Balto (film)

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Balto
Directed by Simon Wells
Produced by Steve Hickner
Written by David Cohen
Elana Lesser
Cliff Ruby
Roger Schulman
Starring Kevin Bacon
Bob Hoskins
Bridget Fonda
Jim Cummings
Phil Collins
Jack Angel
Danny Mann
Robbie Rist
Juliette Brewer
Donald Sinden
Sandra Dickenson
Music by James Horner (also song)
Barry Mann (song)
Steve Winwood (song)
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date(s) December 22, 1995
Running time 78 minutes
Language English
IMDb profile

Balto is an animated film produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblimation animation studio, distributed by Universal Pictures, and originally released to movie theatres in 1995. Balto is very loosely based on a true story about the dog, Balto, who helped save children from the diphtheria epidemic in the 1925 serum run to Nome. The film's poor performance at the box office led to the closure of Amblimation, but it became a cult-classic and it was fairly successful when it was released on video, spawning two sequels: Balto II: Wolf Quest and Balto III: Wings of Change.

Contents

[edit] Summary

The story begins with a live-action segment in Central Park, New York City. A grandmother, her granddaughter, and 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.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The movie fades to a dogsled race, where two sled teams are racing to get to Nome. The two teams must negotiate a narrow chasm between two slabs of ice. As the sleds get closer, it its clear that the two teams will not be able to pass through the chasm side-by-side. Against the orders of his musher to slow down, Steele, the leader of one team, surges ahead, but the other team keeps up. Steele then snaps at one of the other team's dogs, causing it to stumble and bring the team to a halt. As the stricken team's musher curses Steele, Steele's team continues on toward Nome.

As the three-mile-marker soars into the sky, Balto is seen lifting his Russian-accented goose friend, Boris, from an edge. They go to the edge of the road to watch the sled race end. At the same time, two parents have just given their daughter, Rosy, a sled and a hat. They ride out to the road, where Balto sees Rosy's attractive dark-red and white husky, Jenna, and falls in love. As Rosy waves her hat to cheer on the sled team, the wind catches it and blows it into the road. Balto, seeing a chance to impress Jenna, runs out among the sled dogs and retrieves the hat for Rosy, but he seems to Steele to be racing for the finish line.

While walking in an alley, Balto hears Rosy call for Jenna and runs to her, sliding to a stop with his nose right up against Jenna's. Balto tries to talk to Jenna, but he cannot get the words out before Jenna runs off at her master's call. As Balto walks back through the alley with Boris, they are cornered by Steele and his gang, who torment Balto because of his wolf heritage. Later, as Balto walks toward his home (a wrecked boat), he feels that he is not welcome anywhere. His depression is short-lived, however, when two polar bears, Muk and Luk, show up with their various antics and think they are drowning in shallow water, as they cannot swim.

Later, Balto stares at Nome from a distance. He tells Boris that he is thinking about Jenna.

In Nome, Rosy is growing ill. She tries to play with Jenna, but a cough brings her to a halt. Jenna watches the doctor examine Rosy through a window. At this time, Balto comes up behind and asks Jenna what she is looking at. She explains that Rosy is sick, and Balto brings her to the underfloor space of the doctor's office to find out. Balto dazzles Jenna with a replica of the Northern Lights, but her amazement is cut short by their discovery that Rosy is afflicted with diphtheria and the doctor is out of antitoxin. As they exit the under-floor space, they are cornered by Steele, who tries to seduce Jenna by twirling sausages around her shoulders and pulling her away from Balto. Jenna circles him, pretending to fall for his charms, while steadily pushing him into a boiler. Balto and Jenna attempt to flee, but Steele frames Balto for stealing sausages and the butcher wards Balto away. Jenna is caught and cannot follow Balto.

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 terrible 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. The next day, a race is held to determine who will be on the team. Balto sneaks into the race and wins, but he is disqualified after the musher finds out that he is part-wolf, due to Steel treading on his paw, forcing Balto to show off his teeth. Steele and his accomplices will go to fetch the medicine.

Later, as they are on their way home, Steele loses his way in a blizzard and slides down a hill. The musher is knocked unconscious and the team have no way of making it home without help. When the news reaches Nome, Balto decides to go out to find the sled team with Boris, Muk, and Luk. On the way, they are attacked by a large bear which tries to crush Balto, and is about to kill him when Jenna comes to the rescue and fights the bear off. The bear and Balto end up on a frozen lake, and the bear breaks the ice, causing Balto to become trapped under the ice floe. Luk and Muk dive into the water to rescue Balto, and realize that they actually can swim. Jenna wants to accompany Balto, but she hurt herself fighting the bear and must go home with Boris and the polar bears. Jenna gives Balto her bandana as a good-luck charm. Boris leaves Balto with a message: "A dog cannot make this journey alone. But, maybe, a wolf can." Balto thinks that this is just Boris making fun of his heritage.

When Balto comes across the sled team, everyone is glad to see him, except Steele. Blinded by jealousy and hatred, Steele fights with Balto, which eventually results in Steele plummeting down a cliff with Jenna's bandana. He gets up and runs away. Balto resets the sled and leads the team out of their predicament. However, when they come across the trees, Balto found that the markings he had made on the trees were corrupted by Steele. The team runs around, lost, when they suddenly come upon another downhill slope. Balto and the team lose control and the medicine crate falls from the sled, almost going over the edge. Balto saves the crate, but the cliff gives way and Balto and the medicine tumble down the cliff.

In Nome, Jenna is waiting for Balto to return when Steele comes in, carrying Jenna's bandana. He tells her that Balto is dead, but she does not believe him. She sets out to a hill, using a lantern and broken bottles to create the Northern Lights as a beacon to guide Balto home.

At the bottom of the cliff, Balto digs himself out of the snow and sees a massive white wolf standing before him. This majestic white wolf is his mother. Thinking he has lost the medicine and let the children of Nome down, he looks away, only to find that the crate is lying intact on the snow. Balto remembers the message Boris left him with earlier and realizes the true meaning of what Boris had said. He builds up the strength to stand up and howl with his majestic White Wolf mother. When the rest of the team hear the howl, they think wolves are coming to attack them, until they see Balto clawing up the hill with the crate full of medicine. Balto again organizes the sled team and they press on. Where Steele ruined Balto's markers, Balto uses his wolf sense of direction to find the way home. The team escapes an avalanche and falling icicles in a cave.

Later, in Nome, all hope has been lost, when the town is awakened by a howl. Balto and the team burst over the snow and arrive in Nome to great fanfare. Balto, once an outcast, is now a hero. All of Steele's former friends have left him because he lied about Balto's fate. In the hospital, Rosy recovers from the illness. She hugs Balto and tells him, "I would have been lost without you." Then, Balto hears someone clearing her throat. Jenna is waiting. Balto and Jenna are ecstatic to see one another and nuzzle each other. Balto is surprised and bewildered when humans fuss him ad the dogs cheer for him, and is unsure of what to do, but follows Jenna's lead.

The movie fades back into the live-action sequence in Central Park. At the end, the grandmother sighs and says, "Thank you, Balto. I would have been lost without you." With that being said, it has been revealed that the grandmother is Rosy.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Historical inaccuracy

  • 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. Therefore Balto's "true story" was not so true after all, with many newspapers honoring Balto for many of Togo's deeds.
  • All of the other characters, such as Jenna, Nikki, Kaltag, Star, Steele, etc., were fictional.
  • This film portrays Balto as a wolf hybrid. It is still disputed whether or not this really did apply to the real Balto or if this was just a rumor.

[edit] Trivia

[edit] Voices

Phil Collins provided the voices to both Muk and Luk in the 1995 animated feature Balto.
Enlarge
Phil Collins provided the voices to both Muk and Luk in the 1995 animated feature Balto.

[edit] Soundtrack

Cover for the Balto soundtrack CD
Enlarge
Cover for the Balto soundtrack CD

[edit] Soundtrack album 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 (5:27)
  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 Verson)" - performed by Steve Winwood (5:27)

Total length: 49:15 min

[edit] Sequels

Two direct-to-video sequels were made by the Universal Cartoon Studios in London. 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 film was criticized for its poor animation that barely resembled the original as well as the overuse of fantasy sequences.

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).

A petition was sent to Universal, which gathered more than 1.000 signatures. The aim was to convince Universal to bring some efforts to promote this license, although they only stated in their answer that Wings of Change was not profitable enough to put a third sequel into consideration. The full answer was the following :

"We had been entertaining the idea of producing another Balto movie, but the sad truth is that not enough people bought the last one to make it attractive to produce another. You see, in order to be able to produce a film, we have to know enough people are interested in buying it to be able to pay for the cost and marketing. We really like the Balto character and are pleased to know that there are people like you out there that are such big fans. My best regards, DICTATED BUT NOT READ, Glenn Ross " (Source)

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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