I am the mad woman you see talking to random cats on the street, or goats at the farm.  I am the woman who brought an exhausted pigeon home from the pub and nursed him/her back to health, and the daft bint who stopped to check on a stray dog and locked my keys in my car with the engine running.  Yes, I’m a sucker for small furry things. 

So when the fabulous Think Parents network sent our next two DVDs to review I was kind of excited as both are animal related.  So far we have only watched one and absolutely loved it.  I think you can guess the title…

Nominated for an Academy Award in 2008, Bolt is a kind of animated version of ‘The Trueman Show’ but with dogs. In my opinion the characters are less annoying than Jim Carrey, and while the plot may be a little predictable at times it seems to revel in its simplicity and is unashamed at using plot devices such as Bolt just happening upon a van labelled “Hollywood’ just as he’s wondering how to get there.

Bolt is a chunky white dog of indiscriminate breed but with the most fabulous facial expressions. From the start he had my 62 year old Dad laughing out loud as he joined Misses E and M on the settee and sat through the whole film.  Seriously, he was hooked, in fact I think I know what he’s getting for his birthday this year. 

Bolt, voiced by the oddly attractive John Travolta, has no idea his whole life is a film script, his super powers are special effects, and that the girl he has sworn to protect, Penny (voiced by Miley Cyrus), is in fact an actress managed by an unscrupulous agent who for some reason reminds me of Greg Proops.  The only thing that is ‘real’ in this Hollywood hit show is the love between the two most important and yet powerless characters in it, the dog and the kid.

When the show’s sponsors decide that changes need to be made to satisfy the 18-35 market, for the first time ever the day’s filming ends in a cliff hanger, meaning Bolt doesn’t get to save Penny straight away.  Inevitably this leads to an unhappy hound, an escape, and some major shocks for a certain pooch who has never been out in the real world, never had to fend for himself, and never learnt how to just ‘be a dog’.

Joined on this journey of discovery by a bitter and world weary cat called Mittens and a hilarious and slightly disturbed Hamster named Rhino, (Bolt’s number one fan), this film kept both my girls glued to the screen throughout and when it ended they both sat back, smiled kind of drunkenly and sighed like the Bisto kids, completely satisfied with their evening’s viewing.

I won’t give away anymore but I will say that this film has been a massive hit in the Beaufoix household and was given a 5 out of 5 from Miss E, Miss M, myself and my Dad, which makes it a fabulously decadent, melt on the tongue piece of chocolatey goodness.

As for the Blu Ray, well it blew me away.  From the texture of Mitten’s fur, to the amazingly realistic and almost touchable styrofoam pieces, and on to the sweetly real skin pigmentation of Bolt’s nose, it was just fantastic.  A visual feast of colour it drew us in and definitely enhanced our experience.  Oh and the pigeons, I loved the pigeons.

Brilliant.

Our favourite ’snort out loud’ line from the film came from the daft crazed hamster, Rhino, when he and Bolt face a difficult situation…

Bolt:  ”There’s a guard.”
Rhino:  ”I’ll snap his neck.” 

Here’s a clip…

Mini Review…

We also watched Disney’s ‘Sleeping Beauty’ on Blu Ray the same night, and while my girls loved the film and have watched it repeatedly since, I don’t feel the experience was particularly enhanced by the Blu Ray format.

While it is a gorgeously animated film, and the colours are more vivid, the images perhaps more clear, it still remains fairly flat and the textures can not be compared to the more modern computer aided graphics. I don’t think we enjoyed the film less, it was charming, but I can’t say it was as exciting or as fast moving as Bolt. A big part of me (possibly my torso) thinks this is a good thing though. It’s an old film. I’m ok with it aging naturally. It’s like filling Helen Mirren with bo-tox and sticking her in a film as Scarlett Johanson’s younger sister. It’s just not necessary.

So Bolt on Blu Ray = Fabulous

Sleeping Beauty on Blu Ray = Not a lot different but very nice.

Oh and my kids also gave Sleeping Beauty 5 out of 5. They’re far too nice aren’t they? Is it bad that I’m hoping they send us a real dud next??