BEFORE: By now, it's become pretty standard for these animated talking-animal films - some form of long distance quest. Of 13 films watched so far in this chain, nearly all feature some kind of trek or distance-oriented goal, except for "Marmaduke" and "Marley & Me". It's like these screenwriters don't know what to do with the characters except get them lost and make them find their way home - or send them off looking for some unobtainable object. Seems like a bit of a crutch, actually.
Still, you do hear from time to time about a cat or dog that gets separated from its owners, and makes its way across the country, hundreds of miles to reunite with them. I'm not sure exactly how it happens - look-alike pets, help from humans - but I suspect there's more to the story than we realize. I doubt that little Fido hops on a Trailways bus and navigates his way back to Denver. It's like a magic trick that I haven't quite figured out yet.
Linking from last night, Bebe Neuwirth from "All Dogs 2" was also in "Green Card" with Andie MacDowell, who was also in "Michael" with John Travolta.
THE PLOT: The canine star of a fictional sci-fi/action show that believes his powers are real embarks on a cross country trek to save his co-star from a threat he believes is just as real.
AFTER: OK, so Bolt gets lost (duh...) but there is a twist - the dog believes he's an action hero, because he plays one on TV. That would seem to make sense, since he's got a little doggie brain, and he's been kept inside the wonderland of Hollywood, so he's been in his own little "Truman Show" or "Matrix" reality. It leads one to wonder just how much Lassie or Rin Tin Tin understood about acting - were they conscious they were playing heroic figures, or were they just reacting to their environments, according to how they were trained?
BUT (and you just knew there would be a "BUT", right?) it seems like the director of this TV shows goes to great lengths to make the dog THINK all the action and espionage is real, because he then gets a more genuine performance out of the dog. Umm, he realizes it's a dog, right? He's spending millions of the network's dollars to fool a dog. Seems like a stretch, even for Hollywood.
So they do extravagant action sequences in long takes, with multiple cameras, and no reshoots. Again, to fool a dog. I don't even have to be in the business to know that's not how movies and TV shows get made. Everyone knows action sequences are made of lots of little shots, dozens of retakes, and half the effects get added later in post-production anyway. Come ON!
That said, some of the action scenes are the best I've seen in a long while, in any film, live-action or animated. So clearly someone spent a lot of money to fool me, and the rest of the audience.
And there are some bits here about the downside of fame, especially for child actors (and, by extension, animals) which is a point I was trying to make the other night with regards to the little girl from "All Dogs Go to Heaven". So, regular people want to be famous, and famous people just want to be regular folks (or regular dogs). That sounds about right.
Starring the voices of John Travolta (last seen in "The Taking of Pelham 123"), Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman (last seen in "Cop Out"), Malcolm McDowell (last seen in "I Spy"), Greg Germann (last seen in "Down to Earth"), James Lipton (!), with cameos from Diedrich Bader (last heard in "Surf's Up") and Randy Savage.
RATING: 6 out of 10 trailer parks
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