Bolt Teaser Poster; A Look Back at American Dog

Posted on Friday, June 20th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta

I hear that the teaser trailer for Bolt will probably be attached to Pixar’s WALL-E, which hits theaters next week. Disney has just released the first theatrical teaser poster (as opposed to the teaser poster which has been on display at Disneyland) for the movie, which makes this that much more likely. But before you see the teaser trailer, lets take a look back at the project’s troubled history.

Originally titled American Dog, Chris Sanders was attached to write and direct. But Sander’s vison of the animated movie was a little “too bold”. His early concepts featured a one-eyed cat and an oversized radioactive rabbit (see the publicly released concept art below). Disney was supposedly looking for something a bit more “mainstream”. Funny, considering that Sanders is responsible for Disney’s last popular non-Pixar character/movie, Lilo & Stitch. Sanders was replaced by Chris Williams and Byron Howard, and the film was rewritten and retitled Bolt.

And this is what Bolt looks like…

Bolt

One must remember that Brad Bird replaced Jan Pinkava on Ratatouille, which was went through rewrites, and look how that turned out. But on the other hand, Ratatouille had Brad Bird, Bolt has Chris Williams, who was a writer on Mulan and The Emperor’s New Groove, and Byron Howard, who was a Supervising Animator on Chicken Little and Brother Bear. The characters look very generic, at least at first glance. Also, the casting of Miley Cyrus doesn’t instill confidence (click here to watch Miley explain her character and see a bit of unfinished footage from the film). I’m very interested to see the teaser trailer. With John Lasseter in charge as Chief Creative Officer of Disney Animation, you have to put a little faith in the decision to take the project in a totally different direction.

The official plot synopsis follows: For super-dog Bolt (voiced by John Travolta), every day is filled with adventure, danger and intrigue – at least until the cameras stop rolling. When the canine star of a hit TV show is accidentally shipped from his Hollywood soundstage to New York City, he begins his biggest adventure yet – a cross-country journey through the real world. Armed only with the delusions that all his amazing feats and powers are real, and with the help of two unlikely traveling companions – a jaded, abandoned housecat named Mittens (voiced by Susie Essman), and TV-obsessed hamster in a plastic ball named Rhino – Bolt discovers he doesn’t need superpowers to be a hero. Miley Cyrus (“Hannah Montana”) brings her vocal talents to the role of Penny, Bolt’s human co-star on the television series.

Bolt will hit theaters on November 26th, 2008 in Disney Digital 3-D™.

contributing sources: IMPAwards, blogspot, AICN, Animation Nation

Comments

gah

The American Dog concept art looked amazing...the finished product looks boring and unoriginal. Way to go Disney. Fire someone because they want to go outside the box.

edward

i talked to chris sanders about it at comic-con. everything was true about lassetter(PIXAR head, disney creative exec) hating on sanders' style, as it's NON-GENERIC and it's NON-DISNEY, to them getting in feuds over the film.

funny how lassetter's pet project was taken away from him 20 years ago(the brave little toaster), and now he's doing the same to sanders. who spent 3 years+ on this film. designed characters, (co-?)wrote it, did SO much concept work on it, it's unbelievable. it was insane talking to him about it.

and now you can see that patch-eyed cat on his website,
http://www.chrissandersart.com

quite a cute character that would generate mass appeal if marketed right. lassetter really fucked disney and himself in the ass on this one.

jproductions17

American Dog all the way. The idea was just weird in a good way and the concept looked pretty cool while Bolt is well generic and mainstream. Disney needs to be unique and show they are different in a theatre full of CG animated movies. AD would have done just that. Now it just looks like Chicken Little.

charles

Bolt sucks by default, Miley Cyrus is in it. Damn you Hollywood, whats the problem with making good films. If something like this happened to American Dog, I can't imagine what other good films didn't make it. Oh wait, Indiana Jones and the City of Gods. Damn!

gocitizen

Wow. I really miss 2D. When is Disney going to get it's head out?
Lilo and Stitch was a great looking film. People loved it. All these great artists and animators have been pushed to the back of the bus, their talents being misused and forgotten. The gorgeous animation we should be getting has been discarded or maneuvered to work in 3D sensibilities. It's a sad era.

Although it is a Dreamworks film, Look no further than the first 5 minutes of Kung Fu Panda. We are given 5 minutes of gorgeous, stylized, animation...and then the movie transitions into the harsh and cold world of 3D. Nice in its respective form, but when contrasted to what that film could have been, it absolutely pales by comparison. Kung Fu Panda, as a full length 2D feature, could have been extraordinary, beautiful, and remembered. Instead, it will be what it is, an average 3D film and most likely forgotten in a few years.

I can only hope that Lasseter sees the future of Disney animation as: Disney creating groundbreaking 2D and Pixar creating groundbreaking 3D. That sort of creative work flow would allow for some truly incredible films being told in the best way imaginable.

Dan Berry

I wish they had chosen the American Dog animation style. It looks much more appealing artistically and strives to be something more than just a Disney cartoon.

salthegeek

is that dog smoking and playing cards ?
american dog might make a good book or comic

Captain Awesome

edward is right,

Sanders got axed because he didn't want to change it. They went through months and months of arguing and finally got tired of it. Basically they told him it didn't look "Pixar" or "Disney" enough. Which is dissapointing, since it's one of the main reasons why I loved it. His style is so beautiful and its sad it won't be imagined this way.

gocitizen,

Disney is bringing back their 2d department with their new film "The Frog Princess". And you're right, Lilo & Stitch was great. I just hope that with the help of Roy Disney, they go back to basics like Walt intended. And work on dynamic projects again. Ranging from work like those 2d animated shorts, "The Little Matchgirl" or Destino.

Vapor

Wow "American Dog" looked much more interesting. They even have people smoking. :D

Cinexcellence

Hmm. Waiting for the trailer.

Bob

american dog looks cool, but with the name "Miley Cyrus" on the poster, it has made it sound boring. still i'll wait for the trailer to make my final judgement

orange cinema

the cat with the eye patch is a pimp! american dog, hands down.

gocitizen

Capt. -
I haven't made up my mind about THe Frog Princess. 2D is best when it utilizes the strengths of the medium - squash, stretch, and stylization. I wish for something somewhere around Eric Goldberg's, Rhapsody in Blue and Roger Rabbit. I'm dreaming.

My long time animation fantasy was to have Sin City as an animated film. I wish Frank Miller and Rodriguez would do some animation as a DVD project ...or titles for Sin City2.

Ohiofile

Strange that Brad Bird who was a shunned genius becomes a Pixar legend making interesting films like The Incredibles and Ratatoullie which he wrote on the fly and someone who could possibly be just as innovative like Chris Sanders gets shown the door. I wonder who owns Sanders' characters. Could he get that film made at another studio? It clearly looks like some geeky animated wet dream living somewhere between Hunter S Thompson and the Lucas Arts adventure games like Sam and Max. American Dog - bad title, cool concept art.

Captain Awesome

gocitizen,

That would be great. I'd love to se projects like Sin City or even Hellboy done in their exact art style, just 2d animated.

I'm still looking forward to the Frog Princess for the simple fact they're trying to go back to basics with it and add some modern techniques to it. I just hope Roy has as much power as he had with his campign in getting Eisner thrown out.

I want them to explore the 2d animation world, like Miyazaki has been doing for years. But you know, do it with an American twist.

Also, more awesome Chris Sanders art here
http://www.chrissandersart.com/www/sketches.php...

gocitizen

Ohiofile-
that Sam & Max comparison is a good one...and Sanders will hopefully have his day. I'm sure he has no means to pry those characters away from Disney, but he has his own style, and a variation on the characters is certainly possible. I'm curious what his plans are. With any luck, all of these great animation artists will one day conspire to put put Ray Gunn on the screen as Bird originally intended. Not sure if Bird even cares about that project anymore. There used to be concept art floating around the internet. I can't gind it in a quick search.

Capt. -
I hope that Frog Princess is a huge success. I really, really hope.
It does look nice. I get the feeling that it will utilize all those things they were learning on films like Tarzan....and it's about freakin time. It bothers me that 2D was abandoned when it still has so much to do and become as an artform.

I've always liked Sanders' boards and story art. He has a great style and ability to convey a lot with an economy of lines.

Chip

Really, really bad move on John Lasseter's part. I mean, I can't hate on the guy who brought us Toy Story, but he was a bit of a hypocrite here. He described Chris Sanders' American Dog as "too bold for its own good." Last time I checked, Toy Story was a really bold film, at least a bold animated film. It was a completely new type of animated film, as it was filled with a boring main character, cute, funny sidekicks, and singing animals. And you know what, it worked. Toy Story has certainly aged well, and is a modern classic that is still better than most recent animated films, if not all.

Disney (not Pixar, Disney) has been a flipping joke lately. Chicken Little, (I haven't seen Meet the Robinison's, but it couldn't have been that great, as I haven't heard much talk about it), Hannah Montana, and all these other crappy shows. Oh, and a Tinker Bell moving coming out in some years? Pathetic.

I don't know how American Dog would have turned out, but it sure looked more promising than this. And Miley Cyrus? You've got to be kidding. Her name literally means "sellout". I'm not kidding, look it up in a dictionary. If this film is at least good (more than OK), than I'll loosen up a bit. If it sucks, then it's thanks to Lasseter and Miley Cyrus (WHY did they have to hire her, again?). But then again, if a film with Miley Cyrus's voice can be even remotely good, then Disney has done the impossible. Rant over.

Chip

It was a completely new type of animated film, as it was filled with a boring main character, cute, funny sidekicks, and singing animals.

RE: as it WASN'T filled with a boring main character, cute funny sidekicks, and singing animals.

edward

one thing also.
that first screenshot with the patch-cat in the car, that's from the actual movie of (little) footage they produced.

Mr.Death

The concept art for American Dog looks spectacular and I wish that could have made it (the patch eyed cat and the dog playing poker are particularly funny), but I am a fan of Mulan, so I'll keep this project in some high esteem. However, It just looks like a rehash of Homeward Bound so far, except the dog is going to be able to do more silly things. Heres my prediction on what will happen. Bolt travels around, thinking he has super powers. He does CRAZY things and gets in a whole lot of trouble. But he learns he has no superpowers and get disallusioned. Then somebody talks him back into it, and with new hope he saves the day or whatever.

Oh well, it can't be worse than *shudder* Chicken Little.

K.ro

great :d

Captain Awesome

edward,

No way! That's awesome. And I bet there were some great Hunter S. Thompson references in there too. Because how can you not with an image like that?

gocitizen,

I'm pretty sure Ray Gunn is dead. I think the last time Bird spoke about it (years and years ago), he had no interest in it at all. But I agree with your comment about FP. Roy said he was working with the new head at Disney to bring back a lot of the more "out there" projects Disney used to or would have tackled in 2d animation.

I remember at one point before it became "The Emperors New Groove". They had originally planned to make a semi-serious take on the Aztecs called "People of The Sun". So even at the time, it was interesting to see them try and tackle a theme like that even though it was turned into a very slap-sticky buddy film :I

gocitizen

Regardless of how it started, I'm a fan of ENG. It seems to me that they finally let go and had some fun on that film (with style and animation). I think it was the right move at the time, but certainly contrary to what I was saying about utilizing the new tech hybrids. In a perfect world there would be room for all of this. I'm curious to hear what the Disney folks might be talking about. Back to topic - I hope it isn't more Bolt.

lp

I'm definitely more interested in the American Dog premise instead. Chris Sander's Lilo & Stitch was one of the best animated movie Disney has released since The Lion King (not talking 3D here), and I was looking forward to his follow up. Bolt, however, is something else. We'll see.

Kari G

Bolt looks really great. American Dog, I'm sorry, looks a bit rough for the young one's. Disney, not Pixar has not had a great movie in forever. Meet the Robinson's was just average. If you really want to "get out of the box" then write a movie where you don't have to use smoking, sexual humor and bad language. Even a so so G rated movie does better in my book. Parents will take their kids to more movies if there were decent one's to see. This summer/fall seems to be the first I can remember with so many suitable movies to see for young kids. GO BOLT! PLEASE be good! And rated G

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Bolt Teaser Poster; A Look Back at American Dog

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