"Bolt"

[tongodeon]

No spoilers: I'm not a dog person, I'm not even a pet person. I don't have kids, I don't generally like kids' movies, or Disney movies. I'm not a fan of John Travolta or Miley Cyrus. And yet I thought that "Bolt" was a very good movie for all the reasons that make movies good. The story was strong, the characters were compelling, it was visually

Comments

[tongodeon]

So I thought about this a little on the drive to work. There are definite similarities between Buzz and Bolt, but there are some important differences. The biggest difference is that Buzz is a bit of a stooge while Bolt is a much more sympathetic character. Buzz is a hero out of pride - he's a heroic star who resists the truth because his ego can't stand being crushed by the realization that he's just a toy. Bolt is a hero out of love for Penny. His raison d'étre is to protect her from Doctor Calico and he resists the truth out of love and concern for her. He's worried that he can't protect her if he doesn't have superpowers. Buzz is an egotistical idiot who the other toys are trying to talk some sense into. Bolt is no less deluded, but he's not stupid or misguided either. In this sense Bolt is a much better representation of the true believer than Buzz is. True believers aren't usually misguided idiots, they're usually well-intentioned people whose self-delusion is motivated by concern and protection for their friends and family. And that's another great lesson - the most productive way to provide the greatest protection to your loved ones is to separate fantasy from reality and concentrate on providing real solutions to real problems.

(Caveat: it's been a while since I've seen Toy Story, and I might not be recalling Buzz's motivations correctly.)