Shallow and predictable

Rating: Null/10 (23 March 2009)

Bolt is proof that not everything Pixar produces is gold. On paper the idea behind the plot is okay. But...well, here's what I didn't like about it: The whole idea that Bolt never, ever noticed the film crew, or that all of the show's effects were on-set, is just dumb and unbelievable. Probably they did this to avoid making Bolt look stupid, but it just makes him even dumber for never noticing - for instance in the scene where he holds the car off the bridge; they could do that in no other fashion than with wires, especially with the actor inside, and for Bolt to not notice them or notice whatever is really holding the car up, is ludicrous; how did the crew even set that scene up? Did Bolt really carry the car with the guy inside it all the way across town to the bridge?. A ready-made excuse for him to notice the film crew but still not know it's a TV show would've been to have him believe they're a documentary crew always following him around.
The human adults (excluding the actors playing Dr. Calico et al and Penny's mom) are all such obnoxious jerks. I hated this. The snobby director, the cold TV executive, the annoying "hip" assistant? They're all such a bunch of slimy creeps and stereotypes. Usually Pixar is above this. They make the TV executive mildly likable, but just when I thought the assistant was going to redeem himself by showing some concern for Penny, he reverts back to his old self just so we can have some (unneeded) comedy with Penny's mom throwing him out of the ambulance, and, ultimately, so Penny can take the moral high ground and quit. A better ending would've been Bolt continuing to do the show but also be a regular dog in his time off.
The only likable humans were the animal shelter guards. They were hilarious ("Spicy eyes!" indeed). And they disappear from the film as soon as they're introduced.
Ultimately I think the movie would've been better off if they'd just done the entire movie like the opening sequence. Maybe downplay the absurdity of it all to make Bolt less powerful, and Dr. Calico and his henchmen more of a genuine threat, and just do a plot where Penny is kidnapped for real and Bolt's weakness IS actually styrofoam and, de-powered, he has to enlist the help of Mittens and Rhino to rescue Penny and her parents from Calico and save the day without his powers. The same as the actual movie only he would've really had powers to begin with, and there'd be less pretentious moral posturing. Instead Pixar basically decided to do a retread of Buzz Lightyear's character arc from Toy Story, but with a dog.
Of course, had they done it that way, people would've accused them of "doing The Incredibles with a dog," so I guess Bolt just can't win.
So what is there to like? It has its moments. As mentioned, the guards at the animal shelter were a riot, and so was Rhino most of the time. Mittens had her moments, too. And even though he has perilously little screen time, Dr. Calico was a hoot as well and so were his two cats. So basically all of the little details worked, but the big, main story involving Bolt and Penny was clichéd and above all else was just dull and uninteresting.