Bolt (2008)

Bolt is an entertaining action packed film with beautiful animation. All the elements in this 2008 Disney film seemed to be there, but it felt like something was missing, hence my rating. There were brilliant voice overs from Miley Cyrus, John Travolta and Mark Walton. What made this film so highly entertaining was because of the supporting characters. Genius pigeons thought the movie added some humour and Rhino the hamster who has never been out of his ball had such personality!

The film follows the story of a dog named Bolt who is a Hollywood movie star. He doesn’t know that, though. All he knows is that his “person” (co-star Penny, voiced by Miley Cyrus) is in danger and he has to save her with his [staged] powers. But, after Bolt gets lost, it’s up to his instincts, not powers, to find his way home. Penny needs him... but will she find him?

There were several “all is lost” moments in this film and it was slightly upsetting when Bolt realised he never had powers. The music score added another layer to the film and, although there was some dispute over the ending in my Film Club, I found it satisfying. The contrast between personality traits such as pessimistic cat, Mittens, overoptimistic fan, Rhino and confident, yet devastated Bolt made this film the textured, vivid animation that it is. Comparing this movie to my favourite film, Big Hero 6, I feel that it was lacking a connection to the characters caused by tragedy that Big Hero 6 nailed. There just wasn’t that terrible event that you need to fall in love with a movie. Still, it had most other things just right. I have a feeling that I’ll be watching the animation again!

It was so interesting to see a change in the way movie plots typically are. The switch between hero Bolt and normal Bolt led you feeling confused - he has a great life, but not a real life, Penny loves him, but Penny’s an actress - but, still, it worked. I enjoyed this movie very much and I hope that others will too. I would recommend this film to families, as it is top-notch! It has the complex plot for adults and cute eyes and and puppies for children. There was a moral of friendship and how friends can come in all shapes and sizes and also that, in this busy world we live in, the truth shouldn’t be hidden. We have to find out things sooner or later and telling “white lies” and deceiving people isn’t going to do any good. Especially not if you try to deceive a dog. For me, as an animal lover with a dog of my own, I took away the message that you should always keep an eye on your pets, they’ve been underestimated and who knows what they’ll do next?!