BOLT (formerly American Dog) Discussion

[pap64]

With so many positive reviews coming from fans you would never suspect that months prior to release there was so much anger and hate towards it and the people that forced it to change. .

[Sotiris]

*She's probably only doing it to annoy me for seeing[...]Indy 4 seven times, but whatever.

You saw Indy 4 , SEVEN times? You are sick!

The same box office estimates could be also found at box office mojo:

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/daily/char ... -21&p=.htm

That's too bad. I had really hoped to reach no. 1

[Siren]

Just got back from seeing Bolt. It was very good and regardless of being CGI, the story felt very old school Disney. I will post more thoughts on it later.

[Daisy Duck]

I saw "Bolt" in 3-D today. I really enjoyed it! The story moved along at a nice pace and had a good mix of action, comedy and emotion. All the animals in the film were very likeable, as well as realistic in their movements. John Travolta was great as Bolt. I liked the character of Mittens more than I thought I would, and Rhino was (well, to quote himself) awesome! I look forward to the DVD.

[DisneyJedi]

P.S. I'm highly dissapointed at the early Friday box office estimates. I knew Twilight would be huge, but I didn't expect Bolt to be so low.

Don't worry. Bolt will have legs due to good reviews and positive word of mouth. Twilight will crash and burn.

I thought the movie was somewhere in-between Chicken Little (which I really liked) and Meet the Robinsons (which I loved). I need to go see it again NOT in 3D. The 3D glasses really distracted me and hurted by the end of the movie. I'm not a fan of them.

How do we know that Bolt won't just be a hit with the critics, and turn out to be a flop, though? Thus losing to stupid Twilight.

[Siren]

Twilight will not crash and burn. Yeah, the critics hate it, but critics aren't 15 year old girls screaming like the girls did in the 50s to Elvis. Twilight will do better than Bolt, but that doesn't make it a better movie per say.

Anyways, about Bolt.

Despise Miley Cyrus, but being I actually don't have to LOOK at her, the voice acting was just fine, actually perfect for Penny. So it was certainly more than tolerable to have her in the movie.

Rhino was funny, but also annoying at times. Much like Donkey in Shrek. I was glad when they had him leave a few scenes. But he did have some funny lines.

I liked both Mittens and Bolt. They, along with Rhino, made a great team for the movie. The movie was very predictable, but still enjoyable.

SPOILERS.....


The ending was not as predictable as I expected. I completely saw Bolt seeing Penny with the other dog, leaving, and going back to rescue her. But instead, it was the firefighters who got them out, because Bolt barked, but still. Seeing a Disney character laying on a gurney with an oxygen mask is a whole new animal there. Its nothing big, but I was surprised by it.

[Flanger-Hanger]

Saw it in 3D and loved it. Mittens is my favorite character and I'll never think of Styrofoam the same way again. We got free a t-shirt and poster at the Disney Store and I'm really glad I went to see it.

To everyone who is skeptical about seeing this movie: SEE BOLT! [IN 3D]

[Siren]

Also forgot to add...the opening sequence...by far one of the best action sequences I have ever seen. I really enjoyed it. It looked good, it flowed nice, it had some humor....it was a better action sequence than a majority of these so called live-action, action movies.

[jediliz]

I hope to see BOLT on Wednesday with my dad and two of my nieces. *keeps fingers crossed*

[Maerj]

Twilight will not crash and burn. Yeah, the critics hate it, but critics aren't 15 year old girls screaming like the girls did in the 50s to Elvis. Twilight will do better than Bolt, but that doesn't make it a better movie per say.

Twilight did $70 million for the weekend. Quite honestly, I never even heard of Twilight until a few weeks ago when they started advertising the movie. James Bond came in second with $27.4 million and Bolt came in third with $27 million. Not too bad but I am surpised it didn't do better. Just think, the Potter movie was originally going to open the same weekend, wonder what would have happened then?

[Widdi]

Twilight will not crash and burn. Yeah, the critics hate it, but critics aren't 15 year old girls screaming like the girls did in the 50s to Elvis. Twilight will do better than Bolt, but that doesn't make it a better movie per say.

Twilight did $70 million for the weekend. Quite honestly, I never even heard of Twilight until a few weeks ago when they started advertising the movie. James Bond came in second with $27.4 million and Bolt came in third with $27 million. Not too bad but I am surpised it didn't do better. Just think, the Potter movie was originally going to open the same weekend, wonder what would have happened then?

Harry Potter would have been number one, and Bolt and Twilight wouldn't be open yet.

Bolt and Twilight both switched their opening dates to Nov 21 after Potter 6 moved to 09.

[katemonster]

I saw it and loved it. John Travolta and Miley Cyrus were excellent with their voice work and as predicted that little hamster was delightful, all his lines were so funny. I think the film will definitely have legs at the box office. With Thanksgiving coming up and all the kids getting a break from school I feel like Bolt will be the event that the parents will take the kids to.

[pap64]

Twilight will not crash and burn. Yeah, the critics hate it, but critics aren't 15 year old girls screaming like the girls did in the 50s to Elvis. Twilight will do better than Bolt, but that doesn't make it a better movie per say.

Twilight did $70 million for the weekend. Quite honestly, I never even heard of Twilight until a few weeks ago when they started advertising the movie. James Bond came in second with $27.4 million and Bolt came in third with $27 million. Not too bad but I am surpised it didn't do better. Just think, the Potter movie was originally going to open the same weekend, wonder what would have happened then?

I too had no idea what Twilight was till I saw the TV spots on Cartoon Network.

Going back to top, with the film doing "poorly" (I say "poorly" because we can't declare it a hit or a flop till it leaves theaters) fans are coming out saying that the drastic change forced it to be a flop and that had they stuck with Chris Sander's vision it would have been a hit.

The weekend was clearly a crowded one as there were three major films that aimed at a difference audience (James Bond=Spy film fans and Bond fans, Twilight=horror fans and crazy fangirls and Bolt=Disney fans, families). The audience got divided into choosing one film, and that film was Twilight. If anything, Bond and Bolt tied for second.

The real story should be how all three films perform in the next few weeks as releases slow down considerably.

[Kyle]

Im pretty sure twilight will see a huge drop off in the following week. this week end was front loaded quite a bit as it is. I expect thanksgiving to really bring in the numbers for Bolt.

[singerguy04]

Im pretty sure twilight will see a huge drop off in the following week. this week end was front loaded quite a bit as it is. I expect thanksgiving to really bring in the numbers for Bolt.

As do I, family films usually do a bit better around holidays. Bond and Twilight aren't exactly family films.

[PatrickvD]

It's rediculous to think American Dog would have been a bigger hit.

Let's not kid ourselves here, Bolt is the most critically acclaimed Disney animated film since the late 90s. So that's 10 years of mixed responses. Though Lilo & Stitch is the one exception, Bolt is still scoring higher.

[kbehm29]

This movie has not done poorly. After Thanksgiving weekend we'll see a clearer picture.

I think Disney should have opened on Wednesday (the day before Thanksgiving), but hopefully they've got people making big bucks analyzing the whole movie-release-date thing who know better than I....

The movie is good. It will have strong legs through the holiday season.

[pap64]

It's rediculous to think American Dog would have been a bigger hit.

Let's not kid ourselves here, Bolt is the most critically acclaimed Disney animated film since the late 90s. So that's 10 years of mixed responses. Though Lilo & Stitch is the one exception, Bolt is still scoring higher.

Well, that's what people are saying. In fact, they are now using Bolt's "failure" at the box office to prove that Disney was wrong in changing "American Bolt".

You are right. There's no proof that "American Dog" would have been a bigger hit. True, the original story pitch was funny and the art style was wonderful, but what matters is the final execution. None of us saw the work in progress version that forced Disney to overhaul the production. It may have had a great idea and a great style, but all of that is forgotten when you realize you are watching something that lacks heart and enjoyment (Madagascar anyone?).

In fact, Lilo and Stitch wasn't even THAT great. It was cute, had some fun moments and the animation was wonderful and people flocked to see it. But, it lacked the appeal that made many of the 90s films so beloved. The TV series was really a Pokemon wannabe and its sad to think the sequel was better than the original film. Disney marketed it for the same reason they market High School Musical; it brought some profit, and back then they really needed it.

I hate to rag on Chris Sanders since I believe he is a talented guy with a wonderful cartoon style. But I think the Lilo and Stitch success went to his head.

The ironic part is that we still would have gotten "American Dog" had he...
1. Fought hard to keep his vision alive
2. Swallowed his pride and accept the changes

Think about that for a second. John Lasseter never told him to leave the film. He just saw the film and said to make some changes, something he and Pixar are familiar with (Finding Nemo, easily their biggest hit, went through A LOT of changes before it hit theaters). The director of "Meet the Robinsons" accepted the critique and his film was better than expected, especially since it came right after the critical failure that was "Chicken Little".

So, even if the final film would have been somewhat different from his vision Chris Sanders would still be attached to the film and part of his vision would be with us today. But I sense that artistic pride got the best of him.

Not trying to put the whole blame on him, since its likely that Lasseter ate him up after the screening was over and caused the split. But think about it once more...

The 90s films, regarded as some of the best the studio has ever released, survive the iron fist that was Katzenberg. Remember how he wanted the "Part of your world" segment removed from "Mermaid"? Remember how he hated the first version of "Aladdin" and thought Al should look like Tom Cruise? Anyone remember how "Be our guest" was originally going to be sung to Maurice, and they made the change just as the original animation was nearly done? These films suffered through the worst changes and the most pressure ever, yet they became big successes and shaped the company in the 90s. Most importantly, the staff either fought really, really, REALLY hard (Glen Keanne fought hard to keep "Part of your world" intact) or just accepted them (Ron Musker and John Clemens endured the changes made to Aladdin).

Weird how things work out, no?

[yukitora]

Thing is... the general public loved Madagascar...

More often then not, films are made to be loved by the people, not the select few film critics of the world. So while Chicken Little was a critical failure, it certainly brightened the days of a whole lot of kids.

[Mr arrow]

...I hope it picks up soon otherwise Im guessing it will only qualify for the dreaded one disc when in comes to DVD release...And just when things were looking up for the return of the 2 discer!... And Im guessing if it does turn out to be a one disc--supplementals will probably consist less 'making of' and more in favor of a cross promotion for Dis tween queen Miley...
Still, its early days. I still want to believe that quality will out in the end. Kung Fu Panda aside, I have yet to sit through most Dreamworks films from Sharktale onwards.
Fingers crossed that movie goers get a clue this weekend.