Friday, November 21, 2008

Bolt Is Apparently A Good Boy...


Well, I only have one word to say...

Go.

But apparently others are saying quite a lot more:

"Familiar territory, but the Disney team still knows how to bring a story to life." Rafer Guzman, Newsday
Full review here.
"I know that the knee-jerk reaction to any non-Pixar animated work from Disney is resistance and ridicule, but please allow me to be among the first to tell you that BOLT goes down easy and is a whole lot of fun." Capone, Ain't It Cool News
Full review here.

"It's charming, nicely paced, often quite funny and features well-chosen voice talent. Most important, it provides a satisfying entertainment ''meal.'' It's not a ''gourmet'' banquet on the order of ''Ratatouille'' or the first ''Shrek,'' but this peppy picture is certainly more than a cinematic ''snack,'' and for its 96-minute running time will not bore kids, the parents or other adults joining them." Bill Zwecker, SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
Full review here.

"What is most certainly a return to form for the Disney, their animation department has not only caught up to Pixar but with their own past of telling classic tales. Bolt is easily the best film Disney has made since their silver age resurgence in the late 80’s and early 90’s. It is a hilarious, adorably sweet film that will please the whole family, and I absolutely loved almost every last moment of it." Massawyrm, Aint It Cool News
Full review here.

"Disney animation takes a tentative step out of the shadows of Pixar with Bolt, a winning 3D-animated action-comedy that marries the best Disney traditions with Pixar polish. Though this road comedy of a lost TV star dog doesn't rival the classics from Disney's computer-animation pioneer partners, it's the first in-house Disney animation -- after the middling Chicken Little, The Wild and Meet the Robinsons -- to bear comparison to the Pixar gold standard." Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
Full review here.

"Four Stars, one of the best movies of the year." Michael Medved, Film Critic and Talk Show Host
Full review here.

"But "Bolt" impresses on more levels than just the basic -

It's a great day in America when the complicated looks so easy, and when we expect smart storytelling as a rule, not the exception." Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
Full review here.

"I laughed, I cried, the hamster was hilarious… The gags are hilarious, the characters endearing and believable, and the settings and action are rendered with high craft. Director Byron Howard and Chris Williams and screenwriter Dan Fogelman have all worked in the trenches of some of Disney's better animated flicks and have put together an entertaining, fun gem of a movie." Vincent Janoski, Wired Magazine
Full review here.

"Fully Awesome!" Rhino, Hampster about town.
Full review here.

There are more, but I think you get the point. This is a fine restart to the Disney animation tradition... Why are you still reading?

Go.

12 comments:

corruption said...

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So Honor,

I went and saw it. Opening night.

Even with my lowered expectations, I felt let down.

The first scene was adorable and heartfelt. The action sequence was amazing. And yet, they were like two completely different movies. Both would have made great movies on their own merits -- one a heartfelt "Mittens finds love with the help of an unlikely 'dog' ally," the other being a "freaking amazing superdog movie."

On to other topics now, however:

It fell completely flat in the middle. It was full of meta humor and wink-wink, nudge-nudge throughout, especially with the agent guy. It was "reBOLTing."

Anyways, Rhino was obnoxious and Travolta was terrible (I can't stand him, so take that however you'd like).

That said, Mittens was fantastic. If the whole movie had centered on that cat, it would have been 1,000,000 times better. Such a heartfelt story, with real depth. And Susie Essman is a great vocal talent.

The animation was a bit spotty, simply in that it felt like it was this bizarre blend of water colored blurs in the backgrounds with hyper-realistic animals, and hyper-stylized humans.

Back to the good stuff -- the end was also very touching. From the moment that Bolt stepped back onto the lot, the movie fell back into place. Mittens coming full circle and Bolt going in to rescue Penny were the heart and soul of this movie. If the whole movie had revolved around the Mittens plot of realizing that humans can truly love their pets and Bolt being the catalyst for that, I would have loved it and given it an A+.

So, get rid of Rhino -- he was the Jar Jar Binks of this movie. I know that I'm taking an unpopular stance with that comment, but dear God -- he ranks up there with the worst of Disney sidekicks (Terk, the gargoyles from Hunchback, etc).

All in all, I'd give the movie a B-. I know I sounded hypercritical, but it wasn't terrible. It just wasn't great. And like everything since Lilo and Stitch, it's mostly going to be forgettable. It's the Oliver and Company of this generation, just waiting for its Little Mermaid (which The Princess and the Frog had better be).

Thanks for letting me have this soapbox. Back to the usual prattle.

Anonymous said...

Yikes - 3 day estimates for Bolt so far are $28 million for the weekend. Not as good as expected. Hopefully good word of mouth brings it past $100m, which would be a step up from Meet the Robinsons.

Looks like Twilight just smashed the competition.

Anonymous said...

Yeah... I'm really really disappointed with the box office result. I hoped at least 30 millions. What a terrible news.It was totally overshadowed by Twilight!
What a terrible year for Disney.
They did great movies and every one (except Beverly Hill Chihuahua) didn't meet expectations. And all of them had good to great reviews...
I think that they choose bad dates!!
It is the only reason!!

Qian said...

Hi..
Just read your blog.. So Cool!
Can you link my blog? Thanks!

http://allanimelovers.blogspot.com

Best Regards,
-JR-
^^

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

The film doesn't look interesting enough to go see, or even to rent it!

Honor Hunter said...

Corruption, you're the only one I've heard of that doesn't like Rhino. Both of the screenings I've been at he got the best laughs and all the critics seem to love him as well. While I agree it's not at the Little Mermaid level, it's way ahead of anything else over the last decade.

As for the anonymous that doesn't think it's worth seeing in the theater or renting. My opinion is your wrong and it'll be your loss...

Despite what some may say, I wouldn't talk about it so positively if I thought it was a dog(pun intended).

Kiersten said...

I guess everyone has their own tastes. Most of the critics loved Rhino while some of them despised Mittens. Some critics thought the action sequence was dull and fell flat and that the movie didn't pick up until meeting Rhino. To each their own I guess.

corruption said...

Thanks, Kiersten :)

It's nice to know whether agree or not, that you respect different opinions!

Kiersten said...

Everyone has different tastes which makes it amazing when films like Toy Story and Finding Nemo come along that just seem to work for everyone. It shows how special those movies really are.

corruption said...

I think E.T. is the most transcendent film of all time.

But that's just me.

I'm always baffled by people who aren't blown away by that film. I am more impressed by it as an adult than I was as a child.

Spokker said...

E.T. should have won the best picture in 1982 instead of Ghandi. It was a sham I tell you.