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Bolt

Movie Grade: B

DVD Features Grade: B+

Overall Grade: B

For most people, Bolt will be a return to form for Disney's internal animation department. The focus of that division in the upcoming years will be angling, under the direction of John Lasseter, back to 2D drawn styles of animation. They will also work on the occasional 3D project, but with Pixar back under the hood, the Disney Corp knows their go-to people for digital animation are right around the corner.

To be fair, Bolt has quite a lot to show for itself. It has a smart and often witty script, a handful of interesting characters, and all the fun of popcorn entertainment. If Pixar wasn't so brilliant at what they do, Bolt might have even managed to stand out in the world of animated properties. Unfortunately for them, Pixar does exist, and they've managed to raise the bar so high that the entire rest of industry pales by comparison.

The premise has a lot of potential. Dog with superpowers beats up on bad guys until he learns that he's not actually a superhero and that the whole thing is a part of a TV show he stars in. Cool. But here's where it starts to lose momentum. Dog runs away from set and ends up in the real world. Predictable. Dog learns he has no powers through a series of failed attempts to use them. Predictable. Dog meets sage older creature who "knows the world" and teaches him how to be a normal dog. Predictable. Dog makes his way back home. Predictable. Dog saves the day despite a lack of superpowers. Predictable.

The only way in which this film will ever surprise you is with the level of writing behind the project, as well as a handful of spot-on characters who will leave you in stitches. The hamster creature, Rhino, steals the show every single time he's on screen and the girl's agent is hilariously off the wall the entire time. Beyond them, everything else feels a little mediocre, but again, this is the Pixar syndrome kicking in. After so many years of complex and intelligent characters, anything less is a gigantic disappointment, and Bolt never really had a chance.

So don't sugar coat it, what really didn't work? MILEY CYRUS. Her original song for the film is honestly atrocious. It completely destroys any emotional levity the better-than-expected score had achieved up until that point, and it is such an obvious cash-in that it hurts the film overall. Oh yeah, she also does the voice of the main girl in the film. You know, the one the audience is supposed to care about"¦ The one we should root for Bolt to save"¦ Is it bad I didn't care if she died? Anyone who thinks Miley Cyrus's popularity is a product of her voice needs

to get their head examined. She sounds like a 40-year-old smoker, not a pre-teen girl, and she is the largest detraction from Bolt's success as a film. It's obvious that it probably assisted the movie's financial success, but the choice fails from a story perspective by undermining the rest of the work and it's a real shame.

One actress will never doom an entire film, and Bolt still comes out looking good in the end. It is undeniably fun, and successful entertainment is often overlooked despite its own set of unique challenges. Making a good popcorn movie is just as hard as creating serious drama, they just don't get as much credit as they are due. Bolt is at the complete opposite end of the spectrum from any Pixar production. It's a joyful, crowd-pleasing, predictable story that doesn't push any boundaries but hits all the notes it's supposed to and doesn't look to do anything less. It succeeds in what it was trying to do, and therefore can't be considered a failure in any way, but that also handicaps it from becoming a rousing success. That's really too bad, because the original idea pitched somewhere in the dark recesses of the Disney writers compound had so much more potential than what ended up on the screen.

The Extras:

Animated films thrive on the Blu-Ray format. The picture that was made so pristinely in the computer never has to get printed onto film stock, never acquires grain, and never degrades or is subject to less than perfect lighting conditions. Each Blu-Ray transfer I've seen from an animated source has been truly beautiful and Bolt is no different. The surround sound helps out in the action scenes, while it also makes Miley Cyrus's singing even more shudder inducing, therefore demonstrating both its positives and negatives at the same time.

The 3 Disc Set includes both the DVD version of the film and the not-quite-sure-if-it's-a-gimmick-or-not digital copy of the movie. The DVD is nice for those making the transition to Blu-Ray at a slower pace, as well as giving you options for seeing the film if you don't have a PS3 or a Blu-Ray player nearby (like on a laptop, over at a friend's house etc) and was a really good idea on the marketing front. The Blu-Ray disc is pretty packed with features, though the obvious standout is the short film "Super Rhino" where the ridiculously over the top hamster is put in a position to save the day. Deleted Scenes and a nice collection of behind-the-scenes featurettes along with stills and production art round out the disc. Nothing life-altering here, but they are all solid additions to the package.

Movie Grade: B

DVD Features Grade: B+

Overall Grade: B