The upcoming Disney animated film "Bolt" features a feisty canine that gets lost and makes his long journey home with the help of two world-wise pals.
It's the kind of classic Disney parable that could just as well be told of the studio's once-revered animation division.
Walt Disney Animation pioneered the cinematic art form and held sway for decades, turning out such crowd pleasers as "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "The Lion King" before losing its way with miscues such as "Home on the Range" and "Treasure Planet."
Two and a half years ago, conceding it needed intervention, Disney acquired rival Pixar Animation Studios, the Northern California company behind such revolutionary hits as "Toy Story" and "Finding Nemo," to guide the wayward animation group back to its roots.
A measure of how well Disney succeeds at reclaiming its heritage and how the two animation cultures coexist will be tested when "Bolt" opens in theaters Nov. 21. Disney's new computer-animated film is the first entirely overseen by Pixar's creative guru, John Lasseter, and tech whiz Ed Catmull, who took charge of Disney Animation after the acquisition.
"Disney needs to be back on that same plane creating great pictures," said Dan Hanson, a former Disney animator who teaches at CalArts. " 'Bolt' is one of the projects that they're hoping is going to get them back on top."
Catmull rejects the notion that he and Lasseter are pushing the company to recapture its storied past or channel the ghost of Walt Disney. "The past is over with -- it's done," Catmull said. "All we can do is contribute to the future. Everything is riding on it."
Indeed, for nearly a decade, it's been a bumpy ride in Burbank. Disney has been eclipsed not only by Pixar, but also DreamWorks Animation, the producer of the "Shrek" franchise headed by former Disney Studios chief Jeffrey Katzenberg.
Once Lasseter and Catmull were installed, the new bosses quickly ordered a complete makeover of "Bolt."
They fired the film's director, Chris Sanders, who had resisted story changes Lasseter wanted. Booted too were a cat with an eye patch and a giant radioactive rabbit. Even the title and dog changed. Originally called "American Dog" and starring a cuddly brown hound named Henry, it morphed into a story featuring a super-charged canine named Bolt, who sports a black lightning bolt emblazoned on his white fur.
