Plot: What’s it about?
The first Disney Animation release under its new head, Pixar’s John Lasseter is “Bolt.” With the Pixar pedigree (but not the studio), “Bolt” has a lot to prove for Disney. Incorporating Disney Digital 3D technology, the film looks to push the envelope of what can be artistically achieved with animation. But can it match the Pixar reputation for quality story lines and — dare we say — heart?
We first meet Bolt, an adorable and feisty white german shepherd puppy, as he is adopted by a young girl. Five years later, Bolt (voiced by John Travolta) is living with the girl — named Penny (Miley Cyrus) — and her scientist father, who has endowed Bolt with amazing super powers. Together, Penny and Bolt are a crime-fighting super team, facing the evil Dr. Calico (gleefully voiced by Malcolm McDowell). Bent on world domination, Calico is equipped with the proper villainous accoutrements: goons, pointy beard, evil laugh and cats (hey, it worked for Blofeld and Dr. Evil). In a thrilling opening chase scene to rival any James Bond flick, Penny and Bolt race through the streets of San Francisco to rescue Penny’s kidnapped father — with Calico’s army in hot pursuit.
As the scene comes to a stunning climax, we find that Penny and Bolt are not in San Francisco, but on an elaborate Hollywood set. Only Bolt is unaware that they are actually filming a hit television show. And Penny is not his owner, but his co-star. In a contrivance straight out of “The Truman Show”, the cast and crew have taken great pains to make Bolt believe that he not only has super powers, but that his beloved Penny is in real peril. If he doesn’t believe, explains the director, neither will the audience. (It’s a ridiculous plot point, but without it there’s no movie, so…) To preserve the fantasy, Bolt lives on set in his own trailer. Though he doesn’t belong to her, leaving him at the end of the day is enough to break Penny’s heart. She begs and pleads to bring him home, but her oily agent (Greg Germann) ushers her away. Bolt, believing that Penny is being kidnapped, runs after her. Before he can reach her, he is takes a wrong turn and is accidentally boxed up in a shipping crate bound for the East Coast.
Video: How does it look?
Oh come on now, do we really need to sit here and say how good this looks on our HDTV’s? Well in case you need written proof, “Bolt” in its 1.78:1 AVC HD transfer, looks positively stunning. As we might expect for an animated film done entirely in the digital realm, the picture looks so lifelike that you’d think you could jump in there with the characters (you can’t, of course). The little things make this so absolutely stunning, like the texture of Rapunzel’s hair, the little nuances here and there that really stand out. Compare this with “Snow White” and you’ll see how far they’ve come in 75 years. This is another shining example of how absolutely amazing Blu-ray can look. Enough said.
Audio: How does it sound?
While not quite as impressive as the video transfer, the DTS HD Master Audio soundtrack does sound pretty good. The majority of the film is dialogue intertwined with several songs (it’s a musical), all of which positively resonate through the 7.1 channels. There are a few action scenes that sound pretty good as they bring the surrounds into play. Admittedly I’ve heard some of the Pixar movies sound a bit better and maybe it was the genre of this film that didn’t quite lend itself to being such a strong soundtrack, but while it sounds good – it’s certainly far from unsatisfactory. Undoubtedly the target audience for this film won’t notice much and “Bolt” does have a fairly robust soundtrack, which works just fine.
Supplements: What are the extras?
We find a “Super Rhino” animated short as well as a few music videos by Travolta and Miley Cyrus. A short featurette entitled “A New Breed of Directors: The Filmmakers’ Journey”. Some deleted Scenes with director intros and then “Act, Speak! The Voices of Bolt” with “Creating the World of Bolt”. There’s a DVD of the film as well as a Blu-ray and a digital copy for your portable device.
