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Balto (film)

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Balto
VHS Cover
Directed bySimon Wells
Screenplay byCliff Ruby & Elana Lesser
David Steven Cohen
Roger S.H. Schulman
Story byCliff Ruby & Elana Lesser
Produced bySteve Hickner
Steven Spielberg (executive producer)
Kathleen Kennedy
(executive producer)
Bonne Radford (executive producer)
StarringKevin Bacon
Bridget Fonda
Phil Collins
Bob Hoskins
Jim Cummings
Juliette Brewer
Robbie Rist
Danny Mann
Jack Angel
Sandra Dickinson
Miriam Margoyles (live-action sequences)
Lola Bates-Campbell (live-action sequences)
Narrated byMiriam Margoyles
CinematographyJan Richter-Friis
Edited byRenee Edwards
Nick Fletcher (supervising editor)
Sim Evan-Jones (supervising editor)
Music byJames Horner
Production
companies
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • December 22, 1995 (1995-12-22)
Running time
78 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$11,348,324[1]

Balto is a 1995 American live-action/animated historical adventure drama film directed by Simon Wells, produced by Amblin Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film is loosely 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, in New York City.

Balto was the final animated feature produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblimation animation studio. Although the film's theatrical run was overshadowed by the success of the competing Pixar film Toy Story, its subsequent strong sales on home video led to two direct-to-video sequels: Balto II: Wolf Quest (2002), and Balto III: Wings of Change (2004), similar to Don Bluth's All Dogs Go to Heaven sequels.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). | Length = 54:30 | Label = Universal | Producer = | Music = }}

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
LetsSingIt[2]

Balto: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack of the film, composed by James Horner.[3]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Performer(s)Length
1."Reach for the Light"Cynthia WeilSteve Winwood4:24
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 (Long Version)"Cynthia WeilSteve Winwood5:27
Total length:54:30

Release

Balto was theatrically released in the United States on 22 December 1995. It then hit international theatres on 13 January 1996 when it first premiered in Brazil.[4] 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.[5]

Box office

The film ranked 15th on its opening weekend and earned $1,519,755 from a total of 1,427 theatres.[6] The film also ranked 7th among G-rated movies in 1995. Total domestic gross reach up to $11,348,324.[5] Strong video sales led to the release of two sequels: Balto II: Wolf Quest and Balto III: Wings of Change.

Critical reception

Balto, though its performance at the box office isn't quite impressive (the film never reached the Top 10), received generally favorable reviews from review aggregator websites; on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), the film received a weighted average rating of 7 out of 10 from a total of 22,836 IMDb users. IMDb critics also described it as "a dramatic and well made film".[7] Common Sense Media (CSM) gave the film's quality a satisfactory rating of 3 out of 5 stars and is described as being applicable for ages 6 and above based on 16 user reviews from both parents and children.[8] Additionally, deceased film critic Roger Ebert gave the film a positive review, describing the film as "a kids' movie, simply told, with lots of excitement and characters you can care about." He gave the film 3 out of 4 stars.[9]

Meanwhile, the film holds a mixed rating of 50% from 12 critics, yet gained a disappointing average rating of 5.8 out of 10 without a consensus. Despite the aforementioned, 70% of the audience approved of the film and gave it an average rating of 3.2 out of 5, based on ratings from 71,045 users.[10]

Sequels

Two direct-to-video sequels were made by the Universal Cartoon Studios. The first, Balto II: Wolf Quest was released in 2002 and followed the adventures of Balto and Jenna's pups, mainly Aleu who sets off to discover her wolf heritage.<ref>Balto at IMDbCite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name (see the help page). 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.<ref>Balto at IMDbCite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name (see the help page). Neither film took any historical references from the true story of Balto.

References

  1. ^ Balto at Box Office Mojo.
  2. ^ "Balto Soundtrack Album". LetsSingIt. Retrieved 06-04-2014. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference discogs was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference imdb was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b "1995 Yearly Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 06-04-2014. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  6. ^ "Balto - Box Office Data, DVD Sales, Movie News, Cast Information - The Numbers". Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved 06-04-2014. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  7. ^ "Balto (1995) - User Ratings". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 06-04-2014. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  8. ^ "Balto Movie Review". Common Sense Media. Retrieved 06-04-2014. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  9. ^ Ebert, Roger. "Balto Movie Review & Film Summary (1995)". Ebert Digital LLC. Retrieved 06-04-2014. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  10. ^ "Balto - Rotten Tomatoes". Flixster. Retrieved 06-04-2014. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
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