Bolt (character)
Encyclopedia
Bolt is a white American Shepherd Dog and the protagonist from the 2008 animated feature of the same name. His character development embodies the film’s main messages regarding trust and loyalty.
In the film, Bolt has spent his entire life from early puppyhood on a TV-set, where he has been kept isolated from the outside world by the producers of a hit television show. In the show, Bolt must use his superpowers to save his owner and co-actor Penny, whom he loves dearly, from the evil plans of the malevolent villain “Dr. Calico”. Having had no contact with the outside world, Bolt believes that he actually has the superpowers possessed by his TV-figure. This is a delusion the directors of the show efforts to preserve by the use of live effects and stunts, tricking him, week after week, into thinking his adventures are real, in order to make his performance more authentic
.
The character Bolt was designed and created by Chris Williams
and Byron Howard
together with the chief character designer Joe Moshier. Much of the inspiration for the character was provided by John Lasseter
. Bolt was voiced by John Travolta
who received praise for the role.
When the directors decide to make a “cliff-hanger” in an attempt to boost ratings, Bolt does not get to rescue Penny at the end of the shoot. Instead, he is captured and locked in his trailer. Thinking that Penny needs to be rescued, he escapes the trailer. Spotting some props from the TV-set outside a window, he throws himself against the hard surface, convinced that he will be able to break through. Instead, he knocks himself unconscious and falls backwards into a box stuffed with packing styrofoam
. The box is sealed and Bolt is accidentally shipped to New York.
After being stranded in the outside world, he discovers that his sense of reality has been severely skewed. Alone, he embarks on a journey across America to get back to Hollywood, accompanied by an abandoned street cat named Mittens, and a hamster in a plastic ball named Rhino. Along the way, Bolt is forced to acknowledge his limitations and trust other characters to help him, while still holding on to the hope that Penny is waiting for him in Hollywood. Ultimately, Bolt learns that his deepest virtues; his bravery, loyalty and canine faithfulness, rather than his perceived superpowers, is what makes him a hero. Bolt eventually returns to Penny, having learned how to be a real dog from Mittens (and turning out to be good at it too) and rescues her for real from a fire. Afterwards, Penny and Bolt quit the show and are replaced and Bolt gets to live with Penny as a normal dog along with Mittens and Rhino who also become her pets.
, Disney animators and filmmakers had an extensive training program to prepare for the work on what would later be called "Bolt". At the time, former director and storyboard artist, Chris Sanders
was in lead of the project. Chris Sanders had started working on a character, a dog, whose overall appearance and personality was predominantly different from the “current” Bolt. Sander’s character would be named Henry and, in difference to Bolt, he was an actual actor who would one day find himself lost in the Nevada desert. Henry would meet a radioactive hamster and a one-eyed cat, two characters that would help him find a new home. When John Lasseter became Chief Creative Officer at Disney in 2006, he demanded to see Chris Sanders project. John Lasseter and his collogues from Pixar
viewed a couple of early cuts of the film, but they were not impressed. They suggested a series of changes to improve the character Henry and his story. Chris Sanders refused and was, therefore, replaced by two new directors, Chris Williams and Byron Howard. John Lasseter was quoted saying that “Chris Sanders is extremely talented but couldn’t take it to the place it had to be”, adding that “the story was too quirky for his own good”. John Lasseter took over management for the project as the chief producer, working very closely with Chris Williams and Byron Howard to improve Chris Sanders project. Many changes were made to both the story and the character Henry, who was now renamed "Bolt". Byron Howard was put in charge for the animation and design of the dog while Chris Williams worked on the story-line. Under the new direction, a new dog emerged, more similar to the Bolt we know.
John Lasseter was spending most of his time shaping up the plot, providing the animators with his vision of who the character was supposed to be, as well as his role in the movie.A new premise emerged about a more naïve dog who actually believes that he is a superhero. The animators saw more potential in the new plot featuring this delusional character, with a completely false understand of his world, and then to have that understanding stripped away, hence letting the character discover a new world, and ultimately, his own identity. Byron Howard and Chris Williams worked with ways to make Bolt relatable and distinguish his personality. As such, Penny was added, functioning in the movie as the goal of Bolt’s journey, playing the role as Bolt’s loved “person”. “I think that for people to love a movie they have to love the characters and care about the relationships” said Chris Williams about Bolt, “So we definitely wanted to make sure that people really loved Penny and Bolt, and wanted them to be together”. The new story emphasized Bolt’s relationship to his owner, making the entire plot more centered on the typical canine characteristics, which according to the directors, were innocence, loyalty and trust. According to director Byron Howard, the new Bolt was more true to what a dog is in comparison to Chris Sander's Henry.
John Lasseter approved of Byron Howard’s and Chris William’s new concept, pleased with the potential for ironic value in a story about a dog who doesn’t know how to be a dog, as well as character development. “The thing that appealed to me the most about Bolt from the very beginning was the potential for growth in the main character”.
As the development Bolt’s personality and role in the movie continued, it became apparent that Bolt would have a certain “duo-personality”, being a contrasty mix between his adventurous actionhero persona, and his more sensitive, loving and sympathetic side. John Travolta was chosen as they thought he would bring the right blend of toughness, humor and appeal needed for Bolt’s voice. The actor was actually chosen among several other alternatives, as he is someone who has had a lot of
success playing tough characters in his career. In the animators opinion, one of the reasons he has been so successful is because there is an innate “sweet quality” in him, and therefore, as bad and mesmerizing as a character can be, he is still making them likable. This ability was very desirable amongst the storyboard artists and filmmakers, as they thought it the perfect combination for playing a dog who thinks that he’s a very threatening, menacing figure but underneath it all is really a normal puppy who loves his owner.
“We were really fortunate in having John Travolta voice our main character,” said Chris Williams in a recent interview. “It plays to two of John’s biggest strengths. It was a thrill working with an icon who’s been in so many great movies, and I think his performance really brought something special to the character of Bolt.”
, Travolta explained that he was intrigued with Bolt’s personality after reading the script.
“When I read this script and saw this character, so guileless, so kind of naive and fun and touching I just said to myself; maybe this is the one to do”.
John Travolta also said in an interview that he was already in touch with his “inner dog” when Disney contacted him, which helped him fit the role of Bolt; “Whenever anyone asks you like what kind of animal you remind yourself of, people always choose the dog for me, and you know I didn’t disagree with them". When asked in an interview with MoviesOnline, whether he felt that he could relate to Bolt, Travolta answered yes, saying that he has some very close friends that he, much like Bolt, is very loyal to. “I am a big guy in that area and loyalty of commitment to my friends”, he said in the interview.
Providing the voice for Bolt would prove to be a long and complicated challenge for Travolta, as it took time for the actor to find a suitable voice for the character. Travolta took inspiration from his performance from earlier action movies such as Broken Arrow
and Face/Off
, mixing it up with a certain naiveté and guilelessness suitable for Bolt’s character. According to John Lasseter, this distinct performance was desired for Bolt’s voice, and that is why they decided to pick a real actor.
“I think one of the things that we are able to tap into with Bolt are a lot of the great roles that John has played. He’s played real heavies, real tough guys and he’s always great. And I think that one of the reasons for that is that there is, if you don’t mind me saying this, sort of an innately likeable, genuine, sweet side to John that always is there, and so I think we knew that he was going to be the right guy to play Bolt.”
The character was animated after Travolta’s voice, expressions and his personal interpretations of the dialog. Bolt’s mimics in the movie was inspired by Travolta’s performance and the animators would, when working with the storyboard, take inspiration from and sketch after John Travolta’s facial expression. His facial expressions were taped during the recording sections by a video camera. As such, John Travolta would give the animators different takes of every dialog which at times could mean up to 20-30 different versions of the same sentence for the animators to choose from. A “Chinese menu” as John Travolta called it.
The effort of providing the voice for an animator character was very different from the earlier voice work John Travolta had done for commercials, and he relied on guidance from the other filmmakers, not least from Chris Williams who worked closely with Travolta to assure that his voice work was pertinent to his vision of the character. “Chris Williams was a revelation to me, his affection for Bolt was infections and I was so tickled by everything we were doing and his choices. The collaborative effort was huge”, John Travolta said about the director.
As John Lasseter took over management for the project, Henry was scrapped and replaced with a white American Shepherd Dog. This character was of a slightly bigger size than the Bolt we know, but shared some attributes, such as the natural four-legged appearance and shepherd-like ears and tail. He would also have a longer, more pointy muzzle. This character was illustrated by director Paul Felix and the Art Department who worked to create inspirational paintings and concept art. However, the idea of having a shepherd as the main character came from Chris Williams, who had decided that he wanted to main character to be an American shepherd rather than just “a pongo with different ears”.
However, as the storyboard work began, the design team and chief animators Wayne Unten and Joe Moshier decided to once again change Bolt’s appearance. The more realistic American shepherd design didn’t fit in the movie’s backdrop. A lot of the animators were also annoyed with Bolt’s paws and ears, thinking that his ears looked too long and his paws were too small. Bolt was redesigned to be smaller and sturdy in contrast to the earlier, tall and feeble design. His face was also changed, with a slightly wider snout and a more expressive and distinctive profile. According to Joe Moshier, this change was necessary for Bolt to be “Bolt”:
“The storyline was very similar. He was still a TV hero dog, but, the way we were designing it, he was an adult dog. Proportionally, he looked bigger, much longer legs. He just looked like he would be successful and accomplish any goal he wanted to achieve. Storywise, his physicality didn’t lend itself to much pathos and doubt. So, we decided to make Bolt look slightly more adolescent. That’s why he’s short, now, for a white American shepherd. He looks like his task would be a little more challenging at his size.
The new design was still very much inspired by the white American shepherd. Joe Moshier and the other animators decided to bring a white American shepherd to the studio to draw and analyze. The shepherd dog was suitable inspiration for Bolt's character design due to its long, pointy ears, a trait that Joe Moshier tried to caricature in order to allow the animators to emphasize Bolt's expressiveness. Bolt’s design was of particular importance to the design and animation studio, and the final refinement of the character took several months. Cartoon characters need distinguished appearances in order to be memorable, and since personality usually dictates the look, Joe Moshier and the design team wanted Bolt’s silhouette, shape and portions to reflect his personality.
Finally, when the refinement of Bolt’s design was finished, it was up to Jim Kim
to flesh out the design team’s drawing and sketches in animatable poses. Jim Kim worked as a visual development artist and was very important in the project. Thus far, the character Bolt was nothing more than sketches and drawings, so in order to meet the challenge of transforming Bolt into a computer generated figure, Jim Kim started working with Joe Moshier’s different designs, putting them in different orthographic poses, experimenting with the mimics. He worked to give Bolt his communicative facial expressions and expressive body language.
The last stage in Bolt’s design development had to do with canine movement and skeleton studies. To have Bolt’s movements seem natural and realistic was of utmost importance to the studio and John Lasseter even required the animation team to use visual references during the animation. Therefore, the team watched and analyzed live-clips of dog movement and behavior, and Dr. Stuart Sumida, a professor in biology from California State University in San Bernardino
, gave the team circa a dozen lectures on animal mechanics, muscle and bone structure, as well as canine body language and behavior tendencies. He also returned as much as four times to the studio to review how the animators applied his lessons during the animation of Bolt. Throughout the entire production period, Bolt was animated with naturalistic dog mechanics in mind. When animating Bolt's model during the production, one of their many goals was to successfully marry the realistic, natural body language of real dogs with Bolt's more anthropomorphic facial expressions, to make the character dynamic and expressive. In this project, supervising animator Wayne Unten played an important role, and once again, John Travolta's recorded mimics were used during the animation of Bolt's mimics, while Bolt's overall movements and canine body language reminded natural and realistic.
By now, after months of redesigning, the character Bolt looked and behaved like we remember him from the movie. The detailed animation of the characters in the film required a huge step up in quality for Walt Disney Animation Studios compared to previous titles and a lot of effort was put into details, like how Bolt's fur would fold under his red dog collar, and cover parts of it as his moved. As such, the production of Bolt ended up being a very expensive project and required much effort from every single animation department during a stressful few months, and more than half of the animation crew was let go as soon as the animation of the film was finished.
Bolt’s coat is a creamy white and his fur differs in thickness as it is short haired over his belly, flanks and back, and a bit thicker over his neck. The animators worked much with Bolt’s fur so that it would seem soft and fluffy with every hair moving in a realistic way. During the making of the movie, having Bolt’s white fur getting smudged and dirty was a bit of a challenge according to the animators.
However, Bolt is obviously able to drop his ears, which he does when creating his powerful dog face. Despite being stiff, Bolt’s ears do change somewhat in accordance to his body language. When sad, Bolt’s ears seem to drop slightly, as he lowers his head and his posture starts to slouch. When eager, alert or listening, Bolt’s ears will stand vertically up, and when aggressive, Bolt will fold his ears back against the back of his head - much like real dogs. When affectionate and cuddly (a behavior that is mostly seen when Bolt is together with Penny), Bolt has his ears slightly dropped against his head, expressing submission and kindliness.
Bolt eyes are big and seem to change between brilliant amber and warm brown, again much like his contrasty personality. His pupils and iris resembles a human eye rather than an animal’s. His muzzle is short, wide and square-cut compared to that of the common shepherd, but is all the same very slender and ends in a wide black nose. His mouth looks like a normal canine mouth, even down to the black dog lips, and follows his jaw naturally, particularly when he smiles. Bolt has two heavy eyebrows, and though they are not clearly outlined, they add a lot to his facial expressions.
Much like his extensive, canine body language, Bolt mimics are also very expressive. Bolt’s facial expressions are anthropomorphic. For example, Bolt might smile like a human while wagging his tail like a dog. Bolt’s facial expressions are both exemplary and communicative and were carefully sketched and planned for every animated scene. Bolt’s eyes, mouth, eyebrows and ears are all essential in creating Bolt’s facial expressions and a lot of effort was put into making the underlying “muscles” behind his face move in a believable way. In a scene at the RV-park when Mittens teaches Bolt to express the”dogface”, the animators took the opportunity to show off some of their advanced texture rendering and animation technology, focusing on Bolt’s face as he changes expressions.
Bolt’s facial expressions are very important for understanding the character's emotions, as Bolt is comparably few-worded in the movie. His facial expressions and mimics also changes significantly depending on context. During the first half of the movie, Bolt expresses a spectrum between stress, as well as confusion´, focus, determination. When speaking to Mittens, Bolt seems apathetic, almost arrogant. Later on, the same character seems miserable and sensitive. Aside from general emotions, Bolt has some personal tendencies. When Bolt thinks, he has a way of lowering his head and narrowing his eyebrows. His pupils might move back and forward as in search for something on the ground, or a thought in the back of his head. This behavior can be observed in many scenes, but most notably when he meets the pigeons in New York and when he first meets Rhino at the RV-park.
wrote that “the wonderfully expressive features on Bolt make him feel almost real”.
Many reviews praised the detailed and realistic animation of Bolt. A critic from the famous, British newspaper The Daily Telegraph
wrote that “Bolt’s fur is startlingly real, and animal gestures are faithfully reproduced: Bolt savaging his favourite plastic toy, raising a front paw slightly when he hears a distant unidentified sound”. Movie critic Brian Tallerico wrote "Bolt is DAMN cute and shockingly well-rendered when it comes to his always moving hair”" Many critics also praised John Travolta’s voice work with Bolt, one of these being the critic Jeffrey M. Anderson who praised the actors “earnest and gentle voice performance”. Colin Covert, writer for StarTribune.com, wrote that The dog's expressions are heart-rending as well as hilarious, and Travolta's vocal performance is utterly winning.
Another thing that critics mentioned regarding the character Bolt was the important messages regarding trust and loyalty his journey towards self-realization illustrated. “Bolt's disastrous attempts at using his powers off the set get laughs at first, but they give way to important lessons about accepting your limitations while still believing you are special.” wrote Sean O'Connell
from FilmCritic.com. Another critic from Cutprintreviews.com wrote For the dog owners in the audience, myself included, Bolt serves as a potent reminder of the joys of having such company around. but added However, pooch-less parents should be wary; if the film itself doesn’t have you stopping by the pet store on the way home from the cinemas, then the inevitable nagging of the kids in the backseat relentlessly longing for a puppy just might.
Josh Taylor
from CinemaBlend, wrote“This is a beautiful, big, epic story constructed for the sole purpose of saying something incredibly simple and emotional. Your dog loves you. Go home and give him a hug."
Though Bolt has been met with mostly positive reactions from movie critics, the character has also received some negative criticism, mostly concerning his role in the movie. Some critics criticized Bolt for not having a very well distinguished personality in the movie compared to the other characters. Movie critic Mark Jenkins
wrote that Bolt isn’t the most “distinctive of cartoon mutts” but admitted that Bolt does capture the “endearing canine qualities of devotion and determination”. In an interview during early production, Chris Williams was quoted saying that a lot of modern movies about dogs are not true to what a dog is, and that they with Bolt tried to return to what makes a dog special. Other movie critics criticized Bolt’s role in the movie, saying that the makers failed to fully give Bolt enough attention when other, minor characters were introduced. Some critics wrote that simplistic comic-relief characters, such as Rhino, and the funny pigeons, stole many of the movie’s more important scenes and were allowed to take over, despite not adding much to the movie other than gags. Ben Simon from AnimatedViews wrote in his review of the movie that the plot loses itself during the middle half of the movie and that he found Rhino, otherwise seemingly the break-out character, to be sometimes funny but overall indicative of “recent Disney’s loud sidekicks in that they seem to have to shout all their dialog in an attempt to amp up their impact and comedic assets.”
Similar criticism came from a writer for Daily Times
“once the cuddly dog starts his cross-country journey home and meets up with an untrusting and mouthy alley cat who is hiding a secret about her past, and Rhino, a portly hamster who spends most of his time watching television in a clear plastic ball, the film loses most of its charm.”
However, a majority of the 175 critics cited at Rotten Tomatoes still praised the character Bolt. His movie also holds an 89 percent approval on Rotten Tomatoes. However, Box Office for the movie wasn’t quite as high as expected, which according to some critics might have something to do with Bolt as well, and the way he was depicted when the movie was advertised “Trailers suggested that most of the film would consist of sight gags in which Bolt injured himself while trying to recreate his TV stunts in real life. Animal lovers can be notoriously sensitive to images of animal abuse, even fictional ones; perhaps this turned away customers who might otherwise have flocked to the movie on opening weekend.” Quote from article by Steve Biodrowski entitled “Overlooked Dog Deserves its Day”.
Bolt was also included as the ”recommended pet dog” in FilmCritic.com list of "The best Fantasy Creatures”. There are several examples of the character Bolt’s cultural impact, one of the most notable being the "Superbark Contest" which took place in Finsbury Park, England, shortly after the movie’s release. Inspired by the titular character’s iconic superbark, dozens of owners rounded up their dogs to try to break the record for loudest bark in history. More than 50 dogs participated and a represent from Guinness World Records
was on hand to oversee the contest. A white American shepherd dog, who was handpicked due to his striking resemblance to Bolt, broke the record with a 108 decibels and became a Guinness World Record holder. Disney’s Gavin Quirk was quoted saying: "The Big Bolt Bark has brought pride to the nation."
In the film, Bolt has spent his entire life from early puppyhood on a TV-set, where he has been kept isolated from the outside world by the producers of a hit television show. In the show, Bolt must use his superpowers to save his owner and co-actor Penny, whom he loves dearly, from the evil plans of the malevolent villain “Dr. Calico”. Having had no contact with the outside world, Bolt believes that he actually has the superpowers possessed by his TV-figure. This is a delusion the directors of the show efforts to preserve by the use of live effects and stunts, tricking him, week after week, into thinking his adventures are real, in order to make his performance more authentic
Method acting
Method acting is a phrase that loosely refers to a family of techniques used by actors to create in themselves the thoughts and emotions of their characters, so as to develop lifelike performances...
.
The character Bolt was designed and created by Chris Williams
Chris Williams (director)
Chris Williams is an American film director, screenwriter and animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios. He is well known for have directing Glago's Guest and Bolt....
and Byron Howard
Byron Howard
Byron P. Howard is an American motion picture director and story artist at Walt Disney Feature Animation, and is best known as the lead character animator on Lilo & Stitch and Brother Bear and the director on Bolt and Tangled....
together with the chief character designer Joe Moshier. Much of the inspiration for the character was provided by John Lasseter
John Lasseter
John Alan Lasseter is an American animator, director and the chief creative officer at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. He is also currently the Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering....
. Bolt was voiced by John Travolta
John Travolta
John Joseph Travolta is an American actor, dancer and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease...
who received praise for the role.
Background
Bolt plays the lead role in a popular TV-show in which he plays a superdog who has been genetically altered to have superpowers, like super-strength, the ability to run very fast and his legendary “superbark”. His mission is to protect his owner Penny who, unknown to Bolt, is a child actress, from the evil villain Doctor Calico. In each episode, Penny is captured by Doctor Calico, and in each episode, Bolt has to use his superpowers to “rescue” her. Bolt, however, believes that his adventures are all real and that his Penny, the little girl towards whom he directs all of his considerable love and devotion, is in real danger. The directors are nurturing this illusion through the use of extensive scenography and live-effects, hence tricking the apprehensive canine, year after year, into believing that Penny is in serious danger and in need of constant protection. Everything is done in order to achieve a more realistic, genuine performance from the unknowing dog whose only real interest is to be with his owner, and while the directors seem very determined not to let Bolt get a glimpse of reality, they are not very concerned about the experiment’s affect on Bolt himself.When the directors decide to make a “cliff-hanger” in an attempt to boost ratings, Bolt does not get to rescue Penny at the end of the shoot. Instead, he is captured and locked in his trailer. Thinking that Penny needs to be rescued, he escapes the trailer. Spotting some props from the TV-set outside a window, he throws himself against the hard surface, convinced that he will be able to break through. Instead, he knocks himself unconscious and falls backwards into a box stuffed with packing styrofoam
Styrofoam
Styrofoam is a trademark of The Dow Chemical Company for closed-cell currently made for thermal insulation and craft applications. In 1941, researchers in Dow's Chemical Physics Lab found a way to make foamed polystyrene...
. The box is sealed and Bolt is accidentally shipped to New York.
After being stranded in the outside world, he discovers that his sense of reality has been severely skewed. Alone, he embarks on a journey across America to get back to Hollywood, accompanied by an abandoned street cat named Mittens, and a hamster in a plastic ball named Rhino. Along the way, Bolt is forced to acknowledge his limitations and trust other characters to help him, while still holding on to the hope that Penny is waiting for him in Hollywood. Ultimately, Bolt learns that his deepest virtues; his bravery, loyalty and canine faithfulness, rather than his perceived superpowers, is what makes him a hero. Bolt eventually returns to Penny, having learned how to be a real dog from Mittens (and turning out to be good at it too) and rescues her for real from a fire. Afterwards, Penny and Bolt quit the show and are replaced and Bolt gets to live with Penny as a normal dog along with Mittens and Rhino who also become her pets.
Development
The character Bolt changed much during the 18 production months, both when it comes to his physical appearance and personality. A series of directors, filmmakers and animators influenced the development of the character. The directors, Chris Williams and Byron Howard, premeditated the character from scratch, but relied heavily on the help from the design team led by chief designer Joe Moshier and various filmmakers who worked at the studio, such as Wayne Unten. Even John Lasseter and John Travolta, the producer and the voice actor, affected the development of the character’s personality. John Lasseter, in particular, worked very closely with the directors to create an interesting premise for the character Bolt.Characterization
After the release of Meet the RobinsonsMeet the Robinsons
Meet the Robinsons is a 2007 American computer-animated family film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures on March 30, 2007. The forty-seventh animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics, the film was released in both the United States and the...
, Disney animators and filmmakers had an extensive training program to prepare for the work on what would later be called "Bolt". At the time, former director and storyboard artist, Chris Sanders
Chris Sanders
Christopher Michael "Chris" Sanders is an American film animator and voice actor best-known for co-directing and co-writing the Disney animated feature Lilo & Stitch, and providing the voice of Experiment 626 from Lilo & Stitch and Leroy from Disney's Leroy & Stitch...
was in lead of the project. Chris Sanders had started working on a character, a dog, whose overall appearance and personality was predominantly different from the “current” Bolt. Sander’s character would be named Henry and, in difference to Bolt, he was an actual actor who would one day find himself lost in the Nevada desert. Henry would meet a radioactive hamster and a one-eyed cat, two characters that would help him find a new home. When John Lasseter became Chief Creative Officer at Disney in 2006, he demanded to see Chris Sanders project. John Lasseter and his collogues from Pixar
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...
viewed a couple of early cuts of the film, but they were not impressed. They suggested a series of changes to improve the character Henry and his story. Chris Sanders refused and was, therefore, replaced by two new directors, Chris Williams and Byron Howard. John Lasseter was quoted saying that “Chris Sanders is extremely talented but couldn’t take it to the place it had to be”, adding that “the story was too quirky for his own good”. John Lasseter took over management for the project as the chief producer, working very closely with Chris Williams and Byron Howard to improve Chris Sanders project. Many changes were made to both the story and the character Henry, who was now renamed "Bolt". Byron Howard was put in charge for the animation and design of the dog while Chris Williams worked on the story-line. Under the new direction, a new dog emerged, more similar to the Bolt we know.
John Lasseter was spending most of his time shaping up the plot, providing the animators with his vision of who the character was supposed to be, as well as his role in the movie.A new premise emerged about a more naïve dog who actually believes that he is a superhero. The animators saw more potential in the new plot featuring this delusional character, with a completely false understand of his world, and then to have that understanding stripped away, hence letting the character discover a new world, and ultimately, his own identity. Byron Howard and Chris Williams worked with ways to make Bolt relatable and distinguish his personality. As such, Penny was added, functioning in the movie as the goal of Bolt’s journey, playing the role as Bolt’s loved “person”. “I think that for people to love a movie they have to love the characters and care about the relationships” said Chris Williams about Bolt, “So we definitely wanted to make sure that people really loved Penny and Bolt, and wanted them to be together”. The new story emphasized Bolt’s relationship to his owner, making the entire plot more centered on the typical canine characteristics, which according to the directors, were innocence, loyalty and trust. According to director Byron Howard, the new Bolt was more true to what a dog is in comparison to Chris Sander's Henry.
John Lasseter approved of Byron Howard’s and Chris William’s new concept, pleased with the potential for ironic value in a story about a dog who doesn’t know how to be a dog, as well as character development. “The thing that appealed to me the most about Bolt from the very beginning was the potential for growth in the main character”.
As the development Bolt’s personality and role in the movie continued, it became apparent that Bolt would have a certain “duo-personality”, being a contrasty mix between his adventurous actionhero persona, and his more sensitive, loving and sympathetic side. John Travolta was chosen as they thought he would bring the right blend of toughness, humor and appeal needed for Bolt’s voice. The actor was actually chosen among several other alternatives, as he is someone who has had a lot of
success playing tough characters in his career. In the animators opinion, one of the reasons he has been so successful is because there is an innate “sweet quality” in him, and therefore, as bad and mesmerizing as a character can be, he is still making them likable. This ability was very desirable amongst the storyboard artists and filmmakers, as they thought it the perfect combination for playing a dog who thinks that he’s a very threatening, menacing figure but underneath it all is really a normal puppy who loves his owner.
“We were really fortunate in having John Travolta voice our main character,” said Chris Williams in a recent interview. “It plays to two of John’s biggest strengths. It was a thrill working with an icon who’s been in so many great movies, and I think his performance really brought something special to the character of Bolt.”
Voice work
John Travolta took a liking to the character Bolt, even before he started recording his voice. Despite being asked several times over the years, the actor had never worked on an animated feature before, and was consequently comparably inexperienced in the field of voice casting. According to Travolta, Bolt was the first time that “indicated as the right character”. In an interview with CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, Travolta explained that he was intrigued with Bolt’s personality after reading the script.
John Travolta also said in an interview that he was already in touch with his “inner dog” when Disney contacted him, which helped him fit the role of Bolt; “Whenever anyone asks you like what kind of animal you remind yourself of, people always choose the dog for me, and you know I didn’t disagree with them". When asked in an interview with MoviesOnline, whether he felt that he could relate to Bolt, Travolta answered yes, saying that he has some very close friends that he, much like Bolt, is very loyal to. “I am a big guy in that area and loyalty of commitment to my friends”, he said in the interview.
Providing the voice for Bolt would prove to be a long and complicated challenge for Travolta, as it took time for the actor to find a suitable voice for the character. Travolta took inspiration from his performance from earlier action movies such as Broken Arrow
Broken Arrow
Broken Arrow may refer to:*Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, United States*Broken Arrow Public Schools- Film and television :*Broken Arrow , a Golden Globe-winning western film...
and Face/Off
Face/Off
Face/Off is a 1997 action thriller film directed by John Woo, starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. The two both play an FBI agent and a terrorist, sworn enemies who assume the physical appearance of one another....
, mixing it up with a certain naiveté and guilelessness suitable for Bolt’s character. According to John Lasseter, this distinct performance was desired for Bolt’s voice, and that is why they decided to pick a real actor.
“I think one of the things that we are able to tap into with Bolt are a lot of the great roles that John has played. He’s played real heavies, real tough guys and he’s always great. And I think that one of the reasons for that is that there is, if you don’t mind me saying this, sort of an innately likeable, genuine, sweet side to John that always is there, and so I think we knew that he was going to be the right guy to play Bolt.”
The character was animated after Travolta’s voice, expressions and his personal interpretations of the dialog. Bolt’s mimics in the movie was inspired by Travolta’s performance and the animators would, when working with the storyboard, take inspiration from and sketch after John Travolta’s facial expression. His facial expressions were taped during the recording sections by a video camera. As such, John Travolta would give the animators different takes of every dialog which at times could mean up to 20-30 different versions of the same sentence for the animators to choose from. A “Chinese menu” as John Travolta called it.
The effort of providing the voice for an animator character was very different from the earlier voice work John Travolta had done for commercials, and he relied on guidance from the other filmmakers, not least from Chris Williams who worked closely with Travolta to assure that his voice work was pertinent to his vision of the character. “Chris Williams was a revelation to me, his affection for Bolt was infections and I was so tickled by everything we were doing and his choices. The collaborative effort was huge”, John Travolta said about the director.
Design
As Bolt’s personality developed, so did the design of the character. Bolt’s original appearance, as the dog Henry created by Chris Sanders, was very different from the current Bolt. Henry was given a more distinguished, cartoony look and red fur. The character would also be biped, meaning that he would stand on two legs and look much like a human being. He would also be wearing clothes.As John Lasseter took over management for the project, Henry was scrapped and replaced with a white American Shepherd Dog. This character was of a slightly bigger size than the Bolt we know, but shared some attributes, such as the natural four-legged appearance and shepherd-like ears and tail. He would also have a longer, more pointy muzzle. This character was illustrated by director Paul Felix and the Art Department who worked to create inspirational paintings and concept art. However, the idea of having a shepherd as the main character came from Chris Williams, who had decided that he wanted to main character to be an American shepherd rather than just “a pongo with different ears”.
However, as the storyboard work began, the design team and chief animators Wayne Unten and Joe Moshier decided to once again change Bolt’s appearance. The more realistic American shepherd design didn’t fit in the movie’s backdrop. A lot of the animators were also annoyed with Bolt’s paws and ears, thinking that his ears looked too long and his paws were too small. Bolt was redesigned to be smaller and sturdy in contrast to the earlier, tall and feeble design. His face was also changed, with a slightly wider snout and a more expressive and distinctive profile. According to Joe Moshier, this change was necessary for Bolt to be “Bolt”:
“The storyline was very similar. He was still a TV hero dog, but, the way we were designing it, he was an adult dog. Proportionally, he looked bigger, much longer legs. He just looked like he would be successful and accomplish any goal he wanted to achieve. Storywise, his physicality didn’t lend itself to much pathos and doubt. So, we decided to make Bolt look slightly more adolescent. That’s why he’s short, now, for a white American shepherd. He looks like his task would be a little more challenging at his size.
The new design was still very much inspired by the white American shepherd. Joe Moshier and the other animators decided to bring a white American shepherd to the studio to draw and analyze. The shepherd dog was suitable inspiration for Bolt's character design due to its long, pointy ears, a trait that Joe Moshier tried to caricature in order to allow the animators to emphasize Bolt's expressiveness. Bolt’s design was of particular importance to the design and animation studio, and the final refinement of the character took several months. Cartoon characters need distinguished appearances in order to be memorable, and since personality usually dictates the look, Joe Moshier and the design team wanted Bolt’s silhouette, shape and portions to reflect his personality.
Finally, when the refinement of Bolt’s design was finished, it was up to Jim Kim
Jim Kim
Jim Yong Kim is a Korean-American physician, and 17th President of Dartmouth College. He has been a Professor of Medicine and Social Medicine and Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He was a co-founder and later Executive Director of Partners in...
to flesh out the design team’s drawing and sketches in animatable poses. Jim Kim worked as a visual development artist and was very important in the project. Thus far, the character Bolt was nothing more than sketches and drawings, so in order to meet the challenge of transforming Bolt into a computer generated figure, Jim Kim started working with Joe Moshier’s different designs, putting them in different orthographic poses, experimenting with the mimics. He worked to give Bolt his communicative facial expressions and expressive body language.
The last stage in Bolt’s design development had to do with canine movement and skeleton studies. To have Bolt’s movements seem natural and realistic was of utmost importance to the studio and John Lasseter even required the animation team to use visual references during the animation. Therefore, the team watched and analyzed live-clips of dog movement and behavior, and Dr. Stuart Sumida, a professor in biology from California State University in San Bernardino
California State University, San Bernardino
California State University, San Bernardino, also known as Cal State San Bernardino or CSUSB is a public research university and one of the twenty three general campuses of the California State University system. The main campus sits on in the suburban University District of , United States, with...
, gave the team circa a dozen lectures on animal mechanics, muscle and bone structure, as well as canine body language and behavior tendencies. He also returned as much as four times to the studio to review how the animators applied his lessons during the animation of Bolt. Throughout the entire production period, Bolt was animated with naturalistic dog mechanics in mind. When animating Bolt's model during the production, one of their many goals was to successfully marry the realistic, natural body language of real dogs with Bolt's more anthropomorphic facial expressions, to make the character dynamic and expressive. In this project, supervising animator Wayne Unten played an important role, and once again, John Travolta's recorded mimics were used during the animation of Bolt's mimics, while Bolt's overall movements and canine body language reminded natural and realistic.
By now, after months of redesigning, the character Bolt looked and behaved like we remember him from the movie. The detailed animation of the characters in the film required a huge step up in quality for Walt Disney Animation Studios compared to previous titles and a lot of effort was put into details, like how Bolt's fur would fold under his red dog collar, and cover parts of it as his moved. As such, the production of Bolt ended up being a very expensive project and required much effort from every single animation department during a stressful few months, and more than half of the animation crew was let go as soon as the animation of the film was finished.
Physical appearance
When designing Bolt, the animators started out with the White American Shepherd Dog with changes done to the face, muzzle, eyes and overall body. Bolt’s breed is not defined in the movie but his overall appearance matches the American White Shepherd. Therefore, Bolt is an American White Shepherd. Bolt is a medium sized dog, though he sometimes appears smaller than he is due to his big paws, relatively short legs and big head. Despite this, Bolt has a muscular, sturdy body with strong upper arms and thighs. He is, however, slender, with a trim belly, long elegant tail and flexible, agile body. Just like real Shepherd dogs, Bolt has a strong neck with thick, seemingly double-coated fur, which is raised when excited and lowered while running. The difference between Bolt’s back head and furry neck is not very well distinguished. Bolt’s appearance is “softer” than a normal German Shepherd with a more curved outline, thick, rounded legs and domed forehead. The "normal" Shepherd has longer, thinner legs and a more meager appearance.Bolt’s coat is a creamy white and his fur differs in thickness as it is short haired over his belly, flanks and back, and a bit thicker over his neck. The animators worked much with Bolt’s fur so that it would seem soft and fluffy with every hair moving in a realistic way. During the making of the movie, having Bolt’s white fur getting smudged and dirty was a bit of a challenge according to the animators.
Facial expressions
Bolt’s ears are big, fluffy and stand vigilantly erect over his head. His alert ears are a trademark of his caricature and they do not only match his intent personality and sharp profile, but also allowed the animators to emphasize his expressiveness. They leave his face uncovered; making way for Bolt’s other expressive, facial features.However, Bolt is obviously able to drop his ears, which he does when creating his powerful dog face. Despite being stiff, Bolt’s ears do change somewhat in accordance to his body language. When sad, Bolt’s ears seem to drop slightly, as he lowers his head and his posture starts to slouch. When eager, alert or listening, Bolt’s ears will stand vertically up, and when aggressive, Bolt will fold his ears back against the back of his head - much like real dogs. When affectionate and cuddly (a behavior that is mostly seen when Bolt is together with Penny), Bolt has his ears slightly dropped against his head, expressing submission and kindliness.
Bolt eyes are big and seem to change between brilliant amber and warm brown, again much like his contrasty personality. His pupils and iris resembles a human eye rather than an animal’s. His muzzle is short, wide and square-cut compared to that of the common shepherd, but is all the same very slender and ends in a wide black nose. His mouth looks like a normal canine mouth, even down to the black dog lips, and follows his jaw naturally, particularly when he smiles. Bolt has two heavy eyebrows, and though they are not clearly outlined, they add a lot to his facial expressions.
Much like his extensive, canine body language, Bolt mimics are also very expressive. Bolt’s facial expressions are anthropomorphic. For example, Bolt might smile like a human while wagging his tail like a dog. Bolt’s facial expressions are both exemplary and communicative and were carefully sketched and planned for every animated scene. Bolt’s eyes, mouth, eyebrows and ears are all essential in creating Bolt’s facial expressions and a lot of effort was put into making the underlying “muscles” behind his face move in a believable way. In a scene at the RV-park when Mittens teaches Bolt to express the”dogface”, the animators took the opportunity to show off some of their advanced texture rendering and animation technology, focusing on Bolt’s face as he changes expressions.
Bolt’s facial expressions are very important for understanding the character's emotions, as Bolt is comparably few-worded in the movie. His facial expressions and mimics also changes significantly depending on context. During the first half of the movie, Bolt expresses a spectrum between stress, as well as confusion´, focus, determination. When speaking to Mittens, Bolt seems apathetic, almost arrogant. Later on, the same character seems miserable and sensitive. Aside from general emotions, Bolt has some personal tendencies. When Bolt thinks, he has a way of lowering his head and narrowing his eyebrows. His pupils might move back and forward as in search for something on the ground, or a thought in the back of his head. This behavior can be observed in many scenes, but most notably when he meets the pigeons in New York and when he first meets Rhino at the RV-park.
Reception
Bolt was met very well by critics, often being cited as a generally lovable, inspiring or simply cute animated dog. When mentioned in reviews, Bolt’s expressiveness and dog-like magnetism are normally the things to be brought up. A.O. Scott, writer for the New York Times said that “Bolt is a cute enough little fellow and a winning personality and a nice voice” adding that “his physical gestures and expressions turn him into a memorable, irresistible character”. A critic for the Daily ExpressDaily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
wrote that “the wonderfully expressive features on Bolt make him feel almost real”.
Many reviews praised the detailed and realistic animation of Bolt. A critic from the famous, British newspaper The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
wrote that “Bolt’s fur is startlingly real, and animal gestures are faithfully reproduced: Bolt savaging his favourite plastic toy, raising a front paw slightly when he hears a distant unidentified sound”. Movie critic Brian Tallerico wrote "Bolt is DAMN cute and shockingly well-rendered when it comes to his always moving hair”" Many critics also praised John Travolta’s voice work with Bolt, one of these being the critic Jeffrey M. Anderson who praised the actors “earnest and gentle voice performance”. Colin Covert, writer for StarTribune.com, wrote that The dog's expressions are heart-rending as well as hilarious, and Travolta's vocal performance is utterly winning.
Another thing that critics mentioned regarding the character Bolt was the important messages regarding trust and loyalty his journey towards self-realization illustrated. “Bolt's disastrous attempts at using his powers off the set get laughs at first, but they give way to important lessons about accepting your limitations while still believing you are special.” wrote Sean O'Connell
Sean O'Connell
Sean O'Connell was an Irish Gaelic footballer and manager. He played for Derry in the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s and was on the Derry side that finished runners-up to Dublin in the 1958 All-Ireland Championship - winning an Ulster Championship with the county that year, and three more in 1970,...
from FilmCritic.com. Another critic from Cutprintreviews.com wrote For the dog owners in the audience, myself included, Bolt serves as a potent reminder of the joys of having such company around. but added However, pooch-less parents should be wary; if the film itself doesn’t have you stopping by the pet store on the way home from the cinemas, then the inevitable nagging of the kids in the backseat relentlessly longing for a puppy just might.
Josh Taylor
Josh Taylor
Josh Taylor is a long-time American comedy and dramatic television actor. He is best known for playing the roles of Chris Kositchek and Roman Brady on the long-running American dramatic serial Days of our Lives and as Michael Hogan, the father figure on NBC's long running situation comedy The...
from CinemaBlend, wrote“This is a beautiful, big, epic story constructed for the sole purpose of saying something incredibly simple and emotional. Your dog loves you. Go home and give him a hug."
Though Bolt has been met with mostly positive reactions from movie critics, the character has also received some negative criticism, mostly concerning his role in the movie. Some critics criticized Bolt for not having a very well distinguished personality in the movie compared to the other characters. Movie critic Mark Jenkins
Mark Jenkins
Mark Jenkins is an American artist most widely known for the street installations he creates using box sealing tape. In addition to creating art, he also teaches his sculpture techniques through workshops in cities he visits...
wrote that Bolt isn’t the most “distinctive of cartoon mutts” but admitted that Bolt does capture the “endearing canine qualities of devotion and determination”. In an interview during early production, Chris Williams was quoted saying that a lot of modern movies about dogs are not true to what a dog is, and that they with Bolt tried to return to what makes a dog special. Other movie critics criticized Bolt’s role in the movie, saying that the makers failed to fully give Bolt enough attention when other, minor characters were introduced. Some critics wrote that simplistic comic-relief characters, such as Rhino, and the funny pigeons, stole many of the movie’s more important scenes and were allowed to take over, despite not adding much to the movie other than gags. Ben Simon from AnimatedViews wrote in his review of the movie that the plot loses itself during the middle half of the movie and that he found Rhino, otherwise seemingly the break-out character, to be sometimes funny but overall indicative of “recent Disney’s loud sidekicks in that they seem to have to shout all their dialog in an attempt to amp up their impact and comedic assets.”
Similar criticism came from a writer for Daily Times
Daily Times
The Daily Times is an English language Pakistani newspaper. Launched on April 9, 2002, Daily Times, which is simultaneously published from Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi, is edited by Rashed Rahman...
“once the cuddly dog starts his cross-country journey home and meets up with an untrusting and mouthy alley cat who is hiding a secret about her past, and Rhino, a portly hamster who spends most of his time watching television in a clear plastic ball, the film loses most of its charm.”
However, a majority of the 175 critics cited at Rotten Tomatoes still praised the character Bolt. His movie also holds an 89 percent approval on Rotten Tomatoes. However, Box Office for the movie wasn’t quite as high as expected, which according to some critics might have something to do with Bolt as well, and the way he was depicted when the movie was advertised “Trailers suggested that most of the film would consist of sight gags in which Bolt injured himself while trying to recreate his TV stunts in real life. Animal lovers can be notoriously sensitive to images of animal abuse, even fictional ones; perhaps this turned away customers who might otherwise have flocked to the movie on opening weekend.” Quote from article by Steve Biodrowski entitled “Overlooked Dog Deserves its Day”.
Bolt was also included as the ”recommended pet dog” in FilmCritic.com list of "The best Fantasy Creatures”. There are several examples of the character Bolt’s cultural impact, one of the most notable being the "Superbark Contest" which took place in Finsbury Park, England, shortly after the movie’s release. Inspired by the titular character’s iconic superbark, dozens of owners rounded up their dogs to try to break the record for loudest bark in history. More than 50 dogs participated and a represent from Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
was on hand to oversee the contest. A white American shepherd dog, who was handpicked due to his striking resemblance to Bolt, broke the record with a 108 decibels and became a Guinness World Record holder. Disney’s Gavin Quirk was quoted saying: "The Big Bolt Bark has brought pride to the nation."