BOLT

"Let it begin, let it begin!"

Altered by Penny's (Cyrus) scientist father, Bolt (Travolta) is a now a super dog. With laser vision, super speed, amazing strength and he is virtually indestructible keeps Penny save from Dr. Calico (McDowell), the green eyed villain who has kidnapped Penny's father. When her father refuses to cooperate with the evil genius, Calico sends his henchmen after Penny and even Bolt can't save her as a helicopter picks her up and flies away. With Bolt trying to follow the chopper, he is grabbed and placed back in his trailer because what Bolt doesn't know is that his adventures with Penny are just the stories of a high budget, high concept, hugely successful TV show but he escapes and is determined to save Penny from the Green Eyed Man.

Walt Disney Animation has struggled for a hit ever since 'Tarzan' in 1999 but now that Pixar's founding father John Lasseter is in charge could the studio be about to return to the glory days?

Since 'Tarzan' was released in 1999, Walt Disney Animation has gone on a downward spiral that has seen the death of traditional 2D animation and many a failed computer generated attempt to compete with their phenomenally more successful sister studio 'Pixar'. Movies like 'Atlantis: The Lost Empire', 'Treasure Planet', 'Brother Bear', 'Home on the Range', 'Chicken Little' and the dreadful 'Meet the Robinsons' and 'The Wild' have placed the studio that brought us some of the most beloved animated movies of all time into a complete rut. Enter the man behind their super successful collaboration with Pixar, John Lasseter as the new chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios and the first of a new batch of Disney animated movies 'Bolt' is the first to combine the Pixar and House Of Mouse principles and the good news is that this first amalgamation works.

What Pixar did differently to Disney was put the onus on character and story and not just the set pieces that would be the major selling point of any potential blockbuster. The strange thing was that this was the philosophy of Walt Disney himself but while Pixar had embraced this mantra, Disney animated film became more about making money than making quality, classic animation. Now, with Lasseter taking charge, the melding of the Pixar ethos with Disney's will to try and appeal to a much wider audience has produced the first animated film in a long time that really works.

'Bolt' has all the classic characteristics of a Pixar movie and a modern, action blockbusters. We have a story of a genetically altered dog with superpowers who is the protector of a young girl whose scientist father has been kidnapped by the villainous green-eyed scientist Dr. Calico. What he doesn't know however is that he is just the star of an action TV show and when at the end of the latest episode Penny, the girl he has to protect, is kidnapped by the green-eyed man, he thinks it is real and escapes from the Movie lot to find her, thinking he has the superpowers to do just that. Here the story switches into a road movie, an incredible journey of sorts, as Bolt tries to travel back to the movie lot in Hollywood after been accidentally transported to New York, with a cat he has 'captured' called Mittens and a superfan hamster called 'Rhino'. While the story may not have the depth of the Pixar movies, it is one that provides the key factor that has been missing from all of the Disney animations since 'Tarzan' and that is characters.

It is the characters in 'Bolt' that makes a cut above everything that Disney Animation Studios has produced in the last ten years. We have the hero himself, Bolt. Voiced by John Travolta and not in a way that makes you think that it is just actor playing himself in dog form, as we have seen in many an animated movie of late, but someone creating a character for the film. Super teen sensation Miley Cyrus is also really good as Penny, Bolt's person, and Malcolm McDowell revels in the role of Dr. Calico, the green-eyed evil scientist. It is were the film follows the Pixar mantra of having an actor create a character were the film succeeds the most however. Firstly we have comedic actress Susie Essman, probably best known for her role in 'Curb Your Enthusiasm', as Mittens, the captured cat that Bolt thinks will lead him the green-eyed man. It is voice actor Mark Walton's creation, Rhino the 'Bolt' obsessed Hamster who joins the adventure in his ball. He is actually the star of the film and a classic Disney character in the making and one that you hope to see again.

'Bolt' is a gargantuan step forward for Disney Animation Studios from what they had been producing over the last ten years. It also sees the implementation of what is seen as the saviour and future of big screen entertainment and animation, 3-D and for 'Bolt' it works quite well, creating more depth to key scenes, especially the explosive finale. Even with the new fangled technology, this is still an extremely fun piece of family entertainment and while it might not be as critically acclaimed or as 'perfect' as Pixar output as late, there is plenty to enjoy here and the world is about to become huge fans of a little hamster called Rhino.

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The Incredibles

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2009