Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: BOLT (3-D)

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Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 11-24-2008, 07:12 AM:

2:30 p.m. show, Bowtie Annapolis Mall, Theatre #10.

I knew this was a movie that had to be watched in 3-D. Boy I am glad I took the kids to see it in 3-D too.

It was a good movie. If you watched in 2-D - it would be just so-so. In 3-D - it's that much better

4/5 Stars

P.S.: Glad to see that they are taking care of the theatre. The presentation was good and it was clean.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-24-2008, 09:36 AM:

Our film booker told me that the 3D efx were good, but not "necessary" to enjoy the movie. (Of course he might've been saying that to get me to feel better about booking the movie!)

But, out of all the customers we had over the weekend, only one asked if it was in 3-D.

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 11-24-2008, 11:34 AM:

We have it on two screens at my theatre in 2-D. On one of my walk-thrus Friday or Saturday, I caught the opening action scene. I realized that the scene would look much cooler in 3-D. So that is why I took my kids to see it in 3-D and they loved it. It was the first 3-D movie for my 3 and 5 year old and they are hooked on it now.

On a side note, I used to run the Annapolis Mall theatre a few years back. This particular visit re-assured me that the theatre is in good hands and is being taken care of. And, yes, this was something I was worried about. [Wink]

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-25-2008, 10:27 PM:

I've only seen bits and pieces so far but it seems like a lot better movie than Madagascar 2...too bad it's grossing as well.

The animation of the hamster in the ball is pretty cool. I like when you see stuff through the ball and it's distorted like it would be in real life. Pretty good. I'm glad the hamster doesn't show up until mid-movie though...his voice would get irritating.

Good song at the end featuring Miley Cyrus and Travolta. She has kind of a good-girl Alanis Morissette thing going and he is good on harmonies with her.

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 11-28-2008, 02:52 PM:

CINEMA: Megaplex 17 at Jordan Commons, Sandy, UT
AUDITORIUM: 15
PRESENTATION: Dolby Digital Cinema DLP/Real 3D
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: None [Cool]

RATING: Three stars (out of four)

Wow. The Dolby Digital Cinema trailer was even in 3-D. They also had some 3-D preview trailers, one of which was for all intents and purposes a complete squirrel short from the next Ice Age movie. Or at least it was promoting the Ice Age movie. They really don't need to put it IN the movie now...

THE PLOT: A psychologically damaged dog gets lost. Wackiness ensues.

It was actually better than I expected. It's a decent road flick made better by the hamster and the pigeons. They were awesome. The 3-D was great. There were points where I forgot I was watching 3-D.

Can you imagine the budget of an actual live-action TV show with the equivalent action and special effects of Bolt's?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-03-2008, 10:28 AM:

Finally got a chance to watch the film in its entirety. I liked it a lot compared to expectations. It's getting pretty good reviews overall and they are well-deserved.

The side-characters steal the show. The pigeons especially are hilarious. I was surprised the Miley Cyrus character wasn't in the film more. The lady doing Mittens the Cat should have gotten better billing, as she has at least 2x as much screen time as Miley does.

There were only a couple of spots where I thought to myself, "this would be cool in 3-D." But overall I thought the movie worked fine in 2-D. (To date we have had no complaints about our 2-D status.)

The animation is top-notch. Disney is finally approaching Pixar territory with their in-house animation. After their last three efforts I was beginning to wonder if they would ever get there.

As noted above, I thought the coolest thing, animation-wise, was Rhino, the hamster in the ball. The ball was TOTALLY unneccessary to the story, but it really added to that character. It must have taken a ton of work to get the animation around that ball done correctly and they pulled it off nicely. Great work.

I thought the sound mix was good too. At the beginning of the show the loud bass notes really shook the place. You could really feel the crowd spring to attention when those happened.

Overall, 4 out of 5 stars from me, including an extra half star awarded for the music not being annoying, and for not pounding me over the head with a message. (Well there is a slight don't-abandon-your-animals message but it's over in 30 seconds, as opposed to taking up the whole movie.) My wife liked it too, although maybe not quite as much as I did, but she still thought it was better than "Madagascar 2."

EDIT: I just realized, there were no fart jokes or potty humor in the movie! So another quarter star awarded for that impressive fact.

Grand total: 4.25 out of 5 stars.

[ 12-04-2008, 12:04 PM: Message edited by: Mike Blakesley ]

Posted by Justin Gorka (Member # 3727) on 12-12-2008, 06:16 AM:

Did enjoy this one. While the opening scenes were good in 3-D it did seem a little unnecessary for the rest of the film. Th 3- trailer for "Up" was great, this film will really rock!
One problem I had wad with the Dolby glasses. Even with the wipes we were given the were still a pit grubby and as I where glasses they were extremely uncomfortable and the viewing are narrow. The Real-D glasses are a much better solution!
Oh yeah, back to the film...4/5

Posted by Paul Burt (Member # 3743) on 12-26-2008, 01:32 PM:

A decent film for the kids. Totally predictable plot, similar to all the other Disney dog pics, but well done. And the pigeons were great.

Posted by Don Anderson (Member # 397) on 12-28-2008, 11:06 PM:

I thought that the movie was cute. This is the 1st DLP projected 3d film that I have seen. Actually, the first Digital film at a theatre for me.I was very impressed with the picture, and the Real3d glasses were comfortable. 3d effects were great, and I liked the 3d trailers. Much better 3d than the stuff from the 1980s! [Smile]

Posted by Phil Blake (Member # 2012) on 01-03-2009, 07:18 PM:

I felt this show was sadly lacking for adults, i am sure the little ones will love it . as for big kids the story seemed to wander all over the place I personally became very bored with it and gave up halfway through.

I will agree the sound mix was great in dts.

only 2 out of 5 from me