Genre: Animation, Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release Date: November 21, 2008
Running Time: 1 hour and 36 minutes
Plot Synopsis: A show biz dog named Bolt thinks his whole life on the L.A. set of a popular action adventure TV show, as the super dog sidekick to a mystery solving young girl, is real. When he accidentally escapes the studio lot and ends up across country in Manhattan, Bolt befriends a cranky alley cat named Mittens and an enthusiastic hamster, Rhino who is a huge fan of his show, and together the new friends help Bolt travel back to Los Angeles to be reunited with owner, aka “his person,” Penny.

Sex/Nudity: None

Violence/Gore: On the TV show, Bolt uses his super powers to blow up helicopters, crash motorcycles, run through walls and set things on fire with his laser vision. In real life, Bolt discovers he is much more fragile and we see him crash into walls, try to jump onto a moving train and get captured by pet control. The violence is primarily cartoonish but the characters do get smacked around a fair amount and they blow up a dogcatcher's truck.
Profanity: None, but Rhino the hamster yells the word “awesome” a lot.

Which Kids Will Like It?
Young children who love animal stories and pre-teen girls who are Miley Cyrus fans should be pleased with this reasonably amusing tale of a dog and his little girl owner.

Will Parents Like It?
Adults accompanying their children to the theater will be entertained by a few of the movie's small touches, like when Bolt meets three Los Angeles pigeons who want to pitch the actor a new movie project, but will mostly be going along for the kids.



Kaboose Review: The love between a young girl and her dog runs deep. But imagine the heightened intensity of that relationship if an evil scientist with one green eye was chasing the girl and the dog is a genetically altered, super-pooch programmed to protect her from harm. This is the premise of a popular television show called Bolt, starring Penny (voice of Miley Cyrus) and her fierce white puppy with a lighting-shaped marking (voice of John Travolta).
However, in order to elicit a truly realistic response from the canine actor, the show's producers lead Bolt to believe everything, from his laser vision to his bomb-blast bark, is real. The ploy works well until the director introduces a cliffhanger and Bolt escapes the TV production lot searching for his beloved Penny, and is accidentally flown to NYC.
Stranded in New York City, Bolt befriends a tyrannical stray cat named Mittens who agrees, under duress from the crime fighting puppy, to take Bolt to the evil Doctor Calico who Bolt believes has taken Penny hostage. On the road back across the country, they meet a TV junkie hamster named Rhino, who reveals that Bolt isn't a super dog but actually a character on the humans' flickering box. Despite his tiny size and plastic hamster ball, Rhino is ready for some serious adventure with his hero Bolt, and his hyperbolic enthusiasm keeps Bolt motivated to get home even when all seems lost.
The manic hamster and his fan boy catch phrases are some of the most silly and energetic moments of this otherwise conventional animated entertainment. Featuring the usual suspects of kid's movies—celebrity voices, quirky characters and lessons about friendship—Bolt is decent but uninspired.
As a Disney production it shares a similar to look to previous work done by Pixar, and also has John Lasseter as an executive producer (he directed Cars and Toy Story 2), but lacks the wit and emotional resonance of most of their other releases. The plot concludes just as you'd expect it to: reunited with Penny, Bolt saves the day for real, Penny's insensitive agent is kicked to the curb, and the animal friends live happily every after. Furry cuteness abounds and little faces I saw leaving the theater were all smiles.
The only less than predictable note in the movie comes from a pop music oddity; the soundtrack features songs not only by indie rock chanteuse Jenny Lewis but a duet about friendship, “I Thought I'd Lost You,” sung over the credits by sixteen-year-old Cyrus and fifty-four-year-old Travolta.

Directed by: Chris Williams and Byron Howard
Cast: John Travolta (voice of Bolt), Miley Cyrus (voice of Penny), Susie Essman (voice of Mittens), Mark Walton (voice of Rhino), Malcolm McDowall (voice of Dr. Calico), James Lipton (the Director), Greg Germann (the Agent)



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