Movie Review: Balto

Movie Review: Balto                                                                                                                   12-1-16

Before there was a DreamWorks, there was a small animation studio in London called Amblimation, founded in 1989. They made three features: An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story, and Balto.

An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, released in 1991, was a sequel to Don Bluth's An American Tail back in '86 (but Bluth doesn't return this time), and was about Fievel and his family moving to the Wild West and meeting his hero Wilie Burp, a dog sheriff who's a parody of Wyatt Earp. While it may not live up to the original, it's definitely better than Bluth's feature at the time, the notorious and ridiculous Rock-a-Doodle. Also, Fievel Goes West had to compete against Disney's Beauty and the Beast at the box-office.

We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story, released in 1993, was about a quartet of dinosaurs who get sent forward through time to the 1990s to go to the New York Museum of Natural History. While the film had superb character animation and impressive vocal talents, We're Back! bombed at the box-office: It had to compete against The Nightmare before Christmas, Mrs. Doubtfire, and Schindler's List. I'll give We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story a more detailed review next month in January.

Balto, which premiered in 1995, did better at the box-office, but had to compete against the first Toy Story. The film takes place in Nome, Alaska in 1925, and is about a husky mutt named Balto (Kevin Bacon), who is ridiculed by the other dogs because he's part wolf. His only friends are a female husky named Jenna (Bridget Fonda), a Russian goose named Boris (Bob Hoskins), and two polar bear cubs named Luck and Muck (Phil Collins). When an epidemic fatally effects many children in Alaska, including Jenna's owner Rosie, a bobsled team of huskies goes on a journey to receive the medicine that will cure the disease. However, the dogs get lost, and now it's up to Balto to go on an epic journey to retrieve the medicine and save Nome.

Now what do I think of Balto? Well, it may not be as good as Toy Story, but it's more enjoyable than Disney's feature that year, Pocahontas. Like Pocahontas, Balto is loosely based on a real-life event. However, Balto is much less fantasy-based than Pocahontas, and is a bit more mature. But Balto also has some historical inaccuracies, though these are more minor.

Another thing to appreciate about Balto is the animation. In fact, I think the character animation is more lively than in Pocahontas, despite the latter involving the great Glen Keane. Like how The Little Mermaid had millions of bubbles, Balto probably has thousands of snowflakes.
However, there is one thing that I find strikingly familiar: there's a scene in which Balto fights a grizzley bear, and it's very similar to the bear climax in The Fox and the Hound!

If I were to nitpick at one thing, I think they should've done better work on Steele, the antagonist of the film. He's a bit of a cross between Gaston in Beauty and the Beast and Georgette, the poodle voiced by Bette Midler, from Oliver and Company.

Overall, Balto is an enjoyable treat for the whole family, and is definitely better than Pocahontas.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5