In fact, there's only a short time that I'm interested in the animation field; when I was young, I liked many Disney animated features, and mostly the well known ones (Jungle Book, The Lion King...), and it's only a few months ago that I rediscovered a passion for this type. The first time I saw Balto was on christmas 2003. I had never heared of this film, and so that's what we call an excellent surprise. Since this time, I bought it on DVD and must have seen it several dozens of times, and that's a sign that can't fool anyone...

Balto can be considered as a great classic, as Disney like to call its own movies "Great classics". Classic is an appropriate word to talk about Balto : in reality, even if the movie is based on a true story (which is a really good thing) the way the movie is structured use all the "clichés" related to the animated movies : a courageous hero in love with a pretty girl, who will know numerous adventures and will have to face a bad guy, etc...

And yet, yet, the film is so well done in every way, that we are caught into it, we can only love the characters, so even if the film doesn't intend to bring anything to this kind of movies, it's the best that can be done using this traditional formula. To me, there's everything : humor; action; feelings...Yes, the film is firstly intended to a young public, especially compared with most of the recent productions in this type, but the fact there is no "dead time" will also make everyone else enjoy this movie. Moreover, the animation is top-notch, and even if the 3D isn't much used, the backgrounds are beautiful, the snow is perfectly used, etc etc..., all of this obviously bringing much to the quality of the film.


On another part, I would like to tell you about maybe what I liked the most in this film, and which has probably made the difference : that's the soundtrack. The musics are nearly always present on all the length of the film, and yet they are everything but boring.
The composer isn't an amator, James Horner composed the soundtrack of Titanic, which are still to date some of the most beautiful musics ever made for a film, and even if the soundtrack of Balto isn't at the same level, the musics are still far beyond the average. The themes are awesome and come back in a different way depending on the situation (sad, happy...), and it reinforces the great aspect of the story. And cherry on the cake, there's no songs (because I usually hate the "musical comedy" thing used in animations films, for example in Anastasia...there's nothing more stupid than a character singing in public for no particular reason...), except from the credits one. (Reach for the light, excellent BTW)
So you get it, the soundtrack is awesome, and I found the french character voices very accurate to the characters personnality (contrary to the american ones, no offense there but I found them bland, weak, empty of emotions,... but that's just the opinion of a french person! ^^ And the french character voices didn't change in Wolf Quest!)


To finish, if I had to tell some bad points, it would be that it's not really original (classic! well, perhaps that's not really a bad point...), that it is still made for children, more than most actual animated movies, and that I would have prefered it to be a bit longer ;)
Finally, if I had to tell you about myself, then I would say that I am 20, and it doesn't prevent me at all to love this film. So everyone who have never seen it should try to rent it, why not in family : I know it is difficult to find it today, even if you want to purchase it (it's still not really popular, and that's a shame...), or wait for it to be aired on TV. But everybody who loved The Lion King, or even any Disney, should absolutely watch it! I don't really make rankings for the films I like, because I think each one has qualities and glitches, but Balto is nevertheless one of the films I am not bored to watch again and again...

To summarize : Strong points : + Musics ! ! ! + Top notch 2D animation + Great characters + Beautiful environments + Based on a true story + No dead time + Some passages will stay for long in your memory Weak points : - A bit classic - No songs (is it really a bad point?)

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Your opinion interests me : if you want to give it, then you only have to send me a mail ! : steetboris@yahoo.fr

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