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I'm just curious. I mean, Balto is far from a perfect film (no matter how much a lot of you believe it is ), and I'm interested in what you guys don't like about it. xD *waits for a bunch of Steele-related comments*

I don't like..
- the fact that Balto's half wolf. I mean seriously, to make a real animal interesting and give him a sob story they had to make him half-wolf? It messes too much with the true story, and spurred too much wolf obsessors.
- Togo wasn't mentioned. neither were any of the other hero dogs from the true story.
- the background dogs and humans were very lazy and awkwardly animated.
- Balto's way too perfect. he does everything right and doesn't have any flaws. In other words, he's boring.
- plus he somehow saves the team from EVERY bad natural thing they come across because he's oh so smart and capable. Again, too perfect.
- the fanbase. it can get scary. How many Balto fans think they have 'inner wolf' or a 'wolf spirit guide'? way too many.

That's all I can think of for now. xD

I like this topic. =]

- They ventured to far from the real story.
** Balto was not half wolf in real life.
** There's no mention of Togo or any of the other dogs/mushers that made saving the town possible.
- Balto has no flaws. It makes his character rather boring. (And no, being 'part wolf' is not a flaw. -.-)
- Many of the characters seem flat.
- The fanbase.
** Seems like 99% of them are wolfaboos.
** So many kiddies think they really are wolves. -.-
** Some feel attracted to an animated doggy. (Freaky, much?)

... I can't think of any more at the moment. =[

Love ya. xD I agree with all of those (really on the fanbase part, I used to love the movie, but then I picked on how obessive the fanbase was, and I didn't want to end up like that xD), plus...


+ Jenna, they didn't need a love interest
+ Rosey didn't have alot of screen time
And other than that, its pretty much been said.

We think pretty alike. 8D
And yes, Balto is boring. xD He's decent and all, but gah.. waaay too decent. It depicts real wolfdogs badly as well, as they are so dangerous and make useless sled dogs. A bit of a fail there, methinks



Fair enough. xD Balto's voice was cool, and Balto was nice, but he was just boring in my opinion. I mean, if you want to have an interesting character, it at least needs flaws. and Balto was just too flawless.

Goodness isn't that the truth. -.- I've been toying with the idea to "re-write" Balto depicting a REAL wolf-dog. Lol (I just wonder how many poor wolf-dogs were brought into homes because people have seen this movie and thought "Oh! Wolf-dogs are amazing pets!" Would bet anything it's happened at least a few times).

UGH yes, that annoys me to no end. They probably all think wolf-dogs are docile and totally harmless like Balto, but.. they're really not. They can be just as dangerous as wolves - if not more because of the unstable instincts. How he didn't attack Steele whatsoever made no sense to me.

Well, the movie was never really intended to even be based on the true story. Its safer to say it was inspired by it. I think they pulled it off well, and hold little against that aspect, though I wish they would have emphisized it a bit more. The movie really made light of the task at hand. When you really look into it, it wasnt THAT horribly innacurate. While Balto was always on the team, he did not lead until the final stretch, being the only dog capable of leading at the time, taking over from Togo. Technically, the Steele-Balto lead transition is accurate. However, the events leading up to that are purely fiction. Now, I have heard plenty of conflicting evidance as to Balto's true breed. The one thing they all agree on was that he was kennel raised. I have heard a few reports of him infact being a hybrid but I sincerely doubt it.

The Fanbase? My thoughts exactly Rebel. I think its gotten a little "imaginative"...

I dont hold many grudges against Balto, obviously I love the movie or I would never be here. However, I will not state that it is perfect. "Perfect" is an always unattainable goal. It is impossible for a movie to be perfect, especially since prefection is a subjective analysis. Anyway, there are a few aspects of the movie I didnt like, and never have, since first seeing it (2000) until last seeing it.(last month)

First and foremost on that list is Rosie's voice. It is unnaturally high pitched, and very obnoxious.

Second, the polar bears. They too are obnoxious and unnatural. You can only venture so far from the natural world. I have always found the bears as completely nonsensical. I belive the comic relief for which they were intended was too light. Far more sophisticated humor could have been used.

Third, the unnatural appearance of dogs other then Balto and Jenna. While they all appear to be based on acctual breeds, a few of them were stretched and contorted beyond recognition, some looking like unfortunate sufferers of Elephantitus, or in Star's case, looking like they have been run under hot water then wringed out and used to clean a table.

Fourth: Star, for the same reason I disliked the polar bears. I belive the comic relief he provided could again have been far more sophisticated then the slapstick that he provided.

Fifth: The broken bottles. Their ability to mimic the Aurora is SORT OF scientifically possible in that the bottles when arranged in such a way could theoretically act as a prism, splitting the light, the resulting colors would be static, not moving, unless the light source was. Also, the projected colors would be that of the rainbow (the splitting of light into its components via a prism) rather then that of the Aurora, the resault of solar radiation bombarding the upper atmosphere. leaving it in a grey area between fact and fantacy, which bugs me, I dont know why. Its kind of a miniscule thing, but i am a physics nerd.


I belive its perfectly possible to be a Balto fan without being obsessed beyond reason, I am an example thereof, a hardcore Balto fan for ten years, and certain I will retain that fanship for the rest of my life. I certainly dont think of myself as anything other then human, and while I find Native American religons facinating, I dont really buy into the spirit guide thing. I have never and never will belive that some wolf (or any other animal for that matter) spirit is guiding me towards my Pilot's Lisense, to my graduation, to adaulthood, or anything else for that matter. I'm getting there on my own. Sure people have these dreams in which they "find their spirit guide" There is perfect biological reason for that. Dreams are a subconcious activity. The brain will be thinking on a few things if you are "looking for your spirt guide". You will therefore expect to find it in a dream, and of course, this being Balto source, most people are going to hope theirs is a wolf. Of course, that is preciesly what the fallowing dream seems to confirm. However, it is most likely that this dream is instilled by what the concious wants to happen, to have a dream where you find your spirt guide as a wolf. Since that is what you are subconciously expecting, its what your subconcious produces for you in the form of a dream. Not to discount such religous ceremonies and beliefs, but I belive that some of the fanbase is just blindly fallowing such traditions because they somehow relate to wolves or Balto, sort of like a group of tourists.

The overobsession I see here on occasion does often turn me away from the forum, which is why I am not all tht active on here. One of my original reasons for joining the site was simply that I was amazed I wasn't the ONLY teenage+ Balto fan.

Well considering the movie is animated I guess we can't get to cought up on the physics, lol.

I didn't like how it didn't talk much about what really happened, but I still liked it.

Almost nothing I like about the sequels... but since it seems we're discussing the first film...

A lot of what you all have said makes sense, and I won't argue. I agree on this point most:

Though Balto did what it seems none of the other dogs did, by leading the way when the original lead dog refused to.
Even so the fact that Togo's team traveled the most miles should be recognized even as a secondary character.

-

Though I do wonder if the fact that I'm 20 now and not younger than 12 has anything to do with my view of the film.
Characters that amused or didn't bother me then, make me wonder if there's any point to them [Muk and Luk as many have mentioned].
As well as thinking logically about the characters and story. The wolfdog point for example.
After doing research on them and sleddogs because of the film, it bothers me how scrawny and harmless Balto is
[granted if raised right his disposition could be accurate... but still... *doubts*], and no one actually says, 'mush'... at least to my knowledge.