An enjoyable family adventure

Rating: Null/10 (9 March 2009)

Bolt and his owner Penny are superheroes, thank to a treatment from Penny's dad, Bolt has powers greater than your average dog and endlessly has to use them in big action sequences. Or at least, this is what he thinks. The reality is that none of it is real and it is just a TV show, with the facade kept up to ensure Bolt gives a great "performance" each week. Chance separates Bolt from Penny though and sees him accidentally shipped to the other side of North America. Once free from his packaging "prison", Bolt surmises that this is the work of his nemesis and sets out to locate and rescue Penny. The other animals he involves in his quest meanwhile, wonder how to break the news to him that he is, well, just a dog.
There is a downside associated with Pixar making so many good animated films and that is that the bar is raised so high that "good" films are judged harshly against criteria that they weren't really setting out to achieve. This happened to Bolt, although it fairness it doesn't help itself in the comparison stakes by essentially being the Buzz Lightyear part of the Toy Story films. It ended up being criticised for its lack of depth for adults and how the sentiment is just that, rather than emotion. This is perhaps unfair because Bolt came out in the same sort of year as Wall-E did, the latter film dominating all before it and rightly so.
What Bolt delivers is a plot that allows for comparatively simpler emotion that is just about enough for adults without being too much for children, the message is simple and it is delivered well. The majority of the film though is about comedy and action. It opens with a greatly inflated action sequence from one of the bolt TV episodes that shows good awareness of the action-movie genre and entertains as such. From here it goes the familiar path of self-realisation along Bolt road trip back to Hollywood and this aspect is perhaps not as complex or as engaging as it could have been but at least it is entertaining. Most of this comes from the side characters as Bolt himself drives the plot more than the laughs. The animation is impressive of course and the direction is good, again with its visual references to other things and also the delivery of shots that would not be possible in "real" action. I saw it in 2D so I can't comment on the 3D effects.
The voices are good although the stars don't really steal the show as they can do. Travolta isn't anything special but does the job as Bolt without bringing a lot to the character that isn't delivered by the animators. Cyrus is OK and gets to sing the song in the film as well. Essman and of course Walton are the real good turns though, mostly due to them having the better material  likewise the pigeons, who are all good characters. McDowell, Bader, Lipton and a few others add colour but have smaller roles.
Bolt is not Wall-E and in fairness it should not be judged by that yardstick. However, what it is is an enjoyable family film that delivers a good plot, great animation and regular laughs  and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.