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Bolt is the first 3D animated Disney movie to be released after buying Pixar and it shows. It doesn’t reach the heights of Pixars movies but it is a better movie than let’s say “Chicken Little”. Bolts plot is a bit of “Inspector Gadget” meets “Toy Story” meets “The Incredibles”, but it never feels really old, just a bit as this is just the latest in “talking animals” 3D movies.
Bolt is the star of a TV-show about a girl named Penny and her pet dog who has superpowers and regulary battle a green-eyed man and his henchmen. Yup, that sounds a bit like Inspector Gadget. To get the best acting out of Bolt he’s made to believe that everything is real, some kind of reversed method acting I guess. By the way, did I mention the Truman Show? No, well you can see the parallel I presume…
While chasing a couple of cats Bolt accidentally gets shipped out of the studio and ends up in the real world where he thinks he has real powers… Did I hear someone mention Buzz Lightyear?
Now out on the streets Bolts hooks up with 2 other animals; Rhino the Hamster and Mittens the cat. They join Bolt in his quest to go home.
Let’s start with the good; Bolt is a fun adventure with likeable characters and some good gags. Most of the smiles are generated by the antics of Rhino the Hamster. There are also some very good choreographed actionsequences. The openingscene alone could well have been a scene from a Michael Bay movie. The story is a step above the usual fare in case of layering but in the end misses the quality and originality of a Pixar movie. Compared to that this movie disappoints. It doesn’t take any chances do radical things with the material.
Nevertheless Bolt is a pretty fun movie it only never reaches unexplored territory.
