DISNEY'S first 3-D animation made under the regime of Pixar guru John Lassiter opens with a breathtaking chase sequence in which a little girl and a superdog fight off flying ninjas and helicopter-born raiders.
After cleverly showing off just how exciting this new toy can be, Bolt (Cert PG) then announces it is not just about wham-bam action at all.
For we have been watching a film within a film. German shepherd dog Bolt (voiced by John Travolta) is the star of a hit TV show and is under the delusion that all his amazing feats and powers are real. While his co-star Penny (Miley Cyrus) goes home at night he is kept cloistered in a caravan on the studio lot in a Truman Show-style existence.
One day, however, he is accidentally dispatched in a box out of Hollywood and fetches up on the streets of New York.
As he strives to get back to Penny he has some painful lessons to learn (echoes of Buzz Lightyear, perhaps) before realising he is just an ordinary dog. On his cross-country journey he is joined by sassy alleycat Mittens and a couch potato hamster called Rhino, who is his biggest fan.
Watch the latest film trailersThe set-up of the trio on their Incredible Journey is far from original but they are engaging and funny characters and there are some ingenious set pieces on their adventure
Their relationship even has its touching moments and there's real poignancy when Bolt gets back to Penny and discovers he has been replaced by the show's producers.
Bolt strikes the right balance between a simple story which is easily understood by the very young with sufficient subtleties to engage older kids and grown-ups who can all enjoy the splendour of the visual experience (through 3-D glasses at certain cinemas or in regular projection elsewhere).
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