BOLT (formerly American Dog) Discussion

[Widdi]

I just sent a letter to Disney protesting the fact that the short is only 3-D, as I cannot see 3-D because I have an eye problem called "Myopic Alternation" and I only see with one eye at a time. I will not waste my money on seeing a movie that I cannot experience the full effect of.

C'mon Disney, there are people that don't like those stupid glasses, and there are people like me with a definite problem who cannot experience the 3-D movies.

I know the feeling. I don't have a diagnosis but I do know that I have never been able to see 3D pictures or movies that require those glasses. It just looks like a bunch of blurry colors to me.

If 3D ever becomes standard in movies I'm totally screwed.

[pap64]

I just sent a letter to Disney protesting the fact that the short is only 3-D, as I cannot see 3-D because I have an eye problem called "Myopic Alternation" and I only see with one eye at a time. I will not waste my money on seeing a movie that I cannot experience the full effect of.

C'mon Disney, there are people that don't like those stupid glasses, and there are people like me with a definite problem who cannot experience the 3-D movies.

Here's how I see it; Disney really wants people to see the 3-D version of the film. For the first week, the short will run only in 3-D. After business slows down they attach the short to normal prints of the film.

Either way, Disney must know that there are people like you who can't watch the short because they either have vision issues or don't have 3-D theaters nearby.

[Kyle]

oh the cars short. Im upset as it is that they didnt have it attatched to the movie when it first released. why punish those of us who saw the movie on opening day?

cant speak on the 3d thing, because Im one who can view and enjoy the effect just fine.

[disneyboy20022]

oh the cars short. Im upset as it is that they didnt have it attatched to the movie when it first released. why punish those of us who saw the movie on opening day?

Oh Disney has been doing this since before Pixar....Here are some examples


Tom and Huck - Timon and Pumbaa short (I wanna say it's the one about safety but if I am wrong someone please Correct Me)

Toy Story 2 outtakes at the end of the film...plus then they added more later on....while in theaters

Monsters Inc. - It also had Outtakes...later attached to the credits not with the original Opening Day

I even wanna Say Bug's Life did the same as well as Cars....

So it doesn't surprise me that Disney did this with Bolt.....It beats a hippo for Madagascar 2 saying in a creepy voice "So Nice, You'll See it Twice" which I have not seen it but I will probably rent it..and maybe by it used that is Madagascar 2 while Bolt I shall be buying as soon as it's released

[gardener14]

I saw Bolt today - the standard non-3D version - and to my pleasure and surprise, it was preceded by Tokyo Mater. It was a fast paced and very fun cartoon that felt like a mini-sequel to Cars. My only complaint is that the voice of Lightning McQueen didn't sound much like Owen Wilson, however, I couldn't read the credits fast enough to check on that. They definitely should market the Cars short more heavily to get people in the doors.

As for Bolt, I liked it very much, but I didn't find it as emotionally endearing as my favorite Disney animated films. The first two thirds of the movie had a solid story but lacked heart, however, the last third of the film felt much more like a classic Disney movie to me, and I felt an attachment to the characters by the end. I do think that the marketing could have been much more representative of the movie and in turn attract more people. I only saw it because it was a new Disney animated movie...the marketing did nothing to make me want to see it, and I didn't feel that it represented the actual film well at all.

[Neal]

I keep hearing that about all the Cars Toons shorts - that it doesn't sound like Owen Wilson.

Maybe in 3 years he forgot how to do the voice (it has happened, people seem to be able to lose the ability to nail the voice they once did).

Or else it isn't him. Could Marley and Me have had him too tied up to do new voice work?

[gardener14]

I just looked up the official Bolt website, and it advertises Tokyo Mater as being shown before Bolt starting Dec. 12. It doesn't specify the standard or 3D version. Apparently it is being shown with all showings of Bolt contrary to the earlier posts implying that it's being shown with the 3D version only.

[DisneyJedi]

I keep hearing that about all the Cars Toons shorts - that it doesn't sound like Owen Wilson.

Maybe in 3 years he forgot how to do the voice (it has happened, people seem to be able to lose the ability to nail the voice they once did).

Or else it isn't him. Could Marley and Me have had him too tied up to do new voice work?

Umm.... it's not Owen Wilson voicing Lightning in the Car Toons. That would be Keith Ferguson, the man behind Blooregard Q. Kazoo of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends fame.

[Neal]

Okay. Any idea why it isn't Wilson?

[blackcauldron85]

Okay. Any idea why it isn't Wilson?

Disney probably doesn't want to pay him the fees that he's looking for.

[Neal]

I wonder if it might be the suicide stunt. Disney doesn't want to associate itself with that.

[Brer Brandon]

Hey everyone. I used to hang around this forum some during college several years ago but have not been here in at least two years. That is until I saw Bolt on opening weekend and got re-energized about Disney Feature Animation. I didn't realize that this, Chicken Little, and Meet the Robinsons counted in the canon and had never seen them. Now, after loving Bolt, I saw and enjoyed Chicken Little and have the other in my Netflix queue. I plan to see Bolt again with the short since I have a free ticket from buying Nightmare Before Christmas this week.

Anyway, I wanted to answer the question as to why Wilson isn't involved in the shorts. I don't know that this is the real reason but it probably is connected. Remember a year or so ago now, Owen Wilson was in the news because he had had a sort of breakdown and had attempted suicide. I don't remember all the details but he was hospitalized for a while and was in some forms of treatment. He dropped out of several projects and was slow to return to any work. Marley and Me is his first project since all of that went down.

[disneyboy20022]

really It's not Owen Wilson?

Because I thought in several of the Cars Shorts that are on TV in particular the only one I've seen Rescue Squad Mater...It sounded a lot like Owen Wilson lending his Voice to Lightning Mcqueen....I though I even saw it in the credits of Rescue Squad Mater....the one where he's a Fire Truck and a Doctor....

So if he was in the Rescue Squad Mater, that makes me wonder why he isn't or would not be in Tokyo Mater....anyhow perhaps he had a timing conflict or something...because as I have mentioned in the Off Topic section many times...Owen Wilson does have Asperger Syndrome which Is a High Functioning Type of Autism...which is also what I have....and it could have come in conflict because of the filming of the movie Marley & Me (Owen Wilson and an out of control dog apparently based on a novel)

[dvdjunkie]

The reason I wrote the letter to Disney, which I got a very nice reply about which I will share later, is that of the 10 screens showing "Bolt" all are in 3-D, they are showing one show a day in 2-D and it is at 4 pm (?) and since I work 1:30 to 10 pm that sort of makes hard to get there to see it. I have heard that the "Tokyo Mater" is run on the 2-D version, but since they don't run the 2-D version on the weekends, I am out in the cold on getting to see unless they attach it to the DVD, which would be not such a bad idea.

As far as the Owen Wilson thing goes, of the four shorts done, so far, he has not done the voice of Lightning McQueen, only Larry the Cable Guy is the original voice left over from the Cars movie. However, Owen Wilson has been signed to the voice of McQueen, in "Cars 2" slated for 2011 release from Pixar/Disney.

[Luke]

Tom and Huck - Timon and Pumbaa short (I wanna say it's the one about safety but if I am wrong someone please Correct Me)

Pretty sure <i>Stand By Me</i> was attached to this from opening day, just like <i>Runaway Brain</i> was on <i>A Kid in King Arthur's Court</i>.

[pap64]

BUMP!

The latest estimates put Bolt at 200 million worldwide, slowly but surely approaching that estimate in the US.

So, are we ready to call this a solid hit or do we need more time?

[Neal]

Mmh. I don't think it was a hit. And this bodes badly for Princess and the Frog to me. I mean, like with the recent Caspian controversy, Disney opened that movie adjacent a sure-fire blockbuster (Indy) and so it didn't do well to start and never found its footing. Same with BOLT. Opening it alongside Twilight was not a wise move. But rather than admit that, Disney will talk about quality issues, over-inflated budgets, not having an audience out there for this film.

Well, so, when Princess and the Frog runs into the same issues - Disney will say it was the 2D and declare their experiment in possibly returning to hand drawn was a failure and mistake.

I only hope 2009 is a stronger year economically and no massive blockbuster hinders PatF.

We need to have traditional animation at Disney along with the CGI!

[pap64]

Mmh. I don't think it was a hit. And this bodes badly for Princess and the Frog to me. I mean, like with the recent Caspian controversy, Disney opened that movie adjacent a sure-fire blockbuster (Indy) and so it didn't do well to start and never found its footing. Same with BOLT. Opening it alongside Twilight was not a wise move. But rather than admit that, Disney will talk about quality issues, over-inflated budgets, not having an audience out there for this film.

Well, so, when Princess and the Frog runs into the same issues - Disney will say it was the 2D and declare their experiment in possibly returning to hand drawn was a failure and mistake.

I only hope 2009 is a stronger year economically and no massive blockbuster hinders PatF.

We need to have traditional animation at Disney along with the CGI!

I have heard that the film is doing well enough that Disney considers it to be a hit (in the same way that Ratatouille was considered a flop, but then people said that it made enough money). I think Disney wasn't expecting this to be a BIG money maker, even if they tried to hype it up.

As for Princess and the Frog now that's the one they need pay lots of attention to. If they market it as an event film, a princess film, a classic film and a true Disney film then I'm sure it will be a bigger hit than Bolt since it will have a bigger audience.

[akhenaten]

can we assume tokyo mater will be on the bolt dvd too?

[Will Barks]

can we assume tokyo mater will be on the bolt dvd too?

We can't be sure since "How to Hook Up Your Home Theater" wasn't part of the National Treasure 2 DVD/Blu-ray.