Balto

***Balto*** is a 1995 American animated epic drama adventure film directed by Simon Wells, produced by Amblin Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film is loosely based on a true story about the dog of the same name who helped save children from the diphtheria epidemic in the 1925 Nome serum run.

## Plot

Nome, Alaska, 1925. A diphtheria epidemic is sweeping through the town, and 18 people have already fallen ill. A young girl, who is the owner of Jenna (a dog that Balto has a crush on), gets sick and is slowly dying. The town's doctor sends for more diphtheria antitoxin, which Nome is out of. A dog team is sent to Nenana to pick up the antitoxin, but on the way back, there is an accident, and the musher is knocked out. When the team doesn't arrive, Balto goes to help them out. However, he is bullied by Steele, his rival, who tries to prevent Balto from reaching Nome so that he can take the glory for himself. Balto ends up leading the team, and on the way back, has an accident, but proves himself by bringing the antitoxin safely to Nome and becomes a hero. Steele, on the other hand, is shunned by the other dogs after they find out about his evil deeds.

## Good Qualities

1. The animation is great especially the details on the environment and the characters which has a sort of Disney feel/aesthetic, in spite of the film itself not being made nor distributed by Disney, and it was not made by Don Bluth either, despite being made by Amblimation, which featured Fievel Mousekewitz from An American Tail as its mascot, which was made by Don Bluth.
2. Though loosely based on a true event, it teaches really well to many children about real history.
3. Despite having a predictable plot, the movie makes it fun to watch as Balto comes across multiple obstacles to reach his goal.
4. The cast is mainly made up of well-written and likable characters.
	* Balto a young adult male brown-and-grey wolfdog; being a Siberian Husky-Arctic wolf hybrid. He has a courageous and reckless personality.
	* Jenna is a gracious and caring copper-and-white Siberian Husky and Rosy's pet as well as Balto's love interest.
	* Boris Goosinov, a Russian snow goose and Balto's caretaker, mentor, adoptive uncle, father figure, and sidekick who serves as a pretty good comic relief to the film.
	* Nikki and Kaltag, Star even when these trio help Steele bully Balto, the trio do show signs that they care about Balto but later all reforms and join Balto in delivering the antitoxin.
	* Steele is an incredibly nasty villain who you will love to hate. And yet, he manages to be entertaining and deliciously evil at the same time.
5. Excellent emotional scenes, an example being Balto realizing that the children are going to die from diphtheria if the medicine doesn't arrive soon when he sees a row of small coffins.
6. Beautiful music from the late James Horner who also composed for James Cameron's *Titanic* and *Avatar*.
7. The romance between Balto and Jenna was handled well. It also gives off a kind of Romeo and Juliet vibe with the two of them being from different backgrounds (Balto is a stray half-wolf while Jenna is a domesticated dog), only much less dark than the aforementioned play, as none of the love interests die in the end and instead, they end up together.
8. Great voice acting.

## Bad Qualities

1. The movie has a bunch of characters, but most of them didn't have much purpose or did anything.
2. Although based on a true story, the film took some liberties with the source material.
3. Sometimes the film can get dark, a prime example is when Steele purposely tries to make Balto not return to Nome which that will cost the lives of many children.
4. Steele can be an unlikable villain as he constantly bullies Balto and makes several attempts to force Jenna to become his mate. He outdid himself when he tries to get Balto and the sled dogs lost in order to take all the glory while endangering the children of Nome especially Jenna's owner, Rosy.
5. It's two sequels Balto II: Wolf Quest (while decent) and Balto III: Wings of Change aren't nearly as good.
6. **Plot hole**: When Balto's new team leaves Steele behind, Steele saw that they were getting far away and somehow he managed to get way ahead of Balto in order to sabotage the marks.

## Reception

### Box office

The film opened up at #15 on its opening weekend with a domestic gross of $1,519,755. It later grossed $11,348,324. The foreign box office information is unavailable. Despite not being successful at the box office, the film was successful on video sales.

### Critical response

Roger Ebert gave the film a positive review, describing the film as "a kids' movie, simply told, with lots of excitement and characters you can care about" and gave the film 3 out of 4 stars.

## External Links

* Template:IMDb
* Template:Rotten Tomatoes