A transcendent movie

Rating: 10/10 (13 December 2008)

The best movies transcend their subject matter. Rocky won Best Picture and Rocky Balboa (Rocky VI) should have because the focus of the movies went well beyond boxing and appealed mightily to those who had no interest in the sport. And so it is with Bolt!, a Disney movie.
On the surface, Bolt! is an animated kid's movie about a TV super-hero dog raised on a TV set,who never sets foot outside the studio. He is enormously believable in his TV role because he truly believes he IS a super-dog. The enemy falls at his superbark, walls tumble before him, iron bars bend in his paws, his Boltstrike causes bad guys to collapse as he valiantly saves his little girl partner Penny from doom.
Then, to enhance his concern for the next show, a kidnapping is staged. Penny is kidnapped, but only until tomorrow's show. But to Bolt, it is real. He escapes to save her and by a fluke is transported across the country. When he breaks out, he is not in Hollywood, but in New York..and in the never-before-seen Real World.
Slowly (and humorously), he realizes that his Super-powers are not real. But his resolve never weakens. Told repeatedly by a cat he picks up that humans do not really love animals, that a fine free life awaits him on his own, that Penny has replaced him by now and shorn of his powers, Bolt's relentless drive to return and save Penny from danger shines like a beacon on his cross-country voyage back to Hollywood and the girl he loves.
Along the way, he picks up the hilarious Rhino the hamster, a big fan of his show. Rhino talks like a macho movie hero "("it's a good day to die!"), but he is of course a hamster. He believes in Bolt, the superhero. In the end, Bolt is forced to deal with a very real danger without his powers and with only his hamster sidekick and his courage as allies.
In sum, the movie offers great humor,excitement and a display of nobility of character you won't see often. Take a kid or go with adults. Either way, you won't forget Bolt!