Balto, Aventura na Terra do Gelo

After seeing the commercials for this movie a bunch of times while watching TV, they only imply that this is one of those cute, kiddy, been-there-done-that film that non-Disney studios pop out once every month to combat the giant Disney empire. However, while actually watching this film, it turns out to be something completely different.

This film is *gasp* actually pretty good, and is easily better than the first!

The story, in a nutshell, is that our hero, Balto, had babies. While most of the pups look like their mother, one of them looks more like a wolf than a dog. She grows up and is unable to accept the fact she is more wolf-like than dog-like, then runs away. (She doesn't like being dominated by her father.) Meanwhile, both of them have the same dream filled with ice, a raven, caribou, and wolves. Well, both of them embark on a journey that manages to include all elements of the two dreams, then runs into a pack of wolves who must either leave the land they lived on for years or starve to death. Balto's daughter realizes her destiny is to leave her family and lead the wolves. Balto understands and lets her leave.

Yeah, I make it sound generic, but believe me, IT IS NOT! This film may be one of many that feature the "journey to find oneself" theme, but it succeeds extremely well! The message is deep, and the presentation is haunting with a little bit of comedy mixed in (the comedy is quite ordinary, so that may explain why the commercial makes the movie look so generic.) Add a great voice acting with talents such as Mark Hamill, Rob Paulsen, Jodi Benson etc., and you've got what may be the best direct-to-video animated motion picture ever made.

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.

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.

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.

I felt this film was kinda like Balto himself--a bit rough around the edges, but with a heart of gold underneath. I didn't care for Boris, Mu(c)k and Lu(c)k this time around, but Maurice LaMarche, Lacey Chabert and Mark Hamill were good as Balto, Aleu and Niju. However, the BEST piece of casting was David Carradine as Nava...he was WONDERFUL. The songs were generally well-done, and "Taking You Home" was beautiful. I really thought the ending of the movie was well-done: hopeful and leaving you with a satisfying feeling without being a traditional "happy ending."

So I have to say I still like the original a bit more, but this film was by no means a failure.