Bolt
December 15, 2008
I know a lot of people feel they need the excuse of a young person to go see an animated film. I always went with my girls when they were young (and sometimes dragoon them into animated films now that they're in their 20s), but I needed no excuse to drive through the tunnel to Emeryville to see Bolt in Disney 3D. Boy, has that technology improved; you can wear the glasses for a whole movie and not get eye strain! Let's hear it for digital projection. This film is just as cute as heck, featuring the voice talents of John Travolta as the eponymous dog hero Bolt and Miley Cyrus as his person Penny. There are obvious echoes of the Truman Show, which is not something I'd expect from a children's movie, but of course, all the good ones operate at both the youth and adult level, so that they are truly fun for the whole family. There is nice foreshadowing, and, of course, I need to cheer on Mark Walton, a Pixar animator who did the voice of the hamster on the "scratch track" to which the film was animated. His voice was so perfect they kept it when the film was completed and now he's a star. Awwww.