Bolt tells the tale of a devoted pet dog named Bolt (John Travolta), who spends his days with his beloved person, Penny (Miley Cyrus), fighting an evil crime syndicate headed by the cat-loving Dr. Calico (Malcolm McDowell), at least that's what he thinks. In reality, he and Penny are the stars of a huge action television show, but the show's production team takes great pains to never let him know that the situations he and Penny find themselves in are not real. If the dog believes it, the audience will be it. Well, this is all well and good until the networks stick their nose into things and claim the show is too predictable, so they need to shake things up. A cliffhanger would be perfect! But when Penny is kidnapped and the audience (and Bolt) are left hanging as to her fate, Bolt splits and goes in search of Penny. Crazy events happen and Bolt winds up across country in New York, where he meets a group of pigeons who direct him to a plucky bully of an alley cat named Mittens (Susie Essman). Since Bolt is searching for Dr. Calico - surely the evil Mittens would know where he is.

Bolt leashes himself to poor Mittens, insisting she take him to Calico's lair. Unfortunately for Bolt, his "superpowers" don't work in the real world and he is convinced that somehow, pink Styrofoam packing peanuts have leeched his powers away and Mittens is to blame. When he meets a riotously funny hamster in a clear plastic ball by the name of Rhino (Mark Walton), who is his biggest fan, he finds that Rhino wants nothing more than to join Bolt and his unwilling partner, Mittens, to find Dr. Calico and rescue Penny. As they travel across the country, Mittens softens to Bolt and tries to gently break the news to him that he has no powers, that Penny is just an actress who doesn't care about him, and that he is just a regular dog after all. But Bolt insists she is wrong and fights to get home to Penny. When he returns home, will he find that he has been replaced on set or will he prove once and for all that he truly is the hero he believes he is? You'll have to see it for yourself.

Bolt is a superb film, not just for dog lovers, but for anyone. But if you do have a dog, you'll love it that much more. Seeing Bolt learn how to be just a regular dog, playing with other pooches and sticking his head into the wind while in a moving vehicle are things that will make any dog parent smile. It's so genuine and John Travolta plays the part perfectly. You truly believe Bolt as a character. Miley Cyrus also has a wonderful voice and did quite well as Penny, although I thought the voice was a little old for the character she portrayed, but this didn't really detract in any way. The scene-stealer is Mark Walton who voices Rhino, as he is absolutely hysterical. By watching the special features, you'll see that Mark was actually just the placeholder voice for Rhino originally, but was so good, they gave him the job. They catch the moment he gets this news on film and it is great to see. Other special features include plentiful concept art, some deleted scenes, an animated short focused on Rhino himself, the music video for "I Thought I Lost You" by Miley Cyrus and John Travolta, and a few featurettes on the making-of, the voice talent and the filmmakers' journey. None of these were very long, but all were really enjoyable and actually, I'd prefer short featurettes that really get to the point. Of special note is a featurette where they talk about the look of Bolt, and how they used a hand-painted look for the backgrounds, with crisp and realistic CG for the characters. It works really well and helps to expressly convey the different areas around the country that Bolt visits. There's also a really cool little platformer game included that has good animations and just has you acting as Bolt to defeat Dr. Calico's minions. Since I use a PS3 controller to operate my Blu-ray player (my PS3) and the game is designed to be played with a remote, I found it cumbersome but mostly because I wasn't sure where the controls should be mapped. I wish production companies would realize that there are tons of us out there with PS3's as our Blu-ray players and that playing a game with a controller would be optimal. Just tell us which buttons to use, please!

Bolt looks simply beautiful on Blu-ray, with your high-def TV picking up the most minute detail, like the varying colors in the pigeons' feathers. Gorgeous! Naturally, you also get surround sound, which sounds really good, especially when you are in the midst of one of the action scenes. Picking up Bolt on Blu-ray is the way to go, whether you already have a high-def setup or plan to get one soon, because the Blu-ray version includes not only the Blu-ray disc, but also a digital copy of Bolt AND a copy on DVD, so you can even take Bolt with you in your portable DVD. Which version to choose is a no-brainer. This is something Disney is doing more and more and it just makes sense.

Overall, Bolt is a touching and beautiful story of a dog's devotion to his person, and its chock full of tender moments, laughs and action. Don't miss it!

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