I was hesitant to see Bolt for one reason: the involvement of Miley Cyrus. She’s annoying in general and has a terrible speaking voice without a shred of diction… the idea that she would be a voice actor for an animation was just off-putting. It was clear this was gimmick casting at its worst; a cheap attempt to grab Hannah Montana fans. Plus I’m sure ol’ Miley is under a rather stiff contract with Disney to do this sort of stuff.
All of that aside, I like animation, and decided to give it a watch.
Bolt as a movie was great. A very enjoyable film. Luckily, Cyrus is in very little of it. Unluckily, the titular hound is voiced by John Travolta, a poor choice in my opinion. Bolt is a cute, young pup. Travolta is an aged second-winder. Sure his voice is soft, but too distinctly his to avoid distraction.
The rest of the cast, however, was fantastic. The pigeons, in both voice and animation, were dead on perfect. The difference between east and west coast birds was pretty amusing. Mittens, voiced by experienced voice actor Susie Essman, was nuanced and enjoyable.
By far the standout actor was Mark Walton, who voiced the hamster Rhino, a die-hard Bolt fan. Walton steals the show with his believable, down to earth performance.
The story is the usual “protagonist undertakes journey to find the thing and learns about him/herself in the process” tale. Think Finding Nemo, Toy Story, and, well, almost every other children’s animation of the last ten years. Nothing special, but certainly not a bad choice. The sets are good, the animation looks top notch, and there are no complaints here.
Taking everythng into account, I felt that Bolt was a better movie than WALL-E. Sure, it’s a more conventional and doesn’t contain any eco-messages, but at least it doesn’t have live action and a sluggish third act. If it hadn’t been for the casting of Miley Cyrus I would have seen and enjoyed this film much sooner. Frankly, this movie proves that the stunt casting of celebrities is most often the wrong move. I know that execs are always nervous about not having “stars” attached to certain films, but it’s about time they realize that voice actors—people trained to play animated roles— are, in fact, stars, and should be treated as such.
If you ever want to hear what a teen girl is NOT supposed to sound like, listen to Miley Cyrus talk. Then imagine a cute cartoon girl with that voice. Even worse! Perhaps she’s not completely to blame, however… it’s the director’s job to get a good performance out of their cast. Byron Howard and Chris Williams certainly didn’t do this with Cyrus… then again, she strikes me as the type that can’t be told what to do, so…
A conundrum.
Worth A Rent? Yes. Even a person like me who has feels nothing but anger at the work and popularity of Miley Cyrus, can enjoy this movie.
Filed under: Movies , bolt, celebrity, john travolta, mark walton, miley cyrus, rhino, susie essman, voice acting
one question, though… do you like Miley Cyrus?
I agree with everything Jw says here. I normally coo and get all amped up over a good puppy (animated or otherwise) and Travolta’s voice – because, for me, it was too recognizable as Vincent Vega from Pulp Fiction – made me feel like I was rooting for Bolt’s character less than I should be.
The hamster, however, met my adorable-quota very nicely. Fluffy, kinda awkward, a few sandwiches short of a picnic, but with a huge heart ::
http://tinyurl.com/rhino-bolt
I too was skeptical enough to simply pass on this movie. Thanks to your recommendation, I Netflixed it. And I agree with all you said, though Travola’s voice didn’t hamper it as much as I feared. It wasn’t stand-out (partly because it stood out) but it didn’t take too much effort to immerse myself and get past it.
Yes, the pigeons were fantastic, particularly because of the unusual realism imbuing their movements. In fact, I’d like to see more of that kind of thing in animal character animation in general.
Susie Essman as Mittens the cat really stole the show for me. And I’m not much of a cat person per se. (Though, come to think of it, the cat stole the show for me in Coraline, too!) And the props go to Susie Essman for that. She totally made the character Mittens work.
And come to think of it, the cat in Coraline was both brilliantly voice-acted and realistically animated. Huh!
Yes, Rhino the hamster was good, too. Even better, if you’re going to see this on DVD, definitely don’t miss the little extra short, Super Rhino. It’s really funny and makes a nice epilogue.