My rating of some of the Disney films based on two scales; the Walt scale and the regular scale. The Walt scale will base the film on who much it retains the soul of what Disney has been trying to accomplish since its inception, that is to entertain, teach, and astonish children at mind and at heart.

Bolt (2008)

Bolt has a lot going against it. Due to the lackluster Non-Pixar CGI Disney bombs like Chicken Little and Meet The Robinsons, the audience is wary to trust Disney with non-traditional animation features. The plot is another hurdle. With a main character that parallels a star commander and a feline sidekick that all but starts singing "When She Loved Me," its obvious that some aspects were borrowed from the Toy Story series.

But don't count this superhero pup out yet. It turns out that this film acts more like a Pixar masterpiece than a CGI flop. John Lasseter has sprinkled his magic and created an instant family classic. As for the parallels o Toy Story, it turns out that it's not that big of a deal. Aside from one scene where I actually heard someone saying "You Are A Toy!" the audience is hardly reminded of the Pixar film.

Bolt truly is a return to the fantastic story telling and wonderful heart that people have grown to love about Disney films. The presentation is at times awe-inspiring, especially the scene where the trio travels through Las Vagas. Like the lighter from WALL-E, I found myself thinking that this could not have been created. The buildings look ripped right from real life and thrown into fantasy. On a traditonal note, the backgrounds of the traveling scenes were near perfection. And the cartoons ran during the end credits were fun and touching.

Overall I believe this film is the perfect lead into the next Disney feature, The Princess and The Frog. Just as The Great Mouse Detective and Oliver & Co. lead into The Little Mermaid, so too will Bolt as a new era of Disney animation is a very real and likely possibilty

Walt Scale - 3.5/4
Regular Scale - 4/4