The Dragon's Cave - Movie Review: Bolt

I've recently had the chance to see a few movies that I've been wanting to see for a long time.

Bolt, the new movie from Disney, continues Disney's return from movie mediocrity into the realm of enjoyable and memorable films. Many of us were somewhat turned off by some of Disney's 'flop films' in the past, and we had decided that Disney's glory days of excellent filmmaking were over.

Bolt restores my confidence that Disney knows how to make a good movie. They are not nearly back to the standard of excellence that they had long ago, but they are certainly on their way back up.

The movie tells an intriguing story of a dog who was brought up in a TV show world, with such care taken to convince him that the TV show is actually reality. In his world, Bolt is a super hero, with fantastic powers given him by the father of his owner, a young girl named Penny. Using Penny's smarts and Bolt's amazing strength, speed, eye-emitted laser bolts, and shockwave-inducing super barks, the pair struggle to stay out of the clutches of the Green-Eyed man and his minions, while trying to rescue Penny's captive father.

When one of Bolt's TV show plots leads to Penny being captured, Bolt's rescue attempt mistakenly ends up getting him shipped to New York City, where he is left to fend for himself in the real world. The remainder of the film follows Bolt's grapple with the reality that he doesn't truly have super powers, and his struggle to return to Penny in Hollywood. Through his self discovery and the aquisition of a few unlikely friends, Bolt discovers that he can still be a hero.

I was intrigued by the new and different storyline in this movie--it was a fresh take on the self-discovery plotline. I was also very impressed by advances in computer-generated animation; Disney has done the fur in this movie extremely well. I was particularly amazed by the realism of Bolt's wet, dripping fur during a scene where he was caught in the rain.

Another thing that excites me about this movie is the fact that it was not done by Pixar. Of course, now that Disney owns Pixar, all of their movies are published under the Disney label. However, Pixar's stories and characters are developed entirely in-house, independent (as far as I know) of Disney's oversight. Bolt, along with Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons, marks Disneys triumphant entry into the world of computer generated films, showing that they can still tell a good story while mastering the new technology at the same time.

Conclusion: While still not up to par with some of their classic movies (Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Robin Hood), Bolt was a very enjoyable film, restoring my confidence that Disney can make a truly memorable movie experience.