48 – Bolt
The past few movies haven't been awful,
with Meet the Robinsons actually
being really good, so I was really wondering how 2008's Bolt
would fare. The story is about a
TV star dog, Bolt, and his TV star owner, Penny, who star on a show
about how Bolt needs to protect Penny with his super powers. With
ratings slipping, the producers decide to have an episode where Bolt
fails to protect her and she gets kidnapped. Now, this normally
wouldn't be a problem, but Bolt actually believes everything on the
show is real and that he actually has super powers. Thinking this, he
sets off on a cross country journey to “rescue” his owner.
Bolt,
our main character, is an extremely loyal dog who just can't tell
fiction from reality. He's incredibly protective of Penny and you
really feel bad for him seeing how he is constantly on edge from
having to protect her every day. He lives in a world where Penny is
in constant danger and can't lower his guard for a moment. Penny
wishes she could give Bolt a normal life, even for a day, but can't
because it would break the illusion the show's creators have created
to get a believable performance from him. While Bolt gets a ton of
character development, Penny is left out to dry a bit. While Bolt is
on his crazy adventure, kidnapping a cat, eventually finding out who
he really is and trying to become a regular dog, Penny just pops up
every now and then to remind us that she misses him. I like that she
really cares about him but we don't get to know her very well.
Mittens
is a cat that runs a sort of Mafia-like operation in New York City,
bribing pigeons to bring her food. Bolt meets her when some of those
pigeons get him to think that Mittens works for the villain that
captured Penny. He takes her hostage so that she can show him where
they took Penny while Mittens tries to escape, unsuccessfully. She's
much more street smart than Bolt and more of a jaded character than
I've seen in Disney movies so far. She really doesn't believe in
people because she was a house cat that was abandoned by her owners.
She finally starts to warm up to Bolt and helps teach him how to be a
dog when he finds out who he really is. Rhino is a hamster and Bolt's
biggest fan. He rolls around in a plastic ball and would follow Bolt
to the ends of the Earth. He also believes Bolt to be a real super
hero and is mostly comic relief. He does, however, have some great
moments where his undying loyalty to Bolt actually inspires Bolt and
Mittens.
The
beginning of the movie begins with a real long scene of the actual TV
show they star in. It really sets up the world they live in, or at
least the world Bolt thinks he lives in. We get to see how they
actually make the show and fool Bolt later on. I really liked this
introduction since it feels like it could have been the basis for a
ridiculous movie that, thankfully, never got made. The movie,
overall, is much less silly than Meet the Robinsons,
which worked for this kind of story. That's not to say that this
movie didn't have funny moments. The pigeons that appear are actually
really funny when they send Bolt after Mittens and can't, for some
reason, remember who he is despite all the billboards and
advertisements for his show that surround them. There are also some
cats that also work on the show that like to mess with Bolt since
they know he thinks it's all real. They appear a bit in the
beginning, though I would have liked to see them more. While there
are no real villains in this story, there was the super sleazy agent
that manipulates anything he can about Penny to further his own
goals. As far as the music goes, it works really well, although it
doesn't leave as much of a lasting impression as Danny Elfman's score
of Meet the Robinsons.
The one music sequence the movie has works really well and shows Bolt
and Mittens bonding while Mittens teaches him how to be a regular
dog.
This
movie is a bit light on deep themes but it did have some really great
ideas. The theme of loyalty is the one that stands out to me the most
with Bolt being the biggest and most obvious example. His loyalty to
Penny drives him, even after he finds out that his life is all fake,
just with the hope that his relationship with Penny was real. Of
course, Mittens also gains a bit of loyalty to Bolt, even though he
essentially kidnapped her. Rhino is so loyal to Bolt that he actively
inspires both Bolt and Mittens to keep fighting for what they want.
So
this movie continues off from Meet the Robinsons as
a story that really works and I really enjoyed. While I thought the
themes were a bit weaker, it was still a really great ride with some
really great characters. They focused on the important things with
this movie, like making sure that Bolt and Mitten's relationship was
well developed, and not sticking in an unnecessary villain or
romance. I just hope that tomorrow's story can keep it up.
48
down. 5 to go.
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