7.
Bolt (2008)
Matt ranked it at 2. Shauna ranked it at 21.
OVERALL SCORE: 11.5

Matt: When it came to my number one spot, Toy Story held the top spot for a long time. Enduring the Trials of Renaissance Disney, beating off all the terrible Disney sequels. Some rivals attempted to to take the #1 such as The Goofy Movie and Atlantis the Lost Empire. It remained unbudging at #1. That is, until Bolt.


Bolt is likely so high on my list for one main reason. It's about a dog. I love dogs. Dogs are the coolest animal ever and I would totally live on a farm surrounded by dogs if I had the finances to support it. I always grew up with dogs rather than cats due to allergies, so until my university days I always had a dog friend. As such I can see the little quirks this movie has to offer. Bolt being distracted by the carrot toy when he is trying to remain attentive in the watch for the Green Eyed Man, or when he does the “dog face” at the caravan park. I can see all the attributes I love about dogs in this movie.


Now to actually describing why I like this movie. Bolt is just one of those movies that I feel works start to finish. The story of a dog that gets adopted by a little girl, they make it into show business and he lives his life as a dog with super powers based on regular actives a dog would perform like walking or barking. Ratings are bad, so they have Penny kidnapped and end the episode on a cliff-hanger. Bolt is distressed, escapes and goes on the search to find her. To me this mirrors what a dog would probably do. Go crazy until their person is returned safe. Penny doesn't have much of a role in this movie except being a teenage star who can't live her own life, which makes it funny they hired Miley Cyrus to voice Penny. There is a connect there between the two as you can assume Miley also didn't get her way all the time in her earlier career.

After escaping, Bolt runs into Mittens. The straight man in this comedy sketch. Mittens is genius. She's street smart and always finds ways to poke fun of Bolt underneath the radar. She's also the main focus for the progression of this movies' plot, being the navigator for the journey and the brains behind most of the operations. That is of course unless Bolt attempts to do something crazy like jumping on a train. Mittens is a great character as she's adapted to her situation of being abandoned which is reflected in her character. She doesn't trust humans so is reluctant to help Bolt find Penny when they do make it to L.A.

Comic relief is also a thing that is more present in movies than before. Bolt has one too in the form of Rhino, a hamster. It's probably one of the better examples of the character archetype along with Timon and Pumba. He's around for a laugh or two, but he is also integral to the plot. He's not just around to check a box, he's here to kick ass! Rhino is one of a small pool of main characters in this movie, but he doesn't receive any character development. He doesn't need it. He's exactly where he needs to be at the beginning of the movie and remains there at the end of the movie.

Before getting onto Bolt himself, I want to talk about the story. Bolt has so many amazing moments for me. The Caravan Park scene for example where Bolt realises he's hungry and acts like a normal dog and begs for food is charming, and hilarious when they tell Mittens to bugger off because she's a cat. When they escape the pound and they end up blowing the place up is the most ridiculous thing Disney have put onto film. The Road Trip Scene where they travel from place to place and Bolt's scar fades to symbolise his past life fading away is very touching and shows him becoming more dog.


Finally, Bolt. Bolt is one of the best characters I've ever seen Disney put out. Most of the Disney characters have an incentive to progress the plot and put themselves in danger for love, for example, Aladdin. What they miss is this love from the get go. They focus on the development of this relationship during the story and then use this as the incentive to fight the bad guy at the end to live happily ever after. In Bolt they have this from the very start. Bolt loves Penny, Penny is in trouble and he needs to save her. No big end movie set piece required for that aspect of urgency and danger he just does it. How he progresses through the movie from super serious super-dog to just regular dog feels natural. He's so stuck up and serious for most of the movie it's easy for Mittens to make fun of him in ridiculous manner such as using Styrofoam to subdue him. He changes all this and then is 100% dog when he returns to L.A and finds his trailer.

Then that scene where he sees Penny with another dog, and then the heartbreak sets in and then there is a fire and Bolt runs in recklessly without care for his own safety as Penny is in danger and then they use all of Bolts superhero moves to navigate the fire and then they can't get out and then he uses the Super Bark to call for help through the vent and then I cried and then everything is okay and they live happy ever after.

Bolt is a rare movie for me. A lot of the Disney movies on our list are good movies. They are enjoyable watches and I can recommend that people check them out. What Bolt does differently is simple. This movie makes me happy in the right ways. There is a feeling of joy and sadness that comes through in this movie, something that only my #1 “Wreck it Ralph” can also provide. That's why it's my #2.




Shauna: In what is the complete opposite situation from Beauty and the Beast, we have Bolt, a movie that Matt loved more than many things, and that I think is entertaining and cute, but not enough to hold a candle to a lot of what I consider to be much better movies.

But here it is and I have to say some nice things about it, of which I have plenty.

It is a very charming movie, and you can’t help but fall in love a little bit with the main three characters. Even Rhino, who in every right should have been more irritating and obnoxious than he ends up being, endeared himself to me a fair bit. I don’t care that much about the human characters, though. But that’s okay, it’s not about the little girl and her terrible, yet hilarious, agent. It’s about a dog and a cat on a roadtrip movie as they learn to have fun and all that sort of thing.

Perfectly fine and enjoyable movie.

Mittens is definitely my favourite character though. She’s just so savvy and totally knows how to deal with the incompetence she has around her, despite her being essentially crippled. An inspiration to us all, indeed.

I wish I could say more about the eponymous character, but he was just a dog learning to be… well, a traditional dog. Which isn’t a complaint, by any means! I thoroughly enjoyed their silly animal escapades, their adventures in the trailer park are great and are a highlight of the movie.

Maybe I can’t connect so much with this movie as I’ve never actually had a dog. Or any other pet for that matter. As emotional as some of the scenes are, and even I teared up a little bit at the climax, I’m sure they’d hit me even harder if I knew the feelings of having a pet.

I may never love this movie as much as Matt does, but all in all I like it. This is a good little movie with loveable characters, and I would recommend if you never gave it a watch.