penny after each shooting.

Things only gets worse for the poor dog when he, in a misguided attempt to rescue Penny, winds up unconscious in a box and is shipped all the way to New York. Stranded in reality, lost and armed nothing with his delusions, the canine must get back to his owner on the other side of the country with the help of Mittens, a cynical alley cat whom he captures.

On the way, his attempts to use his superpowers makes way for painful and embarrassing failures and Bolt is eventually learns that his sense of reality, and his sense of identity along with it, is severely fake. Mittens, the cynical alley cat who apparently suffers from Stockholm's Syndrome, takes pity in Bolt and helps him through his identity crisis by teaching him how to be dog. Stripped of everything he thought he knew about himself and the world, Bolt holds on to the one hope that gives him strength, namely that his owner Penny's love for him wasn't all an act, and that she's waiting for him in Hollywood.

The movie does have its flaws and most of the can be summarized with the name Rhino; another shallow comic-relief character who screams all out all his dialogs to amp up his comedic assets, but overall, this animated feature is surprisingly smart, funny and often tragic story about the importance of trust and the risks and rewards that comes with it. A message which is embodied by the furry titular character: Bolt possesses a certain guileless innocence and loyalty which is what caused him all his hardship to begin with, but his trust is rewarded when he is reunited with Penny. He is also quite possibly the most adorable quadruped the world of cinema has ever seen, and I did shed a tear from him during the movie's more emotional scenes.

In summary: go see Bolt. It's one of those sweet and unpretentious that you seldom see these days, yet has enough charm and wit to be confused with a Pixar film. Oh, and if you after seeing this cutest of films can't resist the urge to get a Bolt of your own, learn from the movie and adopt a rescue!