movies : us box office movies

Bolt

BOX OFFICE: $68,955,440

Director: Chris Williams, Byron Howard

Genre: Adventure, Animation, Comedy

Official site: disney.go.com/disneypictures/bolt

Rating: PG for some mild action and peril

Release date: November 21st, 2008

Runtime: 1 hour 36 minutes

Starring: John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman, Mark Walton

Studio: Walt Disney Pictures

Writer: Dan Fogelman, Chris Williams

Plot

A White German Shepherd named Bolt (John Travolta) is the titular character of a hit action television series co-starring with his loving owner Penny (Miley Cyrus). In the show, Bolt has various superpowers such as super strength and speed, heat vision, invincibility and an ultra-sonic "super bark," and constantly thwarts the evil plans of Dr. Calico (Malcolm McDowell). However, the filming crew has intentionally kept Bolt ignorant about the fact that he is being filmed to create an effect of realism on the show. As such, Bolt doesn't know that his superpowers are fake, and he is deprived of living like a normal dog, much to Penny's dismay. After filming the show's first cliffhanger episode in which Penny is kidnapped by Dr. Calico, Bolt believes she is in actual danger and becomes all the more motivated to "rescue" her. He breaks out of his trailer and runs through the studio, attempting to break through a window only to be knocked unconscious and fall into a cardboard box, which is shipped from Hollywood to New York City.

Roaming the streets of New York, he finds that his "powers" aren't working, believing that the Styrofoam from the cardboard has a weakening effect on his body (much like Kryptonite for Superman). He decides to find a cat whom he believes will lead him to Dr. Calico and Penny, associating all cats with the villain because he owns two of them. A flock of pigeons brings Bolt to Mittens (Susie Essman), a street cat who loves to threaten them out of their food, as a means of retribution. Fearing for her own safety, she plays along with Bolt's delusions that she works for Calico, and directs him to Hollywood, but ends up getting dragged along as a "prisoner." Meanwhile, Penny is saddened by Bolt's disappearance, but is forced by the studio to keep shooting with a Bolt stand-in, which looks exactly like him.

Bolt begins to have feelings he had never experienced before, such as pain, and hunger, the latter of which convinces him that Mittens had poisoned him. Coming across a camp site, the cat teaches him how to beg to the campers for food, which she passes off as the "antidote," like a dog usually does. There, they meet Rhino (Mark Walton), a TV-obsessed hamster and a huge Bolt-enthusiast, whom they recruit on their journey westward. Realizing his identity as a TV star, Mittens tries to convince Bolt that his whole life has been part of a TV series, and that his powers aren't real, but they are both captured by Animal Control. After being broken out of the Animal Control van by their hyperactive hamster friend, Bolt finally realizes the truth about his powers. However, Rhino, oblivious to this revelation, inadvertently tells the depressed pooch that he doesn't need his powers to be a hero. Using stealth and improvisation, Bolt and Rhino rescue Mittens, who is profoundly moved by the heroism of these confused new friends.

As the trio continue on the journey, Bolt is depressed that he doesn't know what to do with his life, now that he knows he has no superpowers, so Mittens teaches him how to live like a normal dog. Bolt takes to typical dog activities, such as playing fetch and sticking his head out the window of a moving vehicle. After the long trek westward, ending up in Las Vegas, Mittens begins to assume that her canine friend will be content living as a homeless stray, but the dog is still motivated to return to Penny. Suddenly embittered, she begins to rant that Penny's love for him is no more real than his superpowers or adventures, inadvertently revealing that she was once a house cat who was declawed, and abandoned. Refusing to believe that his own owner doesn't love him, Bolt continues on to Hollywood alone, leaving Mittens with no ill will. Later, Rhino convinces the mildly regretful feline to follow Bolt to Hollywood and help him.

Bolt returns to the studio, and is heartbroken to find Penny lovingly embracing his lookalike, unaware that Penny still misses him, and that her affection for the Bolt stand-in was part of a rehearsal for the show. Witnessing Penny's sadness for her lost dog, and realizing that she truly does love Bolt, Mittens confronts him and manages to clear up the misunderstanding. Back on the set, the Bolt stand-in panics during filming and accidentally knocks over some torches, setting the soundstage on fire, and trapping Penny. Bolt arrives and reunites with his owner, rescuing her from the inferno of the soundstage, by using the SuperBark in an air vent to alert the fire fighters where they are. After the two are pulled out of the building and into the ambulance, Penny's mom has her quit the show. They end up adopting Mittens and Rhino, and move to a rural home to enjoy a simpler, happy lifestyle with Bolt and their new found friends. However, the studio they quit from replaced Penny and decided to give the Bolt TV show a more Sci-Fi plot, adding aliens to it.