How do you know it's time to finally break time and make the switch to Blu-ray? When Disney's latest offering is released on Blu-ray before it's available on DVD*. It's like Disney's knocking on your thick skull and saying "Hello, are you in there? This is the future of technology calling. Nineteen ninety-six called and it wants it's DVDs back. You really need to give it up and just start watching movies and TV in HD with the rest of the world. Hello? Can you say 1080p and English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio?" But being as though this is Disney we're talking about, they're nicer than that and *they even include the DVD version along with the 3-disc Blu-ray edition cause they know that life, like technology upgrades, is not always so simple.
But enough about formatting, what about the film? Well, the short version of the plot teaser is Bolt is a canine actor in a highly rated prime-time TV show (called "Bolt") in which his character (also called Bolt) has super powers and is something of a secret agent alongside his teenage girl owner/partner Penny. Bolt is led to believe by everyone in the show that he actually has these super powers, as supposedly this makes the dog give a more convincing performance and they don't want to chance that his acting and by extension the show's ratings and their wallets will suffer by telling him that he's just a normal dog who's an actor on a show. Bolt gets accidentally shipped off across the country and goes on an odessey to return to Hollywood to be reunited with his girl Penny. Along the way he picks up a mangy cat and an uber-fanboy hamster that come along for the journey. *SPOILERS* Bolt makes it back.
The first few minutes of this movie represent the last scene of the season finale of the Bolt TV show. This opening action sequence in Bolt is completely rivetingly awesome. Bolt starts stronger than any other Disney film ever. This is one huge action sequence that "real" action movies could take a page from. Bond? Matrix? Transformers? Step aside. This is the action sequence to end all action sequences. This is ultimately Bolt's undoing.
Extra Bark:
Digital Copy disc
DVD of the feature with most of the bonus features but all in standard-def.
Overview:
After the mind-blowing intro sequence set within the "fake" world of the Bolt TV show, the rest of the movie simply cannot compete. I would watch a "Bolt 2" set within the confines of the TV show any day, but Bolt itself does not feel like it has the legs of Pinocchio or even Lilo & Stitch.
ComicsOnline gives Bolt 3 out of 5 cross-country trips in a hamster ball.
But you know what's the best way to see the the best version of this movie? Okay, we concede that cocktails might help, but that won't work for the majority of the target audience… That's right, if you get it for free. It's true. And the valid request posted in the forum linked there will get the Blu-ray + DVD edition. Who is our Rhino-like fanboy?
