Bolt

Rating: 7/10 (19 April 2011)

It isn't often that Disney make a computer animated film without the help of Pixar, only example I can think of is Dinosaur, but there came this one with an intriguing sounding story. Basically Penny (Miley Cyrus) is the girl with her American White Shepherd dog Bolt (John Travolta), who has many superpowers to defeat all the villains of the city, only thing is, it's not real. Bolt has been raised in a television studio as the star of the show, and he has been made to believe everything he does on the show, powers, villains, etc, is real. So on one episode, a two parter, Penny appears to be kidnapped by the henchmen of Dr. Calico (Malcolm McDowell), and Bolt thinking this is reality makes his escape and accidentally winds up outside of Hollywood, to New York City. Looking for and trying to "rescue" Penny, he meets alley cat Mittens (Susie Essman), cats to him are the enemy, and she plays along with his delusion until he can work out the truth and find his owner. In their journey and a few adventures they also wind up meeting and being joined by Bolt enthusiast hamster in a ball Rhino (Mark Walton), who also believes everything he does is real, and Bolt thinks he is some kind of all-knowing creature. Meanwhile, Penny, who earlier was sad she couldn't spend a day with Bolt as a regular dog, is upset that her confused Bolt is missing, but the studio urges her to let go and find a lookalike to continue the show. So after a number of adventures, travelling to Las Vegas, and discovering regular dog activities, such as hunger and fetching sticks, Bolt does eventually work out that he is not a super powerful dog, after being saved by Rhino. Another adventure or two, and the three animal friends do reach the studio, but Bolt is saddened to see Penny getting close to a lookalike dog, not realising she is just acting, it is only when a fire breaks out and Mittens convinces him of the true feelings that he can go back for her. In the end, after rescuing her from the fire, Bolt and Penny finally reunite as a regular girl and her dog to have a regular fun life together, with Mittens and Rhino joining as well. Also starring James Lipton as The Director, Greg Germann as The Agent, Diedrich Bader as Veteran Cat, Nick Swardson as Blake and J.P. Manoux as Tom. It is good that the critics mention the connection of The Truman Show with this, is is pretty much the same concept, just with a superhero theme, Travolta makes a good voice for the canine hero, Cyrus, annoying as she can be in real life, does the female character voice quite well, Essman is quite good as the sarcastic cat, and Walton steals many moments as the hyper fan hamster. The animation is fantastic for the story, it is heartwarming and really quite funny in many moments, and most of the scenes of action are exciting, a really watchable action comedy adventure. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film of the Year, and it was nominated the Golden Globes for Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Song for Miley Cyrus and Jeffrey Steele's "I Thought I Lost You". Very good!