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Bolt(2008)
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Nov 21, 2008 | Wide
The canine star of a fictional sci-fi/action show that believes his powers are real embarks on a cross country trek to save his co-star from a threat he believes is just as real.
Releases
Original Release | Nov 21, 2008
Box Office
Results
$26,223,128
$114,053,579
$195,926,415
$309,979,994
Director & Top Cast
Technical Specifications
Sound Mix: SDDS,Dolby Digital EX,DTS-ES
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
Other Details
Country of Origin: United States,Japan
Language: English
Showtimes
Your Location or
(U.S. Only)
Summaries
Plot Summary
- A White Swiss Shepherd puppy named Bolt (John Travolta) is adopted by a 7-year-old girl named Penny (Miley Cyrus). Bolt and Penny take a liking to each other from the very start.5 years later Penny and Bolt star on a hit television series called Bolt in which the titular character has various superpowers (due to genetic alterations made by Penny's father and a lightning bolt birthmark on his skin) and must constantly thwart the evil plans of the nefarious Doctor Calico (Malcolm McDowell), who has kidnapped Penny's father (Sean Donnellan), with Bolt using various superpowers in their adventures. Bolt can smash cars in a head-on collision, can lift the weight of an entire car with his jaws, he can run extremely fast, can smash through walls, can shoot lasers from his eyes, and the sonic impact of his "Superbark" can destroy an entire armada of land and air-based military vehicles. With these powers, Penny and Bolt take on the most sophisticated and well-armed mercenaries working for Dr Calico and defeat them.To gain a more realistic performance, the TV show's producers have deceived Bolt his entire life, arranging the filming in such a way that Bolt believes the television show is real and he really has superpowers. The superpowers include his invulnerability, super-strength, and percussive sonic "Superbark". This means Bolt can never leave the set and live as a normal dog, much to Penny's dismay. Once Penny takes Bolt into his vanity van, the entire crew comes out to prepare the set for the next scene.The director (James Lipton) of the show is finicky about every minute detail and is paranoid about maintaining character for Bolt. This is why the team does not do any retakes. The broadcaster Mindy Parker (Kari Wahlgren) feels all this is a bit excessive as Bolt is only a dog. The director says that if the dog believes the story, then the audience will also believe it. Mindy pushes back saying that the show is too predictable with a similar story-line in every episode. Mindy promises to fire everyone on the team if they start losing rating points.At the end of the working day, Penny goes home, leaving Bolt in his trailer van. Penny wants Bolt to be a real dog, but her agent says that they have a contract with the Network and keeps ignoring Penny. At night, a veteran cat (Diedrich Bader) cat actor who portrays one of Dr. Calico's pet cats, demonstrates to his friend how Bolt never leaves character. The veteran cat goes to the ventilation window of the van and threatens Bolt that Calico will eventually "get" Penny. This prompts Bolt to deliver a trademark dialogue from the show, saying how he will protect Penny till she is safe.After a cliffhanger episode causes Bolt to believe Penny has been kidnapped, he escapes from his on-set trailer in Hollywood. Penny had warned repeatedly that she needs to let Bolt know that she is safe, but the agent and the director wanted Bolt to maintain character and stop Penny from meeting him. Bolt knocks himself unconscious (when he tries to jump through a window) and falls into a box of packing peanuts, which is then shipped to New York City.In New York, Bolt starts to notice that his superpowers aren't working (he can't jump long distance, his Karate doesn't work, he cannot bend iron bars), and rationalizes this is the effect that Styrofoam has on his body. Bolt meets a flock of pigeons including Vinnie (Lino DiSalvo), Joey (Todd Cummings), Bobby (Tim Mertens), Saul (John DiMaggio) and Louie (Daran Norris). Vinnie teaches Bolt how to get his head out of a fence. Bolt says that he needs to find a cat, as Dr Calico only has pet cats.The pigeons guide Bolt to Mittens (Susie Essman), a female alley cat who bullies pigeons out of their food. Believing that Mittens is an "agent" of Calico, Bolt ties her to his collar with a leash, and forces her to guide him back to Penny. Mittens sees the Dog Tag on Bolt and realizes that he comes from Hollywood, California. Mittens realizes the extent of Bolt's issues when he tries to stare at a lock intently and expects it to melt and burst into flames. After Bolt knocks Mittens unconscious, the two start their journey westward on an U-Haul truck headed for Hollywood. Bolt jumps out of the truck with Mittens when he finds that the truck is full of boxes with Styrofoam.In Hollywood, Penny is deeply saddened over Bolt's disappearance but is convinced by the studio to continue filming with a Bolt look alike. Mindy says that if they don't continue production of the show, people will lose their jobs. Mindy tells Penny to let Bolt go. Penny prints hundreds of fliers to declare an award for anyone who brings Bolt back to her, but after her chat with Mindy, she decides to abandon the search.Surprised at his first feelings of both pain and hunger, Bolt is shown by Mittens how to act like a cute, but needy dog, and is rewarded by food at a nearby RV trailer park. They meet Rhino (Mark Walton), a fearless, TV-obsessed hamster and Bolt fan who joins their team. Rhino's description of Bolt's adventures causes Mittens to realize Bolt is from a TV show, but she is unable to convince Bolt of the truth. In frustration, Bolt repeatedly attempts to "Superbark" Mittens, but the noise draws the attention of the local animal control service officer Lloyd (Jeff Bennett), and Bolt and Mittens are both captured and taken to a shelter.After being freed in route by Rhino, Bolt finally realizes that he is just a normal dog (he thought that he broke through the containment unit and was depressed to find out that it was Rhino who popped the hatch open) but regains his confidence after Rhino (oblivious to this revelation) gives him a pep talk. They rescue Mittens from the shelter and escape, allowing them to continue their journey when they hitch a ride on a truck on the highway. Mittens is astounded that Bolt came back to rescue her and accepts him as a friend. Bolt also accepts that he does not have any superpowers.Along the way, Mittens teaches Bolt typical dog activities (such as hanging his head out the window, digging a hole and burying a bone in it, running through a sprinkler, playing with other dogs and chasing sticks), but Mittens refuses to go farther than Las Vegas. Mittens had found a nice place for them to stay in Vegas and they had access to unlimited food supply in the trash cans of major hotel chains on the strip, that threw away the leftovers of their buffet spreads. She tells Bolt that his Hollywood life is fake and there is no real love for him there. Her emotional rant reveals that she was once a house cat but was abandoned by her previous owner and left to brave the harsh streets alone and without her claws. Mittens believes that no human truly "loves" their pet.Bolt refuses to believe that Penny doesn't love him, and continues on alone, wishing Mittens the best. Rhino, learning of Bolt's departure, convinces Mittens that they must help him, and the two set off to find Bolt once again.Bolt reaches the studio and finds Penny embracing his lookalike. Unaware that Penny still misses him and that her affection for the lookalike is only a part of a rehearsal for the show, he leaves, brokenhearted. Mittens, on a gantry in the studio, sees what Bolt does not: Penny telling her mother how much she misses Bolt. Realizing that Penny truly does love Bolt, Mittens follows Bolt and explains.At the same time, the Bolt-lookalike panics during the show's filming and accidentally knocks over some flaming torches, setting the sound stage on fire with Penny trapped inside. Bolt arrives and reunites with Penny inside the burning studio but are unable to escape and Penny begins to suffocate from the smoke. In desperation, and unwilling to abandon Penny, Bolt uses his "super bark". The firefighters hear the noise through the building's air vent and manage to rescue them before they succumb to smoke inhalation.Penny and her mother (Grey DeLisle) subsequently quit the show when their agent (Greg Germann) attempts to exploit the incident for publicity purposes. Penny herself adopts Mittens and Rhino, and she and her family move to a rural home to enjoy a simpler, happy lifestyle with Bolt and her new pets.The show continues, but with a replacement "Bolt" and "Penny" - "Penny's" new appearance being explained in the show as being serious injuries necessitating her undergoing facial reconstruction surgery and adopting a new story-line about alien abduction (one that even Rhino finds unrealistic, and Bolt finds "Ridonculous"). The epilogue scenes during the credits show Bolt, Penny, her mother, Mittens, and Rhino enjoying their new life together.
Storyline
- Bolt, an American white shepherd, has lived his whole life on the set of his action TV show, where he believes he has superpowers. When separated from the studio by accident, he meets a female alley cat named Mittens and a hamster named Rhino. He's trying to find the way home, to the studio. Along the way, he learns that he doesn't have superpowers and that the show is not real. — jcsmarchesi Bolt is a super dog who always saves his owner, Penny from the evil, Dr. Calico. Or so he thinks. Bolt thinks he has real powers, but they are just special effects for a TV show. And Bolt doesn't realize that. Since Bolt doesn't realize he's part of a TV show, when the studio makes an episode where Penny gets kidnapped, Bolt accidentally gets shipped to New York. And there, he meets two new friends, Mittens and Rhino, who help him get home. From Walt Disney Pictures comes an animated comedy adventure featuring a super-dog named BOLT (voice of John Travolta), whose days are filled with danger and intrigue -at least until the cameras stop rolling. When the star of a hit TV show is accidentally shipped from his Hollywood soundstage to New York City, he begins his biggest adventure yet - a cross-country journey through the real world to get back to his owner and co-star, Penny (voice of Miley Cyrus. Armed only with the delusions that all his amazing feats and powers are real, and the help of two unlikely traveling companions - a jaded, abandoned housecat named Mittens (voice of Susie Essman) and a TV-obsessed hamster named Rhino (voice of Mark Walton) - Bolt discovers he doesn't need superpowers to be a hero. — Disney A male celebrity dog who is the lead in a television series is accidentally lost and is now far from home. With the help of new friends, he sets out on a journey to return home while learning the true definitions of multiple things, life, and himself. — RECB3 1 more All