Balto: Wolf Quest

It's a decent sequel; that although it is not up to par with its predecessor, it is still a fun and emotional adventure for young children.

I have yet to see a DTV sequel that did not completely butcher the original and make me want to run a sledgehammer through my VCR. Balto II: Wolf Quest is no exception. I might have been able to overlook the poor animation if the plot had been decent, but we've seen it a million times. The writers decide to produce offspring from the original movie's hero, and then follow their angst plight through adolescence. The voice casting for Aleu was horrid, a stronger female voice would have done wonders for her characters. And that mouse... oy. He howled for crying out loud! I'm sorry, but that's just beyond laughable, and not in a good way. The wolves were horribly drawn, especially the three "mean" ones. Were these a tribute too the three sled dogs that always trailed after Steele? They, as well as their leader looked more like rats crossed with panthers. The animators seem to have fallen into the horrible cliché of "Wanna make a baddie? Give him an over-sized chin!" Yick.

Then there were all the overdone and overUSED Indian references. Since it's Alaska, couldn't they at least gone with Eskimo legends, since they were so intent on dumping spiritualism on us? The glowing eye effect lost it's charm... as soon as I saw it. I just wish these people will stop pumping out sequels for the sake of a dollar. Make something that's worthy of theater release, and that lives up to it's predecessor.

There are some really beautiful scenes in Balto: Wolf Quest, and the film overall exceeded my expectations, but it still has its problems. Let's start with the good stuff.

Visually, the film is actually quite pleasing to the eye with dramatic angles and quickly moving in Balto's really cool dream sequence and with vibrant colours in his daughter's self-discovery.

And the not that good stuff.

Balto: Wolf Quest is not grounded in reality like its predecessor and didn't have much originality to the story, but it had its moments of decent voice acting from new characters like the soft and firm Nava and the menacing Niju. Aside from that we have to deal with new voices for the recurring characters, and it shows.

Boris is the most noticeable, and even if Charles Fleischer did a decent job, I found him too loud and not funny. I wasn't that keen of Muk and Luk in the original, but they seemed pointless here. Jodi Benson did the best performance as Jenna, I'll give her credit for that.

The story, while not original, had a spiritual theme to it and I would have liked that to be explored more, because it was shown so many times right from the start and especially in this beautiful scene when Balto's daughter is in a cave. It could have been so interesting.

I'm sure Balto: Wolf Quest will entertain on its own, and I was entertained, too. I feel it could have been better, but Even though it is a far cry from its predecessor, it is still among the better sequels out there.

The adventure of Balto continues with a charming, heart-warming continuation of where the first film left off. I don't think it is as good as the first film, but it is certainly an improvement on previous sequel efforts, is there anyone here who didn't like Cinderella 2 or Secret of NIMH 2? If anything I wish the film was five minutes longer, to me the ending seemed rather abrupt. Balto: Wolf Quest also doesn't have the best story in the world, but the story still is well-paced, and in general well-written, despite some uneven attempts at humour.(Muk and Luk) The script is on the most part touching, and I thought the animation, while not as good as the animation in the first film, was very good, with a lot of symbolism that I thought was most effective on screen. I liked the songs, beautiful melodies, but sometimes overshadowed the story. The film is brought to life by a terrific voice cast, including Little Mermaid's Jodi Benson as Jenna. Boris wasn't as funny here, but Charles Fleischer does a commendable job, he reminded me a bit of John Cleese's Jean Bob in Swan Princess. Lacey Chabert is very spirited as Aleu, a young wolf who yearns to find the truth about herself, and Mark Hamill is suitably nasty as Niju. I thought the actor with the best vocal talents in the movie, was the late David Carradine as Nava, a performance of subtlety and restraint that was admirable. I will confess I was very scared by the three wolverines, with their burning red eyes, their appearance is enough to frighten a very young child. All in all, a charming sequel, not as good as the first film, but I wasn't expecting it to be. I've learnt now that save a couple of exceptions,(Toy Story 2, Home Alone 2 and Garfield 2) none of the sequels I have seen to anything, surpasses the original. 7/10 Bethany Cox.

Though it doesn't hold up to the wonderful original Balto, this is one of the very few animated film sequels that didn't totally make me gag. The storyline is completely different (thankfully not going the 'Oh, no! Another epidemic!' route one would expect) and the entire movie takes a Native American twist, focusing less of dog-sleds and more on the Wolf roots of both Balto and his daughter, Aleu. The songs are touching and beautiful, my favorites being "Taking You Home" and "Who You Really Are". "Taking You Home" is probably the only song I've ever heard from an animated film that has ever made me cry- and it take a lot to make me cry.

This film, combined with the original Balto film, would be a wonderful little gift pack for anyone who's a fan.