At this point any animated "family movie" that isn't littered with piss and fart jokes is notable. If it also doesn't contain any sex jokes you're also seeing something out of the norm. This film manages to deliver an enjoyable and at times inventive story without the scatological references, so kudos to the filmmakers for acting like adults.

The story is about Bolt (John Travolta) a small white dog who has been raised on a television set. He is the star of a predictable and failing television show and his haughty director has the crew go to extreme lengths to keep the dog completely unaware his television life isn't real. Bolt's master, Penny (Miley Cyrus), leaves for the day, Bolt is convinced she has been kidnapped by the show's villains (it kinda makes sense in context.) Bolt then heads out into the big bad world in search of Penny. Along the way he buddies up with a cat named Mittens (Sue Essman) and a overly zealous hamster named Rhino (Mark Walton).

As far as animated flicks go, this is a visual descendant of The Incredibles. The Pixar super people film's style is obvious in the opening sequence and is threaded throughout the remainder of the film. The film is modeled after the Pixar line of films as well. It avoids low humor and focuses on story and development. To be honest, the development isn't that great and the film loses much of its steam as it goes along. The first half of the film is strong, but the resolution of the film faulters mostly because there isn't a strong villain or central conflict. There is nothing really to resolve. This means the kids will be excited at first but may get eventually bored.

Overall, the kids will most likely enjoy the film. For parents, this is one of those family films you will probably have to see/hear a thousand times but it won't be too painful. In other words, enjoyable for kids, not terribly obnoxious for the adults.





Related Reviews:
Animated movies
Cars (2006)
WALL-E (2008)


Other Critic's Reviews:
Critic After Dark
USAToday

Labels: film, John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, movie review, Sue Essman