GSmith9072

Bolt is a fun easy to swallow romp with a soft accessible palate of caricature and lush picture-scape that easily pleases the eyes. It does not boggle the imagination nor is it an exercise in stylistic pacing, comedy, or characterization, but it's a welcome family film without pretension that offers a feel-good adventure that I certainly enjoyed. The film does have a surprising amount of human touch despite the formula and pre-packaged cute that I expected the film to use as its main source of energy. It follows yet another journey (typical of the 'cgi talking animal family film' genre) of a Buzz Light year-esquire white American Shepard with an altered perspective of reality, a notably emaciated cat, and a hamster that derives it's laughs from being a parody of the overzealous fan-boy that says "Awesome!" all the time (quite effectively, however). In the film Bolt is actually disturbingly exploited, as he is made to think he and his owner are in actual danger on a consistent basis. One wonder's how his supposed loving owner Penny would be able to take one day of that, but alas it isn't taken so seriously, as it's a premise needed for the film to exist. It was due to this however that I sympathized with his character, and the added lack of humanity came from the fact that Mittens, Bolt's accomplice for the journey, is a stray that once had a home. The emotion in this respect is treated rather typically but it strikes the right chords to teach a valuable lesson which is often absent in films featuring cute dogs and cats. The only main character un-abused by people is Rhino the hamster, who offers much of the comic relief between the confused Shepard and the captive struggling feline. The film is animated well, no shocker there for films from high-end companies like Disney, and the character movements, especially from the pigeons, keep up the spirit of animated zest. There are even some great action sequences; the fake scenes from the TV show (that are featured in the previews like they're the main film) are great as well as the more down to earth scenes. The conclusion's emotions are a tad forced, and a lot of other elements are predictable, but Bolt picks up enough steam and plays with it's situation enough to warrant it's place as a genuinely good animated film.

Pixar's latest animated romp doesn't fail to entertain with its consistent heart and warmth, being rather distinctive from Bird's projects. It's a film that I believe is easy to swallow, borrowing heavily from heartwarming films like City Lights but maintaining its expected Pixar sheen of dictating its emotion from pure human essence and experience. That goes strictly however for the construction of the unlikely relationship between the film's title hero and his romance with E.V.E, a very lively and interesting supporting character. Love will find a way, even if it has apparently left the human species, who have lost themselves amongst material consumerism. The film goes along this path, emphasizing touch, beauty and compassion as essential elements to living, and how the technological extensions of ourselves have come to embody our past nature.

The two main characters set off a series of events in a very strongly influenced by "2001:A Space Odyssey" setting. The references aren't exactly subtle, and perhaps the film's universe relied to heavily on this influence, as well as the storyline. The environment and animation however were expectedly beautiful to look at. In terms of the lack of dialogue in this film, it was rather a daring move, but the film is still expressively similar to its dialogue-ridden predecessors. The music and riveting 'computer-acting' substituting as the voicing was enough to pull the common film-viewer through, similar to DreamWorks's film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmeron (without its narration) or even classic toons of the 50's and 60's. It was all executed well but not originally. The strength of the interaction scenes comes from the level of detail and care put into them; it's simple yet effective. This film speaks to adults in ways that aren't attainable in so-called mature cinema (films with overwhelming complexity and the inclusion of themes children shouldn't see). People see Pixar films as a way to escape and to laugh at curiosity and simplicity, somewhat of a trigger to what's left of their dwindling childhood memories. Wall-E incorporates this into a familiar sci-fi landscape that sparks even more enticement and gives the romance of the two characters whimsical interest, making for dazzling visuals and an all around pleasing adventure. So what held some of this back for me was the low-level satire. The fate of the humans was simply that of such in the film Idiocracy with the crude humor extracted. All the humans are proportionately hefty in red jumpsuits and flying chairs. For me, I found that imagery uninteresting, and I didn't even like looking at; not because of the proposed exaggerated fate, but because of the sheer lack of imagination. Wall-E does exercise a lot of established joking beliefs, such as machines taking over for us causing us to become fat and useless, and humans destroying the entire planet. Shockingly, the portrayals don't come of as overly cynical or smug, because it maintains a communication of our nature that everyone can appreciate. The film is special in that the environmental message didn't hijack the story such as in "Happy Feet" because it was essential to the story.

However, the film's greatness is held back strongly by a lot of these elements, mainly because their so elementary. The humans' emotion toward the end of the film are also tacked on, and although it may be part of the story that the humans are so vapid, they still play a strong part in the story of the little robot, yet they're severely reduced to the point of causing the film to lack scope. The film does a handsome job at crafting the relationships, but it shows considerable weakness in other areas that are made up for with the ever-so-pleasing cgi visuals and 'cutesy' humor that depends on how much and when the robots will exhibit a sweet little glistening of human emotion. It's all apparent from the title, Wall-E, in which we would prefer 'Wally', as he's a huggable and sympathetic character that personifies the sensation of longing and soul with just his character design alone. The film is essentially about spirit and oncoming banality, which could be easily related to much mass-produced animated films, and "Ratatouille" comes into mind here too with that theme. So while it delivers, I found it less then a masterpiece, but still a piece worth seeing for sure, and a great inspiring addition to animated cinema.

The hard-headed folks at Dreamworks just won't back down when it comes to their consistent choice to produce only the animated genre of slapstick comedy despite constant unnecessary comparisons to Pixar by most audiences. Here however, I feel they've finally succeeded in forming a well-crafted comedy that references itself and its genre without any manipulative occurrences of incessant cute (despite featuring one of the universal symbols) or thin framework. One of the first cgi Dreamworks romps to lack pop culture (shockingly less than Pixar's Cars) the pacing in the film shines, as well as the slick camera work and surprisingly effective fight sequences. Particularly, there was a true sense of environment to the animation, but also a sense of peril and physical boundaries in the well choreographed combat scenes. The story is expectedly predictable as well as the clean message, but the film comes together as referential fun comedy with likable and moderately inspiring situations despite the nature of the film. There are no mean-spirited jokes, and just the right amount of heart are out into them (not too much or little) so that it begins to approach what made the first Shrek enjoyable. It makes great use of its animation, tying in it's comical pacing with a lot of great physicality. I thoroughly enjoyed the characterizations, barely noticing or caring that they typically come to us from cherry-picked A-list celebs in an attempt to drag in theatregoers. Despite that, they bring their A-game with voice work, and the audience besides the actors have fun for once. In my opinion, it's one of Dreamworks' best after they canned their 2d films. I did not see that coming, with the eye-roll inducing premise.