Balto (film)

Balto
VHS Cover
Directed by	Simon Wells
Screenplay by	Cliff Ruby & Elana Lesser David Steven Cohen Roger S.H. Schulman
Story by	Cliff Ruby & Elana Lesser
Produced by	Steve Hickner Steven Spielberg (executive producer) Kathleen Kennedy (executive producer) Bonne Radford (executive producer)
Starring	Kevin 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 by	Miriam Margoyles
Cinematography	Jan Richter-Friis
Edited by	Renee Edwards Nick Fletcher (supervising editor) Sim Evan-Jones (supervising editor)
Music by	James Horner
Production companies	Amblin Entertainment Amblimation
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	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 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.

Plot

In present day at New York City, an elderly woman and her granddaughter are walking through Central Park, looking for a memorial statue. As they seat themselves for a rest, the grandmother tells a story about Nome, Alaska, back in 1925 which shifts the film from live-action to animation.

Balto, a wolfdog hybrid, lives on the outskirts of Nome with his best friend and adoptive father, a Russian snow goose named Boris and two polar bears, Muk and Luk. Being half-breed, Balto is ridiculed by dogs and humans alike. His only friend in town is a red husky named Jenna who Balto has a crush on and is challenged by the town's favorite sled dog, Steele, a fierce and arrogant purebred Alaskan Malamute.

One night, the children of Nome, including Jenna's owner, Rosy, begin to fall ill with diphtheria. Severe winter weather conditions prevent medicine to be brought by air or sea, and the closest rail line ends in Nenana. The next day, a dog race is held to determine the best-fit dogs for a sled dog team to get the medicine. Balto enters and wins, but is disqualified (thanks to Steele). The team departs that night with Steele in the lead and picks up the medicine successfully, but on the way back, conditions deteriorate and the disoriented team ends up stranded at the base of a steep slope with the musher knocked unconscious. When the word reaches Nome, Balto sets out in search of them with Boris, Muk and Luk. On the way, they encounter a huge grizzly bear which attacks them. Jenna, who followed their tracks, arrives to save them, but is injured in the process, prompting Balto to have Boris, Muk, and Luk take her back to Nome while he continues on alone. Balto eventually finds the team, but Steele refuses his help and a fight ensues, ending with Steele falling off a cliff. Balto takes charge of the team, but Steele, refusing to concede defeat, throws them off the trail and they lose their way again. While attempting to save the medicine from falling down a cliff, Balto himself falls. When he awakens, he has lost all hope, but when a large, white wolf appears, and he notices the medicine crate still intact nearby, he realizes that his part-wolf heritage is a strength, not a weakness and drags the medicine back up the cliff to the waiting team. Using his advanced senses, Balto is able to filter out the false markers Steele created.

After encountering further challenges, Balto and the sled team finally make it back to Nome. A pity-playing Steele is exposed as a liar and is abandoned by the rest of the dogs in anger. Reunited with Jenna and his friends, Balto earns respect from both the dogs and the humans. He visits Rosy who thanks him for saving her life.

Back in New York City, the elderly woman and her granddaughter finally find the memorial commemorating Balto, and she explains that the Iditarod trail covers the same path that Balto and his team took from Nenana to Nome. The woman, who is actually Rosy, looks up at the statue and repeats the same line, "Thank you, Balto. I would have been lost without you," before walking off to join her granddaughter as the sun shines upon the Balto statue.

Cast and characters

Main article: List of characters in Balto

• Kevin Bacon as Balto, a young adult male Wolfdog; being half husky and half wolf. His father was a Siberian husky and his mother, Aniu was a wild, white wolf.
• Bob Hoskins as Boris, a Russian snow goose and Balto's caretaker.
• Bridget Fonda as Jenna, a young, beautiful female Husky and Balto's love interest.
• Juliette Brewer as young Rosy, Jenna's owner and a kind, excitable girl. She was the only human in Nome who is kind to Balto. She falls ill before Balto does everything he can to save her and the other children.
• Miriam Margolyes as old Rosy in the live-action sequences who tells her story to her granddaughter.
• Jim Cummings as Steele, a black and white Siberian Husky and Balto's rival who has a crush on Jenna.
• Phil Collins as Muk and Luk, a pair of Polar bear cubs, Muk talks but not Luk.
• Jack Angel as Nikki, a Siberian Husky and a member in Steele's team.
• Danny Mann as Kaltag, another member of Steele's team.
• Robbie Rist as Star, another member of Steele's team.
• Sandra Dickinson as Dixie, a female Pomeranian and one of Jenna's friends who adores Steele. Dickinson also voices Sylvie, a female Afghan Hound and Jenna's other friend, and Rosy's mother.
• Lola Bates-Campbell as Rosy's granddaughter, who appears in the live-action sequences and is accompanied by her dog Blaze, purebred Siberian Husky.
• William Roberts as Rosy's father.
• Donald Sinden as a doctor.
• Bill Bailey as a butcher.
• Garrick Hagon as a telegraph operator.
• Ellie york as Balsene

Historical differences

• The biggest inaccuracy in the film portrays Balto (October, 1919-March, 1933) as a grey wolfdog. In real life, Balto was a pure bred Siberian Husky and was black and white in color.
• The sled run to retrieve the medicine was 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 deemed fit for pulling a sled as the lead dog. Seppala was also the owner of Togo (1913-1929), whom he personally used to lead his dog team during the relay. Balto was used by one of Seppala's workers, Gunnar Kaasen.
• Balto is the only animal, and possibly the only character, in the movie who is real.
• In the sequel, Balto was shown to have offspring, but in real life he was neutered at a young age.

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. 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.

Box office

The film ranked 15th on its opening weekend and earned $1,519,755 from a total of 1,427 theatres. The film also ranked 7th among G-rated movies in 1995. Total domestic gross reach up to $11,348,324. 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". 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. 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.

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.

Soundtrack

Untitled

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
LetsSingIt

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

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Performer(s)	Length
1.	"Reach for the Light"	Cynthia Weil	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 (Long Version)"	Cynthia Weil	Steve Winwood	5:27
Total length:				54:30

Sequels

Two direct-to-video sequels were made by the Universal Cartoon Studios. The first, Balto II: Wolf Quest was released in 2002 and follows the adventures of one of Balto and Jenna's pups, specifically Aleu, who sets off to discover her wolf heritage. The third film, Balto III: Wings of Change, was released in 2004. The storyline follows the same litter of pups from Balto 2 but focuses on Kodi. Neither film took any historical references from the true story of Balto.

External links

• Balto: Universal Studios – Restored version of the original 1995 official Balto site.
• Balto at IMDb
• Balto at Rotten Tomatoes
• Template:Bcdb title
• Balto at AllMovie
• Balto – Keyframe – the Animation Resource