"Bolt" (2008) (Bolt (DVD))

Member Name: jbsabbath

Product:	Bolt (DVD)
Date:	16/06/09 (43 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent animation, Rhino the hamster

Disadvantages: Lacklustre voice acting, CGI animal buddy-movie again, cliche & unoriginal plot

Bolt (John Travolta) is a superdog, genetically enhanced with great strength and a medley of super powers, including the legendary 'Super Bark'.

With his owner Penny (Miley Cyrus), they must infiltrate the lair of the evil Dr. Calico (Malcolm McDowell) to save Penny's father.

Only that's a TV show, a fact that has been kept from Bolt since he was a puppy, and when he believes Penny is in serious danger he escapes from the set and gets himself sealed in a box heading for New York.
Lost and alone in the Big Apple, his only hope lies in the help from street-wise alley cat Mittens (Susie Essman) and, later, the hamster Rhino (Mark Walton), Bolt's biggest fan.

Now he needs to find his way cross-country back to L.A., all the while struggling to come to terms with the fact that he has no superpowers and is only a regular dog.

Upon first seeing the trailer for "Bolt", I wasn't particularly hooked from the get-go - I had the distinct impression that I'd seen everything before and the star cast felt lacking.

Firstly, I am obviously not within the main demographic for Miley Cyrus fans, having never wanted to check out anything Hannah Montana-related, so her involvement as the voice for Penny didn't reel me into the theatres.

Although her voicing of the character is fine, there's nothing spectacular and no real effort required.

Meanwhile, John Travolta voices action-dog Bolt and he does a fairly good job, even though this is probably not the sort of film we want to find him in.

The best voice, and hence character, comes from Mark Walton as Rhino the hamster, concealed within his plastic ball.

With boundless enthusiasm and several brilliant one-liners, he steals the whole show from the rest of the characters, who all appear dry and cliche.

The story itself has been likened to "The Truman Show", which I can partially see but the ties are few - the opportunities for paranoia and "The Prisoner"-esque attempts at escape could have created a much more interesting story, but this is not used.

Instead, "Bolt" turns into just a traditional road movie with all of the predictable moments left intact.

Not only are we faced with cuddly animals again for this CGI animation, but we've seen the plotline a thousand times before as well.

The only good thing about this movie comes with the animation itself, which is superb and very realistic - Bolt and co. move just like their real animal counterparts, and you can even see the individual hairs on their coats.

Ultimately though, except for Rhino the hamster, this film would be dry and flat, and it's pretty pointless when there are so many better cuddly-animal CGI movies on the market.

Worth a rental only.

[The DVD can be purchased from play.com for £3.99 (at time of writing), including postage & packing]

Summary: Good-looking animation but ultimately we've seen it all before