Balto (film)

Balto
French release poster
Directed by	Simon Wells
Produced by	Steve Hickner Rich Arons
Written by	David Cohen Elana Lesser Cliff Ruby Roger S.H. Schulman
Starring	Kevin Bacon Bob Hoskins Bridget Fonda Jim Cummings Phil Collins
Music by	James Horner
Cinematography	Jan Richter-Friis
Editing by	Sim Evan-Jones Nick Fletcher Renee Edwards
Studio	Imagine Entertainment Amblimation
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	December 22, 1995 (1995-12-22)
Running time	78 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$11,348,324

Balto is a 1995 American animated adventure film directed by Simon Wells and produced by Amblimation, and the first of the overall trilogy. The film is based on a true story about the dog of the same name who helped save children from the diphtheria epidemic in the 1925 serum run to Nome. The live action portions of the film were filmed at Central Park.

Balto is the final animated feature produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblimation animation studio, before Spielberg co-founded DreamWorks with David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg; most of the Amblimation staff was re-located to DreamWorks Animation. Universal Pictures would not release another feature-length animated film to theaters for over a decade, until Curious George in 2006. Similarly, it would be over a decade until Amblin Entertainment would produce another theatrically released animated film, which was 2006's Columbia Pictures computer-animated feature film Monster House.

Plot

The film opens in a live-action scene with an old woman (Miriam Margoyles) and a young girl (Lola Bates-Campbell) in Central Park in New York City searching for a statue of a sled dog. The woman begins the story that happened in 1925 as the scene shifts to an animated form.

Balto (voiced by Kevin Bacon) is a wolf-dog hybrid, shunned by both humans and dogs in the town of Nome. His only friends are Boris (voiced by Bob Hoskins), a Russian goose, and Muk and Luk (both voiced by Phil Collins), two polar bears. Balto and Boris live on a grounded boat outside Nome, while Muk and Luk are occasional visitors.

One day, a dogsled race is being held. At the head end of one of the teams is Steele (voiced by Jim Cummings), a proud and fierce Siberian Husky. Balto and Boris are in Nome to watch the finish. While waiting for the teams to arrive, Balto sees a young girl named Rosy (voiced by Juliette Brewer) and her female husky, Jenna (voiced by Bridget Fonda). He is immediately smitten by Jenna, and when Rosy loses her hat to the wind, Balto outruns the sled team and retrieves the hat to show off. However, when he tries to get closer to Jenna, Rosy's dad pulls Rosy away from him. Balto and Boris dejectedly leave town, but not before being bullied by Steele and his companions, Nikki, Kaltag and Star (voiced respectively by Jack Angel, Danny Mann, and Robbie Rist).

The night after the race, Rosy and several other children fall ill. As Jenna worriedly watches through the hospital window, Balto approaches and attempts to flirt, but Jenna is too distressed to be receptive. Balto and Jenna enter the underfloor area of the hospital and watch the doctor give the diagnosis — Rosy has diphtheria. Because many other children in the town have also become ill with diphtheria, the doctor has run out of antitoxin. Jenna is heart broken and Balto thinks that he should have not taken her down there. Steele arrives and tries to charm Jenna with some food he stole from the butcher. Jenna makes Steele burn his tail on a heater but, as the butcher and Rosy's dad appear, Steele frames Balto for the theft of the stolen meat, resulting in him being chased away by Rosy's dad. Meanwhile, an urgent request for diphtheria antitoxin is transmitted via radio, but sea and air routes fail and the closest rail line only goes to Nenana.

It is decided that a sled team will cover the last stretch. A race is held to determine the team members. Balto enters, and single handedly wins despite the other dogs cheating and trying to ruin it for him. However, he is disqualified when Steele steps on his paw, forcing him to bare his teeth at the musher who classifies him as a dangerous. That night, the team, led by Steele, sets out to Nenana and picks up the medicine; however they get lost on the way back and are led by a disoriented Steele down a steep hill, knocking out the musher. The team now has no way home.

The news reaches Nome. Balto decides to set out on a rescue mission, accompanied by Boris, Muk, and Luk. On the way, they are attacked by a large grizzly bear, but (with Jenna's unexpected help) are able to escape. However, Jenna is injured, and Balto orders Boris and the bears to take her home. Jenna gives Balto her scarf as a good luck charm. Before leaving, Boris gives Balto some advice ("A dog cannot make this journey alone... but, maybe, a wolf can.") to which Balto shrugs off. Eventually, Balto finds the team and offers to help them get home. Steele is filled with so much hatred that Balto is unable to calm him and they fight until Steele falls off a cliff. With Steele gone, Balto is chosen as the new leader of the sled dog team. Miraculously, Steele is uninjured from his fall and manages to climb back up the cliff. He sets off for Nome, creating false trail markings to throw Balto off course. Balto becomes confused by the markings and inadvertently leads the team to another cliff. The crate of antitoxin tumbles from the sled and nearly off the cliff. Balto catches it, but the ground gives way underneath him, dropping both dog and crate into the abyss.

Meanwhile, Steele returns to Nome. He tells Jenna and the other dogs that he survived an accident that killed Balto and the rest of the sled dog team. Steele tries to validate his story by giving Jenna her scarf back. Jenna does not believe Steele and leaves. Later, Jenna creates a beacon using broken bottles and a lantern to shine a light pattern similar to the Aurora Borealis, a trick Balto showed her earlier.

Balto wakes up at the bottom of the cliff, believing that he has failed. A large white wolf appears to him and he turns away in shame. However, as the wolf walks away, Balto notices the intact crate nearby. He realizes that Boris' advice meant that being part wolf is a strength, not a weakness, and embraces that heritage with a howl, joined by the white wolf. Afterward, Balto manages to drag the crate back up the cliff to the waiting team. They are quickly on their way again, Balto using his sense of smell to figure out which trail marks are his and which are Steele's.

After overcoming three near-catastrophes, Balto makes it back to Nome in time to save the children, guided by Jenna's aurora beacon. Steele is revealed to be a liar and is deserted by the other dogs in anger. Boris, Muk, Luk, and Jenna - all of whom thought Balto was lost - are overjoyed, and the whole town which once shunned Balto gives him a hero's welcome. Balto and Jenna finally express their love for each other.

Returning to the present, the old woman and the girl read the statue's plaque lauding the courage and fidelity of the sled dogs that prevented the tragedy in Nome. After the woman explains that the trek is now honored with the annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race that uses the same route the dog team relay took, the girl runs off playing sled dog with her own dog. Alone for a minute, the woman, who is revealed to actually be Rosy, says "Thank you, Balto, I would have been lost without you."

Cast and characters

Main article: List of characters in Balto

• Balto, voiced by Kevin Bacon, is a titular character and the protagonist of the film. He is a young adult male Wolfdog (half husky and half wolf).
• Boris, voiced by Bob Hoskins, is a Russian snow goose who considers himself Balto's caretaker.
• Jenna, voiced by Bridget Fonda, is a young, female Siberian Husky and Balto's love interest.
• Rosy, voiced by Juliette Brewer, is Jenna's owner. She is a kind, excitable girl, and when she falls ill, Balto does everything he can to save her and the other children. Her elderly self tells the tale to her granddaughter and is portrayed by Miriam Margoyles in the live action segments.
• Steele, voiced by Jim Cummings, is Balto's rival that has a crush on Jenna and is the main antagonist of the film. He is a Siberian Husky.
• Muk and Luk, both voiced by Phil Collins, are a pair of polar bears.
• Nikki, Kaltag, and Star, respectively voiced by Jack Angel, Danny Mann, and Robbie Rist, are a trio of dogs in Steele's team.
• Dixie, voiced by Sandra Dickinson, is a female Pomeranian and one of Jenna's friends.
• Sylvie, voiced by Sandra Dickinson, is a female Afghan Hound.

Additional Characters include:

• Rosy's Granddaughter, played by Lola Bates-Campbell appears in the live-action section of the film with her dog Blaze.
• Rosy's Mother, voiced by Sandra Searles Dickinson.
• Rosy's Father, voiced by William Roberts.
• Doctor, voiced by Donald Sinden.
• Butcher, voiced by Bill Bailey.
• Telegraph Operator, voiced by Garrick Hagon.

Crew

• Directed by Simon Wells
• Produced by Steve Hickner
• Executive Producers Steven Spielberg, Bonne Radford and Brian Grazer
• Screenplay by Cliff Ruby, Elana Lesser, David Cohen, and Roger S.H. Schulman
• Story by Cliff Ruby and Elana Lesser
• Performed by Steve Winwood
• Lyrics by Barry Mann
• Music by James Horner

Historical Differences

• The sled run to retrieve the medicine was actually a relay. Instead of being the leader of the first team, Balto was the leader of the last team to carry the medicine to Nome. The longest and most hazardous distance was traveled by the team led by Togo.
• The medicine was never driven by the dogs alone, and none of the mushers were incapacitated.
• Balto was never an outcast as shown by the film, but was instead born in a kennel owned by the famous musher Leonhard Seppala, where he was trained until he was deemed fit for pulling a sled as the lead dog. Seppala was also the owner of Togo, whom he personally used to lead his dog team during the relay. Balto was actually used by one of Seppala's workers, Gunnar Kaasen.
• Balto was not a wolf hybrid as shown by the film. He was actually a Siberian Husky.

Soundtrack

Cover for the Balto soundtrack CD

The soundtrack was composed by James Horner.

Track listing

In the original United States version, this CD had the following tracks:

1. "Reach For The Light (Theme from Balto)," performed by Steve Winwood (4:24)
2. "Main Title/Balto's Story Unfolds" (4:40)
3. "The Dogsled Race" (1:41)
4. "Rosy Goes To The Doctor" (4:05)
5. "Boris & Balto" (1:29)
6. "The Journey Begins" (5:06)
7. "Grizzly Bear" (5:23)
8. "Jenna/Telegraphing The News" (2:22)
9. "Steele's Treachery" (4:38)
10. "The Epidemic's Toll" (3:29)
11. "Heritage Of The Wolf" (5:54)
12. "Balto Brings The Medicine!" (4:53)
13. "Reach For The Light (Theme from Balto) (Long Version)," performed by Steve Winwood (5:27)

Length: 49:15 minutes

Sequels

Two DVD sequels were made by the Universal Cartoon Studios. The first, Balto II: Wolf Quest was released in 2002 on TV as by Sinclair Broadcast Group. This film followed the adventures of Balto and Jenna's pups, mainly Aleu who sets off to discover her wolf heritage.

The third film, Balto III: Wings of Change was released in 2004. The storyline followed the same litter of pups from Balto 2 but with the focus on another of Balto's pups named Kodi.

Neither film took any historical references from the true story of Balto.

Reception

Balto holds a mixed rating of 50% by critics at Rotten Tomatoes [1], though only 11 reviews are counted. However, the users rating is at 74%, with 344 reviews (257 fresh, 87 rotten). Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars. The film's release was vastly overshadowed by the performance of Disney·Pixar's Toy Story. But the film did end up recouping its small budget and did modest business at the box office. Strong video sales lead to the release of two sequels: Balto II: Wolf Quest and Balto III: Wings of Change.

External links

• Balto: Universal Studios - Restored version of the original 1995 official Balto site.
• Balto at the Internet Movie Database
• Balto at AllRovi
• Balto – Keyframe - the Animation Resource