Genre: Computer Animated Children’s ComedyDirector: Chris Williams & Byron Howard
Starring: John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman, Mark Walton, Malcolm McDowell
Time: 96 minutes (plus trailers)
For years, there has been one very clear herald as to whether a CGI animated kid’s film will be good or not: If it’s not Pixar, it will suck. To prove my point, let’s look at the films some of the biggest animation studios have produced in the last few years. Pixar produced Wall-E (2008), Ratatouille (2007), Cars (2005) and The Incredibles (2004), all of which, with the possible exception of Cars, were terrific. In comparison, Walt Disney Animation Studios, since they began making CGI films, have produced Meet The Robinsons (2007) and Chicken Little (2005), Fox Animation have produced Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (2006) and the woeful Robots (2005) whilst Dreamworks brought us such celebrity voiced epics as Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008), Shrek The Third (2007), Flushed Away (2006) and Over The Hedge (2006). Point made. There are of course exceptions to the rule; the first Shrek movie was great (although a little heaving on the pop-culture references) and I will admit to having enjoyed DreamWorks Bee Movie. It is only recently, however, that this rule has been truly challenged. Obviously, Pixars Wall-E was amazing, but the big surprise of 2008 was Kung Fu Panda, which mixed great animation and even fight scenes with a surprisingly good script. Likewise, Bolt, from Disney, may prove that there is hope for the world of animation yet.
To clarify, this film is nowhere near as good as anything Pixar has produced. Nor is it as good as Kung Fu Panda or Shrek. In fact, the first twenty minutes of this movie are horrible; I blame this on the character of Penny, Bolt’s owner, voiced by tween sensation Miley Cyrus (personally, I can’t stand her, but $3.5 million a year means she’s doing something right). Frankly, all the human characters in this film are intolerably annoying. It is only once Bolt is separated from his two-legged companions that this film becomes very enjoyable. Bolt, the canine star of an action television show, gets lost, and has to make it across the US back home to Hollywood. The problem is that he has lived his entire life in a Truman Show-like studio, and as such believes that he has superpowers. Aided by a sarcastic cat and a television obsessed hamster named Rhino (who is the best representation of myself I have ever seen on the big screen), Bolt travels across the country to find ‘his person.’ Along the way, some hilarity ensues, and, unsurprisingly, everything works out in the end. Anyone who has ever seen a Disney film will predict every turn the film takes, but never the less there were enough laughs to make it well worth the cost of entry, and the kids in the same screening as me seemed to enjoy it.
I would like to mention some of the cast. John Travolta, as you may know, voiced the titular character, which makes me want to cry. Given that his son past away only a few days ago, I will refrain from writing anything to insensitive. Let’s just say that the career revival he experienced from Pulp Fiction is well and truly over. Perhaps a sequel to Battlefield Earth could be on the cards? As I already mentioned, Miley Cyrus voices Penny, Bolt’s young owner, who makes me want to kill myself. Her voice is incredibly irritating, and I never understood why Bolt would want to return to her. What I did find interesting was the way in which her character, a child star, was manipulated by her agent, which may reflect the actresses’ real life.
In my opening paragraph (once I finished canning DreamWorks), I made it sound as though this was a really good film…in retrospect, it’s only pretty good. I wouldn’t make a special trip to see Bolt, but if you’ve got a small child on your hand, it looks a lot better than Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa or the upcoming Monsters vs. Aliens. It is playing in some theatres in 3D, which I would avoid. The 3D isn’t that bad, but until they perfect the technology, it’s better to see it in a standard theatre.
Rating: 6/10
