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Balto (film)

Balto is a 1995 animated/live action film produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblimation animation studio, distributed by Universal Pictures, and originally released to movie theatres in 1995. Balto is based on a true story about the dog of the same name (voiced by Kevin Bacon), who helped save children from the diphtheria epidemic in the 1925 serum run to Nome. The live action portion of the films was shot in 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 story opens with a live-action segment in Central Park, New York City. A grandmother (Miriam Margolyes), her granddaughter (Clayton Kirk), and Blaze, their pet husky, search for the Balto memorial statue. The granddaughter hands her grandmother a musher's hat, and the grandmother begins telling the story of Balto.

The movie fades to a animated dogsled race Nome, Alaska, where two sled teams are racing to the finishing line in the town itself. In this race a dog named Steele, the leader of one of the teams, openly uses force to gain the upper hand on his rivals, snapping at their legs to make them tangle their leads. In the town, waiting for the racing teams to arrive are Balto, an outcast half-wolf half-husky, and his best friend, a Russian goose named Boris.

As they await the oncoming team, Balto sees a young girl named Rosy and Rosy's female husky named Jenna waiting among the audience. When Rosy's hat falls on to the path of Steele's oncoming sled team, Balto, in an attempt to get Jenna to notice him, enters the racing line to retrieve the hat, incurring Steele's wrath when Balto manages to outrun him. Rosy is thankful for Balto's kindness and attempts to lash him to her toy sled, but her father quickly pulls her away, telling her Balto is part wolf and therefore unpredictable. Steele attempts to 'make a move' on Jenna, but she quickly makes an excuse and hurries after Rosy. Steele, knowing Balto is in love with Jenna, and she may reciprocate his feelings, asks her if her 'tastes run more toward wolf'.

Balto heads back to his home, an old beached boat, coming across a pack of wolves on the way. They howl at him, trying to get him to follow them, but he backs away. Boris quietly mutters 'Not dog. Not wolf. All he knows, is what he is not.' Balto, thoroughly sad (he desires to be more like a dog than a wolf), lies down under a blanket while Boris tries to cheer him up, to no avail. The two are interrupted by the polar bears, Muk and Luk, who affectionately attempt to greet their 'Uncle Boris'. When he angrily pushes them away, they become depressed, so to cheer them up he offers to race them to the nearby shoreline (but makes no attempt to follow them, simply stating 'I win'). The bears fall into the water and begin screaming for help, because they cannot swim, a fact they are very ashamed of.

Later, Rosy is growing ill. Jenna looks through the window of the waiting room, and she sees Rosy. Jenna barks to get her attention and Rosy comes out laughing. She starts coughing and her father comes out and hurries her inside saying "the doctor's waiting." The door shuts and Jenna tries to finds where she is. When she finally finds her, Jenna watches the doctor examine Rosy through a window, Balto arrives and helps her enter the space beneath the floorboards of the doctor's office, where they learn that Rosy is afflicted with diphtheria, and the doctor is out of antitoxin.

In the telegraph office, the operator contacts Anchorage requesting the diphtheria antitoxin. All routes to Nome are blocked, the planes cannot get there in the bad weather, and the nearest train line runs only to Nenana. A decision is made to have a sled team pick up the medicine from the Nenana train station and take it to Nome.

A race is held to determine who will be on the team to fetch the anti-toxin. Balto, who wants to help Rosy and the other sick children, enters the race and manages to win. Steele fully ignores him and orders the other winners to prepare to leave. Balto confronts him, pointing out he was the fastest dog. Steele replies 'you were the fastest WHAT?', but is interrupted by Jenna and his musher, who comes over to inspect Balto. Steele quickly steps on Balto's paw, making him cry out in pain, which the musher misinterprets as a snap, and he decides the risk of Balto 'turning on him', were too great. The team, lead by Steele, travel to Nenana where they pick up the medicine. However, on the way back the team gets lost in a blizzard and slide down a bank. The musher is knocked unconscious and the team have no way of making it home.

The news reaches Nome and Rosy is getting worse. Her father is pleading with the doctor to let Jenna see Rosy as she is the "only medicine we have" The doctor agrees and we see Jenna in Rosy's mom's arms. She puts her down and Jenna goes to Rosy. Balto goes to find the team with Boris, Muk, and Luk. On the way, they are attacked by a large grizzly bear. Muk, Luk and Boris become trapped under a tree branch. The bear tries to crush Balto, and is about to kill him when, much to Balto's surprise, Jenna comes to the rescue. The bear eventually falls in a frozen lake, which cracks and sends Balto into the frozen depths. Much to everyone's surprise, Muk and Luk jump in and save him, forgetting that they cant swim. It is soon discovered that Jenna is injured, and unable to continue. She implores them to go on without her, but Balto tells his friends to take Jenna back to Nome while he heads on alone, marking the trail so he can find his way back. Boris, knowing that Muk and Luk need him more than Balto does, tells him: 'Let me tell you something, Balto... a dog, cannot make this journey alone. But maybe... a wolf can, eh?'

Balto manages to find the sled team, but Steele does not want his help, and begins to fight him. After each attack Balto simply struggles to his feet and attempts to get to the medicine. Steele, preparing to kill him, slips and falls down a cliff. Balto helps the musher onto the sled and leads the team. At first his 'breadtrail' seems to have worked, but it is not long before they discover Steele, who miraculously survived the fall, has been making new markings to stop Balto, the team and the medicine getting back, preferring that they and the children die to Balto become a hero. As he runs in circles, the medicine becomes unattached and slides towards a cliff edge. Balto leaps after it and catches it, but the ledge gives way under his feet and he falls.

Waking up at the bottom of the cliff, Balto believes all hope is lost. Then, an enormous white wolf emerges from the blizzard. Balto turns away and it leaves. Then as he finds the medicine laying near him, Boris's words come back to him and he realizes that no matter how he fights it, wolf is part of his heritage. Finding renewed strength, Balto drags the medicine back up the cliff to the team and successfully leads them back to Nome, sniffing the marks to determine which are his and which are Steeles. After fighting through an avalanche and a collapsing cave, Balto sees the aurora of the town in the distance and realizes he has made his way home.

Jenna, Boris, Muk and Luk are overjoyed to be reunited with Balto, who received a hero's welcome. Although he was previously shunned, Balto is now embraced by the people of Nome, and is led to Rosy's in the clinic where she tells him, "I would have been lost without you."

The movie fades back into the live-action sequence in Central Park. At the end, the grandmother repeats Rosy's words, saying, "Thank you, Balto. I would have been lost without you." Her granddaughter calls after her, calling her 'Grandma Rosy', revealing that Balto had gotten the medicine back in time, saving Rosy's life and allowing her to live to become an old woman.

Reception and disestablishment of Amblimation

Balto holds a mixed rating of 46% by critics at Rotten Tomatoes, though only 11 reviews are counted. The film's release was vastly overshadowed by the performance of Disney/Pixar's Toy Story, and, at best, did modest box office. This possibily led to the closure and disestablishment of Amblimation. Strong video sales lead to the release of two sequels: Balto II: Wolf Quest and Balto III: Wings of Change.

Cast and characters

Balto, voiced by Kevin Bacon, is a young adult male wolfdog, a mix of Siberian Husky and Arctic Wolf. He is much despised by almost everyone in town because of his wolf heritage. All he wants is to fit in, but he is not accepted by the dogs, as well as humans, who hate and fear him. The only ones who accept him for who he really is are Muk and Luk, Boris, Jenna, and Rosy. Balto loves dogsled racing, leading to a frequent opinion in fanfiction that his father was a sled dog, possibly a lead dog. When a diphtheria epidemic hits Nome and the sled team gets lost while bringing in the only available antitoxin, he goes out to find them and help get the medicine through.
Boris, voiced by Bob Hoskins, is a somewhat grumpy Russian snow goose. He is typically somewhat of a coward, but when it is necessary he can display great courage. His main contribution, though, is his insight. He seems to consider himself Balto's caretaker, telling him that, "I'm staying here until I'm sure you can stand on your own four feet." However, when Balto must continue on alone to search for the missing sled team, Boris encourages him: "A dog cannot make this journey alone. But maybe a wolf can." Frequently bothered by the affectionate Muk and Luk, who call him "Uncle Boris."
Jenna, voiced by Bridget Fonda, is a purebred young, female Siberian husky. Jenna is perhaps the only dog in Nome who gives any thought to Balto (except for Steele, who seems to spend much of his time seeking out and bullying him). She is the unwilling object of Steele's lustful interests, seeming from the start to show more interest in Balto. She helps Balto on his journey by following him into the wilderness to tell him that Eagle Pass is blocked, and ultimately intervenes at the crucial moment during a fight with a bear. The end of the movie leaves little doubt that the two of them are very much in love. She was even ready to sacrifice her life to defend Balto from a bear.
Rosy, voiced by Juliette Brewer, is Jenna's owner. In a town that hates and fears Balto, Rosy is possibly the only human in Nome to see anything in him other than a mangy stray half-breed. Rosy is a cheerful and kindhearted child, and when she comes down with diphtheria, Balto is quick to do everything in his power to help save her and the other children.
Steele, voiced by Jim Cummings, is the lead dog of Nome's championship sled dog team and Balto's enemy. He is pompous, rude, and willing to do anything to achieve his goals. He often picks on Balto about being a wolfdog and frequently shows affection to Jenna. Because of Steele's large size, he is mostly likely to be an Alaskan Malamute. He is a handsome dog and many of the female dogs in Nome liked him until the end of the movie when they all found out his true nature and turned their backs on him.
Muk and Luk, both voiced by Phil Collins, are a pair of polar bears who are outcasts similar to Balto, who is their friend, and Boris, who they call "Uncle Boris" and treat as a cherished relative, although Boris doesn't really like it. Muk and Luk are afraid of water and believe that they cannot swim, but over the course of the movie discover that they can swim when it counts. Luk only makes vocal sounds but does not "talk"; his sounds are translated by Muk and can later also be understood by Boris.
Nikki, voiced by Jack Angel, Kaltag, voiced by Danny Mann and Star, voiced by Robbie Rist, are a trio of dogs in Steele's team. They are initially his followers, although they do not approve of Steele's bullying ways. A running gag throughout the film has Nikki and Kaltag heaping praises on their leader (either Steele or, later, Balto) but when Star joins in with a foolishly obvious comment ("That's good!" or "You won!") Kaltag promptly hits him. In the end, when the three of them (and the whole town) are praising Balto, Star's comment is "They should make a statue of him!" This time, Kaltag (after appearing as though he's about to hit Star) simply smiles and tells him: "You said it!"
Dixie, voiced by Sandra Dickinson, is a female dog and one of Jenna's friends. She has a huge crush on Steele, shown when trying to impress him with her new collar. When she and the other dogs discovered Steele's true nature, they turn their backs on him.
Sylvie, voiced by Sandra Dickinson, is a female Afghan Hound is also one of Jenna's friends. She admires Steele, until she, along with all the other dogs, found out about who he really was.

Crew

Directed by Simon Wells
Produced by Steve Hickner
Executive Producers Steven Spielberg and Bonne Radford
Screenplay by Cliff Ruby, Elana Lesser, David Cohen and Roger 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 get the medicine was actually a relay, and Balto was only 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.
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 grew up until he was deemed fit for pulling a sled. Seppala was also the owner of Togo, whom he personally used during the relay, Balto was instead used by one of his workers, Gunnar Kaasen.
Balto was not part wolf, but rather, was a Siberian Husky.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by James Horner.

Soundtrack album track listing

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

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

Total length: 49:15 min

Sequels

Two direct-to-video sequels were made by the Universal Cartoon Studios. The first, Balto II: Wolf Quest was released in 2002. 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 2005. The storyline followed the same litter of pups from Balto 2 but with the focus on another of Balto's pups named Kodi.

In both sequels the voice of Balto was provided by Maurice LaMarche, and the voice of Jenna was provided by Jodi Benson. Neither film took any historical references from the true story of Balto (although Balto 3 does make a few references to the time and setting of the story).