Balto

Rating:
Summary: Balto
Review: Balto is filled with lyrics and characters that will touch your heart. Half dog/wolf, Balto doesn't know where he belongs. He is shunned by all the town dogs, including Steele, the Alaskan malamute. His only friends are Jenna, the husky, Boris, the Russian snow goose, and Muk and Luk, two polar bears. "Let me tell you something Balto.A dog cannot make this journey alone. But maybe a wolf can......"

Rating:
Summary: The greatest animation arrived on DVD !
Review: Balto is great. I have seen it countless times on LD. Too bad Universal chosed to release this as Full frame. The LD is in Wide Screen and has better sound than this DVD but if you don't have the LD to compare to, this DVD still highly satisfying with crystal clear picture and ok sound.

The story about Balto, a half dog, half wolf who save the small town in Alaska by delivering medicine to the town sick children. This movie is funny, heartwarming and plenty of action as well. Guarantee to entertain the whole family. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: My 4 year old daughter is hooked on Balto
Review: Balto is one of my families favorites, especially my four year old daughter. Everytime we go to the video store it's the only movie she wants to rent! I have no reservations about renting it as I have watched it with her several times and I find it very entertaining as well. There are many great character training opportunities in the movie, especially in teaching how to persevere in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. I find that many Disney animations center more on adult social situations and dialogue than childrens themes. The content in Balto is very well balanced, as it successfully entertains and encourages children and adults alike.

Rating:
Summary: This movie ROX!!!
Review: Balto is one of the BEST movies of all time! Although Kevin Bacon's voice doesnt really fit Balto,its still great! Steele is a wonderful bad guy!! Hes cool! His voice is superbly suited to his looks and character!!! Jenna is GREAT too!! The best scenes are the moments between Steele and Jenna,the part where they go for the Medicine. You will LOVE this movie! Better than any Disney cause there is NO singing!!

Rating:
Summary: This is one of the best movies around!
Review: Balto is one of the best movies. Plus it is hard to believe that this is a rare live action and animated movie. Jim Cummings should gets a lot of parts in animated movies. He was the voice of Steele (who hates Balto). This movie is based on a true story. Balto is half dog and half wolf. But even though I'm confused on how is is half dog and half wolf. Plus how do you know what happened since mosty of the time we see animals. And how do the trail the dogs races are raced that is the same trail Balto and the sled dogs took to bring medince to thier town in Alaska. As the movie opens, a grandmother (Miram Margolyes) and her granddaughter (Lola Bates-Campbell) are looking for a memorial of the sled dogs that took a trail to bring medince to thier town in the winter of 1925. The Granddaughter (at first) doesn't know what she and her grandmother are looking for. So they take a rest and the grandmother tells her the story of Balto (Kevin Bacon) and the snow dog team. Which this part of the movie is animated. Blato is not the favorite dog in town and is hated by Steele (voiced by Jim Cummings). But when a little girl gets sick and is in the hospital, Steele and other dogs (expect Balto) are sent to get the medince. But when the dogs get lost, Balto heads out to find them.

My thoughts on Balto are: First this movie is based on a true story. I am not sure about the girl and her grandmother also realed happened in this movie. But here is one thing I don't belive that really happened the animals talked (and the stuff that happened that there wasn't any humans present). But if you love animated or live action movies, I reccomend this one. But I don't know why the memorial is in New York City when Balto and everybody else in the story lived in Normal, Alaska.

Rating:
Summary: BALTO's Digital Debut Dreadfully Disappointing
Review: Balto is one of the most amazing animated features of all time, easily ranking with the best of Disney's efforts such as "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Lion King." However, this 1995 animated classic from Universal was buried like a dog bone at the box office, and hasn't achieved the popularity it deserves even in the home entertainment market. Perhaps this is the reason that Universal decided to create a remarkably underwhelming DVD version. This is quite possibly the worst DVD I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of DVDs in the two years I've owned a player.

The biggest problem with this release is the movie-to-DVD transfer: not only is it poorly done and grainy, but the DVD executives at Universal decided to release it exclusively in fullscreen pan and scan format with a 1:33:1 aspect ratio which never even comes close to doing the stunning visuals justice. The greatest asset of DVD, even greater than all of the room on each disc for extra features, is the widescreen capability, allowing the film to be experienced at home as it was in theaters, with up to 30% more picture presented to the left and right of the screen. Fullscreen reformats the film for 1:33:1 televisions and in doing so cops out up to one third of the original widescreen picture, thus diminishing the epic splendor of many shots. As do many animated features, "Balto" offers many stunning visual effects that would look absolutely amazing in widescreen, and yet Universal refuses to release the film as it was meant to be seen. I love this movie, and it pains me very greatly to say that as it is, this DVD isn't any better than the original 1996 VHS version I have.

The extra features here include a very unthoughtful, low-tech game clearly designed for the youngest children (although I can't imagine that anyone old enough to comprehend the movie would be interested in such a dry, boring game.) The production notes and cast and crew bios are nothing much either. The only true plus in this area is the theatrical trailer.

As if this was not enough, Universal attached a forced-view preview for "E.T. The Extra Terrestrial" to the beginning of the DVD, and it must be viewed every time you start the movie. There is no way to skip it, and although "E.T." is one of the greatest cinematic masterpieces of all time, it starts to get on your nerves having to watch the preview EVERY TIME you want to watch Balto.

DVD is the home entertainment medium of the future, and is important on several levels. When a DVD disc is made well, it does a number of things: a) presents the film in question in the best possible picture and sound available, b) gives the viewer interesting information regarding the film, such as how it was made, c) entertains the viewer with its extras and d) does all of this in an easy-to-use, easy-to-navigate, enjoyable system. This DVD is certainly easy to use, but it fails to deliver on all other fronts.

With this release, Universal is telling people that the film does not deserve a disc equal to even any decent one on the market today, let alone the best of the best. I have been a loyal fan of this film ever since I first saw it in summer 1995, and find this highly insulting. They will be receiving a nasty letter from me shortly for this underwhelming disc, and my only hope is that Universal will correct these mistakes in the future with an anamorphic widescreen edition featuring thoughtful, interesting bonuses such as "The Making of Balto" and audio commentary. Until then, don't let the utter horridness of this release stop you from seeing this underrated gem of a movie, which I recommend very highly. The film itself is an amazing five-star work of art in every sense, but sadly its digital debut is dreadfully disappointing.

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Rating:
Summary: A great cartoon that's based on a true story!
Review: Balto is part dog and part wolf and he lives in a cold area of the world, so as you might expect, he's somewhat of an outcast from the sled dogs. Balto has a MAJOR enemy in a big husky named Steele. However, when something bad happens, Balto has a great chance to be a hero by doing something that could possibly save a life. "Balto" has both live action and animated parts to it, but it's mostly a cartoon, and a GREAT one at that! If you don't believe me, then look at a lot of other great movies that you know of. How many other movies or items at all, do you know of that have over 20 reviews and that average 5 full stars?

I've seen just about all of the Disney masterpieces, and like most of them, "Balto" is a classic. Unfortunately, "Balto" seems to be very underrated because it looks like it hasn't been widely watched like it should be. If you like any other Disney movies, or just great movies in general, do yourself a favor and purchase "Balto" before it's too late! "Balto" has some parts that are suspenseful, especially for a cartoon, it has great animation, and best of all, it's a movie you'll never forget.

Rating:
Summary: Balto
Review: Beginning to watch "Balto" today, I thought I was going to see a movie with real humans,(as that is how it started) It did not take long to realize, that this movie was about a real life dog (part wolf) in Alaska, that eventually helped bring antitoxin for Diphtheria to the city of Nome. It was a sweet story, about a dog (part wolf) that always wanted to be on a dogsled team. As a cartoon, it had sweet creatures, with silly names, Boris the goose, with a Russian accent, and 2 cute polar bears, Muck and Luck, that didn't know how to swim, until it was necessary for them to swim! And of course, there was a pretty female dog, the object of Balto's affection. All in all, it was a cute movie, but knowing that it was based on a real life situation, made it all that much better! Good for any child...age 2 to 102!! (I sat with my husband and watched this, with no children around....it was as much for adults as for kids)

Rating:
Summary: Balto
Review: Beginning to watch "Balto" today, I thought I was going to see a movie with real humans,(as that is how it started) It did not take long to realize, that this movie was about a real life dog (part wolf) in Alaska, that eventually helped bring antitoxin for Diphtheria to the city of Nome. It was a sweet story, about a dog (part wolf) that always wanted to be on a dogsled team. As a cartoon, it had sweet creatures, with silly names, Boris the goose, with a Russian accent, and 2 cute polar bears, Muck and Luck, that didn't know how to swim, until it was necessary for them to swim! And of course, there was a pretty female dog, the object of Balto's affection. All in all, it was a cute movie, but knowing that it was based on a real life situation, made it all that much better! Good for any child...age 2 to 102!! (I sat with my husband and watched this, with no children around....it was as much for adults as for kids)

Rating:
Summary: Lots of fun!
Review: Does it really matter that this isn't exactly "historical?" I mean c'mon people, it's entertainment, not a history book.

My only gripe is that is was released in 4:3, aka "Full Screen." This was probably done for the kiddies, but for those of us that enjoy a good animated flick, release it in widescreen! That's the only reason it doesn't rate 5 stars.

If you've got access to a region free DVD player, order the German version from Amazon.de. It's a much nicer presentation, in it's original 16:9, with the english dialogue track.

Maybe Universal will release a special edition here in the states, with the theatrical version. Don't hold your breath too long, tho!