Alison Rowat's Review
This cute animated offering from Disney is basically The Truman Show with a waggy tail. Bolt the terrier (voiced by John Travolta) makes his living playing a superdog on a television show alongside his beloved Penny (Miley Cyrus).
What the producers and Penny haven’t told him is that it’s all make-believe. When the shocking truth is revealed, Bolt is left wondering about his place in the world. Keeping him company as he tries to find some answers, and preventing proceedings from becoming too mushy to stomach, are sarky street cat Mittens and Rhino, a TV-obsessed hamster.
Handsomely rendered in 3D with a surprisingly powerful emotional punch and some good jokes. Just don’t tell the mutt that Rhino is the real star of the picture.
Paul Greenwood's Review
With Pixar founder John Lassiter now running the show at Disney, hopes were high for this first film under his stewardship.
It opens with a stunning action sequence in which we meet Bolt the super-dog (voiced by John Travolta). He can shoot lasers from his eyes, has super speed and strength and can bring down a fleet of helicopters with just a bark.
He's convinced he really has these powers but Bolt is in fact merely a TV character.
When he thinks his owner is in trouble he manages to escape from the studio and ends up in New York where he teams up with a streetwise cat on his journey back to Hollywood.
Working best as an action movie, the physical slam-bang of Bolt will tickle
young ones who may not actually understand the central idea.
The undoubted star is Rhino, a TV-addicted hamster who idolises Bolt. With his wonderful facial expressions and Jack Black-style manic delivery, he's easily the funniest element of a film that sometimes struggles for laughs.
For maybe the first time since the technology made a comeback, the 3D effect is used to add depth and detail, rather than simply jab you in the eye, and it does what many animated features neglect to do, offering appealing characters over trying to wow audiences into submission.
Disney may not have quite fully absorbed the Pixar touch yet, but Bolt is still a cut above what anyone else is doing.