SYNOPSIS:
Bolt is the star of the biggest show in Hollywood. The only problem is he thinks the whole thing is real. When the super dog is accidentally shipped to New York City and separated from Penny, his beloved co-star and owner, Bolt springs into action to find his way home. Together with his hilarious new sidekick Rhino, Bolt #1 fan and a street-smart cat named Mittens, Bolt sets off on an amazing journey where he discovers he doesn't need super powers to be a hero.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Disney sure has a penchant for dogs. In 2008 alone, the Mouse Company launched "Beverly Hills Chihuahua", the straight-to-video "Space Buddies" and the non-Pixar "Bolt". All contains animated talking dogs.
Supervised under the watchful eyes of Pixar honcho John Lasseter, "Bolt" has been in production limbo for years till Lasseter resurrect the project with young, upcoming directing duo Chris Williams and Byron Howard. The result is definitely worth the wait.
While not on par like say Pixar’s "Monsters Inc" or "A Bug’s Life", "Bolt" is way better than Disney’s "Chicken Little" and "Dinosaurs" in terms of storytelling. You see Lasseter is a guy who emphasis on story-telling not just random gags or action pieces. He wants audience to be emotionally attached to the characters and plot.
Bolt is a TV dog (voiced by John Travolta), one who has superpowers such as crashing through walls, laser vision, superbark etc onscreen but things got a little carried away when Bolt thinks that his onscreen owner, Penny (Miley Cyrus) is being captured by the evil Dr Calico all thanks to the ingenious director who created an environment which Bolt assumed is the 'real' world.
Other than a flashy, breath-taking opening which showcases an episode of the fictional TV show (the filmmakers admitted that it’s inspired by a typical Michael Bay’s action movie and ironically looks far more extravagant than any other TV shows combined), "Bolt" for the rest of the running time is a feel-good, road trip movie. Along the way to 'save' Penny, Bolt stumbles into some goofy pigeons, befriends a streetwise cat named Mittens and also a Bolt’s diehard fan, a hyperactive hamster Rhino, somewhat along the line of the Disney classic "Homeward Bound".
In some ways, Bolt is all familiar territory but on the other hand, you can’t help falling in love with the heartwarming friendship involving Bolt and Mittens as the latter helps in teaching the former on how to behave like a 'real' canine and Rhino is an instant likeable comedic sidekick even though he spends the entire movie cooped up in a plastic ball. Kudos to story animator Mark Walton for his enthusiastic performance.
And the yes the CG animation here is amazing, combining 2D drawings for some of the backgrounds and 3D technology, Bolt is a pleasure to look at. The Vegas sequence is truly one that captured the essence of the location for example. In recent years, the reigning King of animation has suffered a few setbacks but with "Bolt" and the underrated "Meet the Robinsons" under its belt, Disney has proven that it’s ready to tackle the new world again under the insightful John Lasseter.
To summarize, "Bolt" is a great outing for the children as well for the adults. Fully awesome!
SPECIAL FEATURES :
Super Rhino – This all-new 4 minutes short has our favourite hamster Rhino getting into some mischief of his own. Have a good laugh if you can’t enough of Rhino.
Deleted Scenes - Directors Chris Williams and Byron Howard are here to introduce two scenes which are altered/deleted from the final movie version. A rather violent dogs attack in an alley and the rescue of Rhino.
A New Breed of Directors: The Filmmakers' Journey – A short but fun 4 minutes feature which include interviews with the directors, John Lasseter and how a group of animators decide to grow beards during the tight production process.
Act, Speak! The Voices of Bolt – Interviews with the voice actors including Travolta, Cyrus and Susie Essman (Mittens) and how the directors broke the news to Walton that he landed the part of Rhino.
Creating the World of Bolt – Here you will learnt that some of the backgrounds are painted rather than CG rendered and how a real cross-country road trip assist in the final rendering of the visual.
"I Thought I Lost You" – Featuring behind-the-scenes whereby the old John Travolta and the very young Miley Cyrus recording the duet "I Thought I Lost You". The music video is included as well.
Exclusively on the Blu-ray disc is the Bolt's Be-Awesome Mission Game and Bolt Art Gallery consisting of storyboards, character mock-ups etc.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
As mentioned in my movie review, this Blu-ray DVD presentation is ahem, awesome. Colours are richly defined and the amount of details that goes into it is incredible. The beauty of some of the 2D backgrounds can be clearly seen right here as well. This Blu-ray edition only confirmed how vivid the CG looks and enhance all the small little details which you missed.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 English track boasts excellent surround sound during the opening sequence. Ambient effects can be clearly heard and dialogue is fortunately not overlapped by the energetic audio. While it doesn't comes with a DD True HD soundtrack, the Blu-ray disc comes with DTS HD audio. Overall, an excellent effort by Disney.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Linus Tee |
