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Peppy animation film Bolt is a super-hero story with a difference, writes Ervell E. Menezes Animation films come in an assortment of forms and flavours, varying from the mundane to the meaningful. Topping my list are The Lion King and The Little Mermaid for their innate humanity and humour. Bolt comes close to them but its hilarity tends to dilute its humanity but as pure comedy it is hard to beat.
It is a super-hero story with a difference. Bolt (voice of John Travolta) is a super-dog in a TV series he performs with his "person" Penny (Miley Cyrus). Like Peter Sellers and many other actors, he has difficulty in distinguishing between fiction and reality and believes that in real life too he is a super-dog with super powers. Hence, when he sees Penny being kidnapped, he becomes a victim of an elaborate Truman Show-like ruse he is beset with worries and bursts out of the studio only to find himself shipped off to another city, quite lost and bereft of his super powers`85 a normal everyday dog. How Bolt goes about transforming himself from a fictional super-dog to a real super-dog is what the rest of the film is, thanks to timely help from Mittens (Susie Essman), an embittered stray cat, Rhino and hamster and some cute gags. Visually the film is a delight with Bolt involved in car, motorcycle and helicopter chases and missile launchers and an army of soldiers with electrified gloves. But Bolt has a super bark to combat all that Dr Calico’s herd can throw at him, providing the razzle-dazzlry in the bargain. There is also a good blend of form and content unlike some of the FX-heavy animation films. For this one must thank scriptwriters Dan Fogelman and Chris Williams. It is an amalgam formed by directors Chris Williams and Byron Howard that keeps the story alive right through. It may, at times, be predictable but it is always peppy and it is this freshness that is envigorating. In the normal run of things, voices make little difference to the story but somehow John Travolta imbues his diction with a rare freshness for a three-decade-old veteran and it seems to rub off on Miley Cyrus. All in all a delightful laugh-riot. A must-see in these days of paucity.
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