My Favourite Movies: Bolt

Some of you will know how much I like – indeed love – animation. The technology for producing animated movies, with the advent of powerful CGI, means that almost anything is now possible. But all of the advanced computer graphics packages in the world still can’t produce a great film without both a decent plot and – most importantly of all in my opinion – heart. Bolt had all three: Excellent CGI which they repeatedly showed off to great effect, A more that adequate plot as the eponymous Bolt came to the realisation that he wasn’t a super-hero but could still be a hero and that hard to define ‘something’ that makes you identify with unreal characters enough to care about them.

Bolt is definitely a superior Disney film that, fortunately, fails to be overly sentimental or annoyingly preachy – although to be fair it does approach both from time to time. Without giving too much away to those who haven’t seen it, Bolt is the star of a TV show along with his ‘person’ Penny. In order to make the audiences believe that Bolt can do all of the amazing things he’s supposed to do the studio have constructed a worldview for Bolt to believe in. In it Bolt actually believes he really is a super-dog. Unfortunately he’s accidently shipped to New York on the opposite side of the country from his beloved Penny and spends most of the film getting back to her – and along the way learning that being super isn’t all about having super-powers. Trite I know, but actually well handled without tipping over into saccharine sentimentality. Bolt – voiced by John Travolta – has a great cast of extras including Penny – voiced by Miley Cyrus, Mittens the cat – voiced by Susie Essman and my personal favourite Rhino the hamster voiced by the awesome Mark Walton. If you missed this movie in theatres or have been avoiding it because its Disney or a kid’s film then please correct that mistake and hire it immediately. I pretty much guarantee that you’ll laugh your way through 92 minutes of crazy action-adventure. Woof!