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Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Critic Consensus: No consensus yet.
All Critics (23) | Top Critics (11) | Fresh (12) | Rotten (11)
The goose and bears, in particular, don't add much to the proceedings, while Balto himself proves rather blandly heroic.
The makers of this half-hearted animated feature let the story ramble on with a minimum of second-hand plotting and characterisation.
Avoiding the mythological grandiosity and freneticism that afflict so many animated features these days, "Balto" makes modesty a virtue.
Even as voiced by Bacon, Balto doesn't have the sort of charisma to get kids to truly root for him.
The love story is pure mush, not helped by the bland voice work done by Kevin Bacon as Balto and Bridget Fonda as dainty husky Jenna.
A mushy animated melodrama.
Kevin Bacon's voice turns the wolf-dog crossbreed into a no-nonsense hero with a sense of duty that far outweighs the pride of his deadly rival, Steele, while Bob Hoskins's eccentric Russian goose provides the comedy.
With no cheesy songs to slow proceedings down and some barnstorming chase sequences, this is enchanting, highly enjoyable and impressively crafted (not least for its adventurous "camera work") and would have made a pretty fair live action film.
Brave dog saves kids in adequate fact-based film.
An Alaskan dog who gets a chance to demonstrate his courage and creativity on a mission of mercy.
Unassuming and enjoyable animated adventure.
The new animated picture from Stephen Spielberg's production company, takes a genuinely appealing, inspirational story and reduces it to, at best, a passable entertainment that might please younger children.
Balto is a hugely under rated animated film. It was released at the same time as Toy Story and therefore overshadowed. But I preffered this film, I enjoyed it because it was funny and Bob Hoskins shows real enthusiasm to his character of the goose who is Balto's sidekick. Balto is one of the greatest hero's of an animated film and whilst watching you'll care about what he does next. I know you see a lot of animated films with the central character as an outcast but I will say Balto is the best of them all.
Super Reviewer
Yet another kids movie about a dog who's an outcast and ends up saving the day. It's not bad, but it's not great either.
A fantastic and very underrated animated film from the 90s with great voice acting, great animation, and some great drama.
Fun to watch as a kid and still at least slightly fun as an adult. Full review later.
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