We had a banner weekend by actually watching 2 whole movies (we are only backlogged by 12 or 15 now). We watched Balto II Saturday night, and would suggest to everyone just to leave it well enough alone. We really enjoyed Balto I, but I guess the second movie was too mystical for me. It follows the trail of one of Balto's and Jenna's pups (who looks exactly like Balto - a wolf cross - unlike the rest of her siblings which look like their husky mother, Jenna) as she tries to deal with "discrimination" and finding her true roots. The story would have been ok, I suppose, except it kept getting interupted with totem symbolism that just plain distracted me from the rest of the story. Reading this review tells me that I'm not crazy in giving it a thumbs down.
The second movie, Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron, was watched on Sunday night (yes, the Wonderfull Spouse and I have a lot of Disney-type movies, probably more than most families with children). It was much better than Balto II and was interesting in that it is a movie that has very little dialog, since most of the action/emotion belongs to the animals. There was occassional naration by "Spirit", but for the most part the animators had to get the point across by facial expression, body language and action. That was a feat that they handled very well. This generally told the story of a wild stallion that white soldiers caught and tried to tame, but failed. In getting away, the stallion rescues a captive American Indian who eventually befriends and saves the stallion's life. If you can get past, and not read to much into, the start of the movie (where all white people are portrayed as cruel and inhumane), then it is a fine movie. This one gets 1 1/2 thumbs up (out of 2).
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