Balto

Plot synopsis:
In New York City, an elderly woman and her granddaughter are walking through Central Park, looking for a memorial statue. As they seat themselves for a rest, the grandmother tells a story about Nome, Alaska back in 1925, shifting the film from live-action to animation. Balto, a wolfdog hybrid, lives on the outskirts of Nome with his adoptive father, a snow goose named Boris and two polar bears, Muk and Luk. Being half-breed, Balto is ridiculed by dogs and humans alike. His only friends in town is a beautiful red husky named Jenna-- whom Balto has a crush on-- and her owner, Rosy. He is later challenged by the town's favorite sled dog, Steele, a fierce and arrogant Alaskan Malamute.
Later that night, all of the children, including Rosy, fall ill with diphtheria and the doctor is out of antitoxin. The local wireless operator relays news of the outbreak and word travels to the territory capital at Juneau, where the governor orders antitoxin to be sent to Nome. However, severe winter weather conditions prevent medicine from being brought by sea or air and the closest rail line from Juneau ends at Nenana, 600 miles east of Nome. A dog race is held to determine the best-fit dogs for a sled dog team to get the medicine. Balto enters and wins, but Steele stamps on Balto's paw which causes him to growl at the musher, getting him disqualified out of fear that he might turn on the musher due to his wolfdog heritage. The team departs that night with Steele in the lead and later picks up the medicine successfully, but on the way back, conditions deteriorate and the disoriented team ends up stranded at the base of a steep mountainside slope with the musher knocked unconscious.
When the word reaches Nome that the sled team is missing, the town prepares for the worst. Balto sets out in search of the sled team, along with Boris, Muk and Luk. On the way, they are attacked by a huge grizzly bear, but Jenna, who followed their mark tracks, intervenes. The bear pursues Balto out onto a frozen lake, where it falls through the ice and drowns, while Muk and Luk dive in to save Balto from a similar fate. Jenna is injured in the bear fight and cannot continue. Balto instructs Boris and the polar bears to take her back home while he continues on alone; Jenna gives him her bandanna and Boris gives him some advice.
Balto eventually finds the team, but Steele does not want his help and attacks him until he loses his balance and falls off a cliff. Balto takes charge of the team, but Steele, refusing to concede defeat, throws them off the trail and they lose their way again. While attempting to save the medicine from falling down a cliff, Balto himself falls. Back in Nome, Jenna is explaining Balto's mission to the other dogs, but they don't believe her. When Steele returns, he claims the entire team, including Balto, is dead; he uses Jenna's bandanna as supposed proof. However, Jenna sees through his lies and assure Balto will return with the medicine, but the others remain skeptical. Using a trick Balto showed her earlier, she places broken colored glass bottles on the outskirts of town and shine a lantern on them to simulate the lights of an aurora, hoping it will help guide Balto home.
When Balto regains consciousness, he is ready to give up hope, but when a large, white wolf appears and he notice the medicine crate still intact nearby, he realizes that his part-wolf heritage is a strength, not a weakness, and drags the medicine back up the cliff to the waiting team. Using his advanced senses, Balto is able to filter out the false markers Steele created. After encountering further challenges and losing only one vial, Balto and the sled team finally make it back to Nome. A pity-playing Steele is exposed as a liar and abandoned by the other dogs, ruining his reputation. Reunited with Jenna and his friends, Balto earns respect from both the dogs and the townspeople. He visits a cured Rosy, who thanks him for saving her.
Back in the present day, the elderly woman and her granddaughter finally find the memorial commemorating Balto, and she explains that the Iditarod trail covers the same path that Balto and his team took from Nenana to Nome. The woman, who is revealed to be old Rosy, repeats the same line, "Thank you, Balto. I would have been lost without you," before walking off to join her granddaughter and her Siberian Husky, Blaze. The film ends with the Balto statue standing proudly in the sunlight.

Tags: cult, psychedelic

Review:
Kevin Bacon supplies the voice of Balto, a half-bred wolf who risks his life to travel in the cold of Alaska to retrieve a sled of dogs that were lost while bringing antibiodics back to the town of Nome to stop an epidemic.
It has a live action entry and closure (including a view of the Balto statue in Central Park) which acts as a tie-together, and the true story behind this movie gives it additional appeal.
This is the touching story of an out casted half dog half wolf named Balto voiced by the talented Kevin Bacon who's voice added a slight charm to the Balto character.
Now it is up to Balto to find the missing sled dog team and bring the medicine back to Nome before it is too late.This movie is so gripping, I can never sit through the whole thing without balling my eyes out.
This movie has a great plot which is based of a true story, a wonderful cast of voice actors, and a vary flowing animation style.
The voice acting is very good, Kevin Bacon while an unlikely choice initially does an above decent job, not monotonic or bland like some other celebrities who have voiced in animated films.
Bob Hoskins gives great comic relief as Boris, and Phil Collins is amusing as Muk and Luk. Bridget Fonda does well as Jenna, but I have to say Jim Cummings is absolutely BRILLIANT as Steele; Cummings is a very underrated veteran voice actor, and his malevolent voice over proves what talent as a voice actor he has.The film does have an engaging, sometimes tense sometimes heartwarming story, and while perhaps in need of a little more humour, the script wasn't actually that bad.
I have to say when it comes to these based on these sort of 2D animations, I don't usually rate them that high, I've been more of a fan of 3D animation, until Balto.The film is based on a true story in Alaska, of a cross-breed wolf/husky named Balto (Kevin Bacon), though the town of Nome see him as a threat, because of his wolf characteristics, and lives his life as a stray.
He's part wolf, but at the same time, he'd love to be part of a sled dog team, always watching with excitement as the sled dog husky teams would shoot by to and from the town, but he knows the town would never accept him.It is one day when Balto stumbles across a female husky, Jenna (Bridget Fonda), who he really takes a shine to, when his life begins to change.
Of course, Jenna hates Steele's ego and finds him too direct and aggressive, and would much rather be with Balto, despite her owners trying to keep her away, as they think Balto might attack her because of his wolf qualities.The town of Nome becomes victim to a spread of a terrible disease, Diptheria, which takes its toll on many children, including Jenna's best human friend, Rosie.
It is up to Balto to find the lost sled dog team, and retrieve the medicine that could potentially save a generation.The animation was fantastic, I loved the way they gave each character a personality, one of my favourites was the smaller dog in the sled pack with the high pitched voice, where another dog kept hitting him on the head whenever he said something he didn't like.
And the beautiful Jenna, Bridget Fonda and Kevin Bacon do great voiceovers for Balto and Jenna, really bring out the best in them, showing both of these characters as quiet and rather shy, but inside them, they are really powerful spirits.For me, alongside the fantastic animation and voicerovers, there is one thing as well that makes this such a great film.
Balto shows that it is his difference that makes him so gifted, and something that he should be proud of, not ashamed of like how the town's people made him feel, and of course, Steele.This truly is a classic film and definitely the best animated film from the 20th century.
'Balto' is based, of course, on the true story of the real-life 1925 Serum Run to bring back antitoxin to stricken Nome, Alaska, which was overtaken by a vicious bout of diphtheria.
Although the real story wasn't quite as stylized as depicted in this movie, the film certainly holds a proud candle to the real men and their dogs that risked their lives against insane odds and became heroes (even though in the end, only one dog was remembered).In the cold winter of 1925, the town of Nome is cheering their dogsled teams as they fiercely compete to win the annual race.
His only friends consist of an unlikely trio: a flightless Russian goose named Boris (voiced by Bob Hoskins, and with an accent and mannerisms that can't help but crack you up), and two polar bear siblings, Muk and Luk (Phil Collins), who can't swim.Balto soon falls smitten with Jenna, a beautiful husky who belongs to a little girl named Rosy, who is the only human so far to be friendly to Balto.
I'll let you look up the conditions on getting new antitoxin for yourself (this is a review, not a historical paper), and now Nome must send their best and fastest dogs on a dangerous race against time to retrieve the waiting serum at the town of Nenana  some 700 miles away or so.
It's now up to Balto and his ragtag team of mismatched friends to battle their way through the Alaskan winter wilderness to try and bring the medicine back home, and save both the team, and the stricken children back in Nome.Being a music aficionado, the first thing that I fell in love with about this movie was James Horner's beautiful score.
The pieces are always moving and magical, and truly bring the scenes to life in ways that couldn't have been accomplished without it.The hand-drawn animation in this movie is excellent, one of the best in many years.
Kevin Bacon seems slightly flat as Balto, and Bridget Fonda (Jenna) seems slightly dispassionate at times.There are many things to be enjoyed concerning this film.
There are the standard bumbling sidekicks, but they're more akin to comic relief than to actually accompanying the hero through his entire journey, and that's not to mention the humor in this film is genuinely funny and pleasant, not forced or contrived like in most animated movies.Some would be a little surprised to find some of the themes in this film are rather more grim and dark than in most other family-oriented animation films; there's a very real sense of impending mortality, especially towards the children of Nome, as demonstrated in one scene where we see several small coffins being made.
I for one love it and heartily recommend it to anyone who craves some good and decent 2D animation, those markets being so barren these days.* * * * * For reminding us what traditional animation was like with its magic and beauty, I award 'Balto' 8.5 bottle of antitoxin out of 10.PS  Was I the only one who was surprised to learn it was Phil Collins who voiced Muk & Luk?
Sure, it did not live up to the technical achievements of some animated classics, but the techniques used helped it.Balto was not just separated from other dogs and people, he was a character rejected by the world who had made a life for himself on the verge of civilization.On one occasion, he encounters some wolves, but is unable to follow them.
It's BALTO, an animated adventure supposedly based on true events of a courageous sled dog mellowed down to kids movie material (talking animals, wild antics, mild fictional perils).
It's appealing for kids, with maybe a few tidbits to attract adult attention, but it's still miles away from Disney territory.The film is less a true story as mere fairy tale, as Balto (voiced by Kevin Bacon), an Ugly Duckling of a half-wolf (half-husky, half-wolf) usually tormented and embarrassed by the other sled dogs, including the cream-of-the-crop town "hero" Steel (voiced by Jim Cummings).
The obligatory kiddie-humor can also be grating at times.Despite this, "Balto" is a good film that deserves to be seen by every animation fan..
i love this movie to death, its an amazing story with a great plot and good characters.
What I got was an amazing, inspiring and heart warming animated film which turned out to be one of the best I've ever seen.I was surprised about how much I was connected to the main character Balto.
Again, I found it sympathetic when Steele (the films ruthless antagonist) tries to spoil things for Balto by bullying him and trying to take Jenna from him.I found the animation to be very well done.
Bob Hoskins (as Boris) and Bridget Fonda (as Jenna) do a good job while Phil Collins voices Muk and Luk adorably and Jim Cummings is great as evil Steele.
The true legend of Balto is the story of a series of sled dog teams that relayed anti-toxin from Nenana to Nome in the coldest winter of 1925.
However, with that came some interesting story twists and animation techniques as well as almost no music, as we are used with American cartoons.In the end, I guess it is the best of the series (why movies devolve in time is still a mystery to me) though I barely started watching Balto III.
Balto is a movie about a half-wolf/half-dog who is an outcast in his society - spending most of his time with Boris (a goose) and Muk and Luk (two outcast polar bears).
When his hometown Nome is struck with a diphtheria outbreak and runs out of medicine, Balto has a chance to prove himself by trying out for the dog sled team which will have to deliver the medicine from a bigger city.What makes this movie so great?1.
Balto was not picked, obviously, but after the team leaves he sets off to find them because a huge snow storm is approaching.-- End of possible spoilers --I won't go any further, or I'd risk truly spoiling it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet but is looking it up on IMDb to see if it's worth watching.This movie will always have a special place in my heart.
Unfortunattly the team get's lost and now Balto must go find them and help them get the medicine back to Nome.I'm not going to lie and say the movie is flawless, the story is nothing new, the characters are kinda bland and the comedy reliefs are a little more annoying than funny, thankfully they don't follow Balto throughout his journey.With nice animation, a good cast, and a solid story, Balto is worth picking up..
I really did enjoy it, I loved the old school animation, I really miss it with all the computer animation all the time now a days.Balto is a half dog half wolf, he is not excepted by either animal and human.
But unlike the last time I watched, I did no research done on the actual true story...but that's for later.Balto is the story of a half-dog/half-wolf who is the subject of intolerance by the living beings of Nome in the year 1925.
Even though he has friends like Boris, the Russian Goose, and Muk & Luk, 2 goofy, fun loving polar bears, He desperately tries to fit in, but no matter what he does, the townsfolk don't trust his wolf side and the dogs of the town wish he would simply cease to exist, especially the vicious husky Steele.
But when a sickness overtakes a wave of children in the town, including young Rosie, who's dog Jenna takes a liking to Balto, Balto takes it upon himself to help save the children, with Boris informing him "A dog cannot make this journey alone....but maybe a wolf can."Now with every "based on a true story" line there's got to be alterations to the story.
If you really want to know the true story, just dig up the trivia section.The voice actors do a really good job, although Kevin Bacon sounds too good to play the role of a stray dog like Balto.
The lead dog was a Siberian Husky named, Balto.In 1995, Universal released an animated film based on the true story.
The film was called, "Balto".This is a great animated film with some nice animation, likable characters, good voice acting, and a great story.
The only problem I have is that some scene's didn't follow the true story and felt like there was no reason to put them in.But overall, "Balto", is a great animated film to watch..
It was much too difficult for me to get past all the inaccuracies and wild plot holes in the movie to enjoy it in any sense of the word.The story is based on the true story of the beginnings of the Iditarod, a dog sled race to and from Nome, Alaska.
It's an underdog story (built in pun there eh) about half husky, half wolf Balto (Kevin Bacon having a blast) who hangs around Nome, Alaska and is ridiculed by the local sled dogs for being a mud-blood.
Joining him are his lovable goofy goose friend Boris (Bob Hoskins trading in his jovial cockney accent for a jovial Russian accent), ant two adorable polar bears called Muk and Luk. Watching out for him is the only purebred dog in town who cares about him, Jenna the husky (Bridget Fonda), determined to muster a rescue party when he gets in over his head.
Balto must brave raging blizzards, treacherous fellow sled dogs and the world's biggest grizzly bear (seriously that thing is like 15 feet tall) to save the town's population, and he does it all with bravery, charisma and a winning attitude that's essential in any animated film.
Balto is a character that never came out of my heart, the film is based on real history and even have altered the original story and the character still looks perfect, shows that even with difficulties Balto has a good heart and cares about people, the feeling is amazing to know that my hero actually existed, the animation is beautiful the songs are amazing and it's a good movie for kids, but I still love him, many characters in this movie are fun and some beautiful estates, like Jenna, she's a beautiful Husky, the love between the two is very great, this movie shows many life lessons, Balto is worthy of being my character and everyone's favorite movie.
The story was great about a grandmother telling her granddaughter in NEW YORK CITY a cartoon tale about her growing up in Alaska in 1925 and how she fell into a deep illness and how a wonderful wolf dog named Balto voiced by Kevin Bacon went on a rescue mission to get the medicine and saved her life!
Filled with wonderful animation, great characters, and a great story based on a true story Balto is a great family film the only family can enjoy!
This movie is a true story about a dog named Balto who is part husky and part wolf (I don't want to give too much detail).
With his friends, Jenna (the red husky), Boris (the Russian snow goose), and Muk and Luk (two polar bear cubs) Balto sets out to rescue the children of Nome, Alaska from the epidemic of diphtheria that plagues them..
To me, there's everything you need to make a great movie : great animation, attractive characters, a beautiful story, a good production...
As stated before, this is the best non-Disney animation to date.The plot is engrossing, the animation is done well, the characters are well-developed, and the story is as a whole entertaining.Possibly the most well-done thing about this movie are the voice talents: Kevin Bacon (of six degrees fame) does a good hero as Balto himself.
The comedy relief comes in a hilarious Russian goose played by Bob Hoskins, and two polar bears (the funniest characters in the film) played by Phil Collins.As a whole, I hate dogs, and any movies about them...but this movie is just different, and I think that I would be lost without it..
It's well worth watching, because the characters are well-developed and well-portrayed, because the animation is gorgeous, and because the story is true if not to the history books, than at least to the heart.Which brings me to this: if you've researched the actual facts behind Balto's story as much as I have, or even quite a bit less, you will know that the movie doesn't do much in the way of being historically accurate.
I would just like to say that Balto is my all-time favorite animated film.
But the team gets lost and now only Balto can get the medicine and save the children.Some of the voice actors are Kevin Bacon who does the voice of Balto, Bridget Fonda who is the voice of Jenna, Bob Hoskins who is the voice of Boris and Phil Collins is the voice of Muk and Luk.Here's some advice: GO AND WATCH THE MOVIE(you'll love it!).
In the end, while it's not the most heart feel or entertaining, animated movie out there, Balto is still worth watching.
Now the story about Balto never once talked about him being part wolf or being a outcast among the people until the run but the movie has a heart all its own.
The legend of Balto was one of the first real legends that I learned and though at the time I thought that all that I saw in the movie was true, it got me into wanting to know more about legends.The story opens in Nome, well the cartoon part.
The plot is based on the true story of Balto, a half-wolf dog who saved the town of Nome, Alaska, from a diphiteria outbreak.