The TV Addict 

Since the inclusion of Pixar into the Walt Disney fold, the company in many ways has turned into its own worst enemy, or at least its worst competitor. Any animated film it produces outside of the Pixar brand falls prey to inevitable comparisons – ones that usually aren’t favorable. It doesn’t help that even though Pixar has a consistent dramatically structured approach to its films, there’s enough spirit, quality, ingenuity, and genuine filmmaking craftsmanship along the way that its formula never becomes noticeably conventional or derivative. That’s not always the case with other Disney films.

BOLT is a quintessential Disney movie. There’s talking animals. There’s a sweet, innocent hero who must undergo both outward and (especially) inward journeys. There’s reluctant and/or amusing sidekicks and ancillary characters, a road trip or two (with – of course – amusing locals along the way), and no end of moments of self-discovery leading to unsubtle and often conservative lessons to be learned about life, love, friendship, and family. These aren’t bad things to have in a movie by any means, especially in a family film. It also helps that these familiar elements are spruced up with a neat little TRUMAN SHOW high concept and a dash of Disney’s apparent new self-referencing approach to their movies. It’s just that they’re all just that: familiar elements.

The thing is, derivative need not be synonymous with bad. After all, the saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” had to come from somewhere. So despite its paint-by-the-numbers story and characters, BOLT has enough heart and fun in it that it’s still a genuinely enjoyable movie experience, and undoubtedly one of the best Disney films to come along since THE EMPEROR’S NEW GROOVE in 2000. I found myself laughing at many of the jokes, thoroughly enjoying the characters (well voice acted by the cast), and actually getting emotionally invested in the story. Heck, I even found the opening action sequence to be more exciting than all of QUANTUM OF SOLACE put together. In short, I had a lot of fun.

And even though I hate to cannibalize my own reviews, with BOLT I can’t help but recall what I wrote about RUN FAT BOY RUN: “So is this film conventional and derivative? Sure, but in the end it proves to be successfully entertaining, and sometimes isn’t that enough for a trip to the movie theatre?” I think that’s all the more true for a Disney movie.

Overall rating: 3 ½ out of 5 REELs