Third act saves the film

Rating: 6/10 (30 May 2009)

Sadly, having just seen the film it's been proved to me that for the most part, the nomination process for the Best Animated Feature Oscar pretty much is limited to the films that get the most promotion and make the most money. Therefore, those who nominate the films will bother to sit down and watch it, and since it's the one they remember at least hearing about, BAM! It gets nominated.
About an hour into the film, I found myself just checking the DVD timer to see how much longer the thing was going to run. The story was OK, but all in all it wasn't holding my interest, and the hamster character was being shoved down our throats in an over-the-top "Hey! He's cute and manic and therefore, he must be funny!" way. John Travolta and Miley Cyrus didn't seem to be clicking for the main voices either, they were just rather ordinary. Malcolm McDowell was hammy but for that particular character, it worked. Susie Essman was the only voice actor who seemed to try to give her character, Mittens, a real soul that transcended just being a "cartoon voice".
Fortunately, the last 20-25 minutes got more interesting, with the fake-out of Penny supposedly falling in love with the "new" Bolt, plus the rather dramatic pacing of the climactic fire and rescue. For this, to go the Siskel and Ebert route, the film overall gets a "thumbs up". However, I can't see "Bolt" being all that remembered and revered years from now. The Disney films from the last decade that people almost never recall immediately are such ones as "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and "Hercules". In 2019, "Bolt" will likely be parallel.