Rating:
3 Bowls of Popcorn (and a parka…)
Let’s call a spade a spade, OK? If an animated film of the 90s wasn’t made by Disney, it received little to no attention. Balto was one such under-appreciated gem. Josh loves this movie. I love this movie. (Don’t judge!) Our Movie Marathon is rockin’ now. We are watching awesome movie after awesome movie.
Balto is a “halfbreed” and the population of Nome thinks he’s dangerous. So, that’s one strike against Balto. Then, there is the issue of Steele. Steele is an unmitigated ass* and makes Balto’s life pretty terrible. But Balto proves his worth (and finds himself) and saves Nome and receives a statue in his honor in Central Park.
Josh and me with Balto in Central Park (circa 2009)
Why does this movie remain in our collection? Three reasons.
1) Boris the Goose (voiced by Bob Hoskins) is hilarious.
2) Balto’s love for Jenna is sweet and it makes me happy.
3) We’ve been to Balto’s statue. You can’t go to his statue, take a pic with him (pre #selfie era), and not keep the movie.
Bottom Line: Balto is a hero who is willing to die for the greater good. It would be great if we could all do that, right? But Balto and his canine friends live in a simpler world (because they are canines). The human world isn’t that simple (or is it? should that matter? burning questions all…). Fighting for love and honor, and dying for a cause all seem great, but reality always seems to kick in at some point and muddies the waters. It’s sad really.
*OK, side note, bitches (used correctly) fawn over Steele. He is an ass and treats them like dirt and they love him all the more. What does that say about our society? A lot, I think. My thought is that the writers of this script had no way of knowing how the dogs actually interacted in Nome, so the four writers just wrote a story. That means that the personality and actions of the female dogs were written for no reason other than what seems natural and comedic. Apparently these unhealthy relationships seemed natural and comedic. Sigh … this makes me sad.
25 down!
The Movie Marathon 
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