No Jolt With Bolt

***

Bolt, the newest from Disney, is a pleasant kid/teen animation that has taken a page from The Truman Show. As a holiday tent pole offering Bolt is not a jolt but more like a squishy shove into the holiday season.

Bolt (voice by John Travolta), a white German Shepard, is the star of a weekly television series along with his “person” Penny (voice by Miley Cyrus). The director of the series, (voice by James Lipton) is convinced that Bolt will perform at his best if the dog believes that the series is reality. He has kept Bolt in the dark about the fact the dog is just a dog and that each weeks adventures, when he saves Penny, are just TV-land fiction.

In a chain of unpreventable events (there’s always a chain of unpreventable events in films like this) Bolt, believing that Penny is in danger, bolts from his confinement and into the real world. Trusting in super powers that aren’t there the dog’s adventures spiral dangerously close to disaster but there are some funny moments during this initial confrontation with reality.

To save Penny Bolt nabs a cat named Mittens (Susie Esseman) who he’s sure works for the evil Green-Eyed Man. With kitten in tow Bolt starts his journey. The two are soon joined by a fat, ball rolling, hamster named Rhino who is Bolt’s #1 fan. Now it’s three for the road and though Mitten’s being dragged along against her will, Rhino the hamster has got Bolt’s back. Eventually Bolt learns that he has no super powers and that he’s just a dog, and he even begins to be okay with that. But he still has to return to Penny because he knows she loves and misses him.

I thought Bolt was cute but I didn’t revel in the story. The setup takes too long and the funny kid stuff that makes cartoons like this fun doesn’t show up until Rhino arrives. What makes the movie meaningful, is the interaction between a dog and a kid who love each other and in the tradition of film there’s not much better than a good old dog’n kid movie. While Bolt won’t be surprising it will be a good way to spend some movie time with your kids or grandkids during the holiday season. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Years.