The director of the fictional smash TV show "Bolt," about a girl and her superdog, says the production jumps through hoops to make sure the animal believes everything is real. "If the dog believes it, the audience believes it."
That philosophy also applies to "Bolt," the new animated Disney movie that manages to tease laughs out of a roly-poly hamster and put a lump in your throat, courtesy of the title character -- a dog who is separated from his beloved owner and co-star, Penny -- and an alley cat that didn't always muscle crumbs from pigeons.
If the Obamas hadn't already planned to get a dog, they'd probably want one after watching Bolt play with his squeaky carrot toy or pop his head outside a window and thrill to the breeze on his furry face. As voiced by John Travolta, Bolt is irresistible and so is the movie.
- Starring: Voices of John Travolta, Miley Cyrus
- Rating: PG for some mild action and peril
- Web site: 'Bolt'
"Bolt" opens with Penny (voice of Miley Cyrus) rescuing Bolt from an animal shelter. Five years later, they're the stars of a television show, but Bolt cannot distinguish between life on and off the set; he thinks he was genetically engineered to have superpowers and that he is regularly rescuing Penny from villains.
When Bolt is accidentally shipped from Hollywood to Manhattan, he tries to use those powers to find Penny and is joined by two unlikely companions, a sarcastic cat named Mittens (Susie Essman from HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm") and a TV-addicted hamster named Rhino (Mark Walton).
Bolt, Mittens and scene-stealer Rhino stow away in trucks, trains and cars as they head west and learn about loyalty -- to each other and, of course, to Bolt's "person," Penny.
At its core, "Bolt" is a dog meets girl, dog loses girl, dog tries to reunite with girl story. The dog, by the way, is based on American White Shepherds but animators tinkered with his ears, nose and body size.
In the early going, I thought "Bolt" skewed younger than "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" but by the time the traveling trio play with a sprinkler, tramp through the snow and soak up the sight of the fountains at the Bellagio hotel in Vegas, I had changed my mind.
In addition to capitalizing on distinctive voices and featuring a couple of lovely songs -- especially "Barking at the Moon" by Jenny Lewis -- the movie blends action, adventure and animation that is both bold and brushstroke beautiful with humor and heart. The movie is being shown in 3-D in a couple of local theaters, but it seemed to lose little with regular projection.
To get a jolt from "Bolt," it probably helps to be a dog owner past or present, and it's not as spectacular as "WALL-E," but the movie also zings Hollywood hangers-on (and pigeons), even as it celebrates that sometimes silly but always sacred bond between pets and their people.
First Published: November 21, 2008, 10:00 a.m.
