Superhero Media: Bolt

I first watched Bolt years ago and dismissed writing it up as a "Superhero Media" because, at it's core, it's a The Incredible Journey remake with some superhero gloss, rather than truly a piece of superhero media. Then, however, I watched the second season of Titans, and was delighted to see Krypto the Superdog, not only present, but pretty much unmolested and recognisable. A vestige of the huge spread of "Super" characters of the Golden and Silver Ages, Krypto is exactly what he seems to be, a dog with the powers of Superman. Krypto hovers around the edge of DC canon, usually being technically considered to be in there somewhere, but is hated with a passion by the "hardcore" fanboys, because, and stop me if you've heard this one, he's fun. Only comic book fans could make enjoying a dog with heat vision into a statement about lifestyle. 

Bolt follows the story of a Canine Actor who actually believes he has super powers (due to an overly-contrived, but forgivable set-up), but becomes separated from his owner/costar and has to travel across America to find her again. Bolt is joined by Mittens, a stray cat, and Rhino, a pet hamster who also believes that Bolt is actually a superhero, and is probably the only worthwhile character in the film. A lot of that comes down to two factors, one being Mark Walton's brilliant delivery of the lines, and the other being that no one else is really trying all that hard. Ok, Malcolm McDowell is always good, but that kind of goes without saying, and he sadly has fewer than a dozen lines in the entire film. The narrative is basic, goes exactly where you think it will, but as far as this kind of film goes, it's all pretty harmless and decent fun on a rainy afternoon. 

So why bother with all this then? Well, Bolt was about as close as one could reasonably hope for a major release Krypto film for a long time; though now we have DC League of Super-Pets. No, it's not a major, big-budget DCU tent-pole with the Synder aesthetic, but isn't it great to live in a world where a film about a dog with heat vision exists? I'm yet to watch it sadly, but you can bet it's on my list. To me, Bolt represents the kind of film I always thought we would get about characters like Krypto or the Pet Avengers, instead of anything close to a faithful adaptation, just something silly and disposable. And that's what the film is, really, something throwaway that's fun in the moment and soon forgotten.