Take an incredible journey with ‘Bolt’

Published 5:00 am Friday, March 20, 2009

As sprightly and determined as its fuzzy, yappy lead, this new Disney animated film works hard to be all things to all people, with mixed results. The story of “Bolt,” a TV-star pooch (voiced by John Travolta) who’s accidentally mailed from Los Angeles to New York, the movie follows our hero (plus a cat and a daft hamster) across America in search of his owner and co-star, Penny (Miley Cyrus). But because Bolt, sheltered by his producers from the outside world, believes he truly is the superdog he plays on the tube, the film’s simple dog-meets-girl, girl-loses-dog, dog-seeks-girl story jockeys for attention with some fairly sophisticated Hollywood satire, complete with a smooth-talking agent and splashy action scenes. The result is a family film with an identity crisis: “The Incredible Journey” meets “Entourage” meets “The Truman Show.” Contains mild action and peril. DVD extras include “Super Rhino” bonus short; deleted scenes; in session with John Travolta and Miley Cyrus; music video; digital copy. (All extras, excluding the bonus short, are available on the two-disc special edition only.)

‘Bolt’

PG, 95 minutes

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