21 November 2008 1:34 AM, PST | From Studio Briefing - Film News | See recent Studio Briefing - Film News news
Critics are giving Disney's Bolt no standing ovation, as they are wont to do for most of the Pixar product the studio releases, but they are giving it plenty of polite applause. Consider A.O. Scott's comments in the New York Times: "If Bolt ... does not quite rise to the level of bona fide Pixar masterpieces like Wall-E, Finding Nemo and Ratatouille, it does manage to be frisky, funny and inventive enough to engage the attention of grown-ups as well as children." Claudia Puig in USA Today comes to the identical conclusion, writing: "Funny and heartwarming, if not entirely original, Bolt is bound to charm audiences of all ages." Roger Moore in the Orlando Sentinel comments that it "marries the best Disney traditions with Pixar polish." Lou Lumenick in the New York Post doesn't go that far, calling it "sporadically entertaining, occasionally quite funny and presented in unremarkable 3-D," but concluding that overall, it's "deeply mediocre." The movie itself reportedly underwent a major overhaul after the Disney/Pixar merger, and several critics observe that the touch of Pixar's John Lasseter, who is now overseeing all Disney animated fare, is evident in the movie. Writes Glenn Whipp in the Los Angeles Daily News: "Lasseter believes that 'for every laugh, there should be a tear.' Which is another way of saying that movies should have heart, a quality in short supply in Disney animated offerings this decade. ... You won't need to keep a pack of tissue at the ready here, but Bolt does have some lump-in-the-throat moments courtesy of a vividly drawn, huggable main character you grow to love." Similarly, Kenneth Turan writes in the Los Angeles Times: "At the end of the day, Bolt is a sweet Disney family film, but Lasseter's oversight has made it smarter than it otherwise would have been. It's not in Pixar's league, but it's laced with idiosyncratic characters with pleasantly wacky attitudes."
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