Ralph's Movie Reviews: BOLT

Friday, November 21, 2008

BOLT

Animated cartoon

PRINCIPAL VOICES
John Travolta: Bolt, an abandoned puppy
Miley Cyrus: his new owner Penny
Lino DiSalvo: Vinnie, leader of the New York wise-guy pigeons
Todd Cummings: his buddy Joey
Tim Mertens : their friend Bobby
Susie Essman: Mittens, a real cool cat
Mark Walton: Rhino, the hamster
Malcolm McDowell: the evil Green-Eyed Man
Greg Germann: Penny's Agent

REVIEW
A combination of a well-written story about a dog and his travelling companions, superb CGI and great voice talent makes this a real winner. Some of the jokes are the “laugh-out-loud” sort plus there are many amusing moments. The realism and attention to detail is remarkable: the shimmering of the pigeon's neck feathers, his reflection in the glass door as the Animal Control Officer goes into the office, the little LCD on the agent's Bluetooth Handsfree headset blinking once in a while.

Particularly important for the wee ones with their short attention span, there is very little down time with the action pretty well non-stop. I don’t know if it will become a Disney Classic but it’s a charmer on its own.

CLASSIFICATION

for some mild action and peril.

P.S.
I saw 3D version. Someone who had not said it was worth the extra $3 admission price.

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my ratings system

I've always thought that telling too much about a movie or warning someone about a "twist" at the end deprives the person the pleasure of seeing it as it unfolds, so I don’t do it. You may not always agree with my rating of course, but at least it is an unbiased opinion unlike some of the full time professional reviewers who are on the studio’s payroll.

A few movies you won’t see any review from me:

Scary movies: I’m the world’s biggest chicken and just hate getting the crap scared out of me. I can handle an unexpected door slam, that kind of thing, but a movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat…not for me. Sorry.
Movies geared to the young teen and pre-teen crowd with dialog comprising mostly of crude remarks, awful jokes and lots of rude, socially unacceptable body noises. "The Spy that Shagged Me" comes to mind. (I wonder if the kids know what the British verb to shag someone really means? They probably do; I bet you it’s the parents who haven’t a clue).
Sometimes Hollywood gets on a roll and they produce a series of movies that are all very much alike. For example movies about the CIA were very popular and so we had The Bourne Identity and Bad Company and The Sum of All Fears. They all had the same basic theme and it becomes repetitive. I will see some, but not all of them.

FYI this is my rating system:

0 stars = Terrible: so bad it’s not worth talking about; in fact, I’d pay you not to go
= Lousy: I actually got up and walked out before the end it was just that bad (no kidding)
= Not so good: thought about walking out but hung in just in case it got better (but it didn’t)
= A so-so good movie: I enjoyed it somewhat but wasn’t all that crazy about it
= A really good movie: I recommend seeing it
= An excellent movie you just got to see! I suggest you put it on your "To Do List" it’s that good.

some favourite websites

For those into it, Nitpickers at

has more movie mistakes than you could ever imagine. My contributions can be seen if you check out the Nitpickers Registry and click on the link Nitpickers Listed by Nitpicker Number, select the group 45,401 - 45,500 and drill down to number 45411. Although I have 56 nitpicks to my credit, some have almost 2,000. You wonder sometimes where they find the time to do it.