The 3-D gimmick has been heralded as the future of movies at least since 1953, when good old one-eyed André DeToth gave us "House of Wax," a novelty picture that wowed audiences with special effects like a paddle ball that appeared to be bouncing straight out of the movie screen. The technology has gotten more sophisticated since then, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's been better used. The recent live-action adventure "Journey to the Center of the Earth" was fun partly for its innovative use of 3-D effects -- I still remember vividly that flock of phosphorescent birds fluttering toward me from the screen -- and partly for the fact that it had a sense of humor about itself; its lack of pretension was refreshing, and rare, in movies these days. But I remember almost nothing from Robert Zemeckis' cumbersome, self-serious, computer-generated 3-D "event" (to call it a movie would be giving it too much credit) "Beowulf," except for a few primitive, pointy swords jabbing at me from the screen. Thanks, but unlike poor André, I've got two good eyes and I'd like to keep them.

 Supposedly, 3-D movies are still the wave of the future, but 3-D effects should add value to a work, not just distract us from its problems. And in the case of the Disney feature "Bolt," 3-D technology doesn't add -- or even distract -- enough. This is an excessively clever little tale (directed by Byron Howard and Chris Williams, and written by Dan Fogelman and Williams) about an extremely cute white shepherd (his voice is provided by John Travolta) who leads a fulfilling, event-filled dog's life with his human, Penny (Miley Cyrus). Except it's not any kind of normal dog's life: Bolt is an actor-dog, the star of a hit TV series in which he's a superdog with superpowers who's repeatedly called upon to save Penny from the clutches of an evil mastermind and cat lover known as Dr. Calico (Malcolm McDowell). Bolt the superdog doesn't get hit by cars; he can stop them, and crumple them, with his stocky body. His patented "superbark" is strong enough to turn a highway into a pile of crumbled concrete.

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But Bolt can't really do those things: He's only made to believe he can, thanks to the behind-the-scenes machinations of the show's cast and crew, as well as its director (voiced, unctuously, by James Lipton). That's because in order to perform, Bolt needs to believe he's really saving Penny. He doesn't know it, but he's being abused as an actor, if not as a dog. Bolt's director is using scare tactics to get a performance out of him, taking his purest doglike quality -- his loyalty -- and turning it into a corrupt version of method acting. But for Bolt, saving Penny isn't acting; it's life.

Big drama ensues when Bolt escapes from the set and finds himself in the real world, a world in which he has no superpowers -- he just doesn't know it yet. And that's when "Bolt" lost me. I know, I know: This is an essentially harmless and uplifting little story from the Walt Disney company, a monolith that would never do anything to prey on a child's worst fears. ("Bambi," anyone?) The directors have at least taken some care to keep the tone mostly light: There's lots of hip, winking dialogue, and a number of nicely designed and conceived supporting characters, including a sassy, streetwise cat named Mittens (Susie Essman, of "Curb Your Enthusiasm"), and a fat, TV-obsessed hamster named Rhino (Mark Walton) who can't tell reality from fantasy, and who turns his cluelessness into an advantage.

But "Bolt" is just too knowing; it keeps reminding us, loud and clear, of how culturally savvy it is. "TV and movies aren't reality -- any kid knows that!" is the movie's constant refrain, always accompanied by an invisible roll of the eyes. At the same time, "Bolt" engages in plenty of stock animal endangerment, ostensibly to keep us interested in the story. I guess animal endangerment is supposed to be less overtly manipulative if we're talking about animated animals. Still, I got no pleasure from watching Bolt (he's a marvelously designed character, with expressive eyes and a fireplug body) trying to free himself from a metal compartment on an animal-control officer's van: With unswerving belief in his superpowers, he bangs his head against the door so many times, he gets punch drunk.www.130q.com

I guess Bolt's frustration is supposed to be cute or funny or incite pathos, or something, but the charm was lost on me. Bolt's seemingly bottomless, and exceedingly doglike, capacity for love is appealing; it's hard not to root for him. But I'm not sure we have to be fed through the emotional wringer to do so. And what about those 3-D effects? I recall a few particularly interesting ones: Rhino gets around by scurrying inside a clear plastic ball, which gave the movie's designers the chance to pull off some groovy point-of-view shots. Of course, we all know that ultimately, everything in "Bolt" is an illusion: Hamsters don't talk, and dogs can't destroy roads with a "superbark." But like Bolt, we want to believe in the fantasy, and belief takes more muscle than eye rolling does. "Bolt," with its numerous winks and nudges, reminds us how attuned we are to the falseness of pop culture, which isn't the same thing as connecting us with its truths.

当影片开始第一场戏，波特用它闪电般的速度、强大的冲撞力、超级跳跃力以及能在沙漠中掀起一场沙暴的怒吼诠释它的神奇和它背上闪电符号的意义的时候，我们便已经知道它是一个单骑救主的英雄；而当第二场戏导演把那些让波特如此神奇的幕后道具、那些拍摄动作电影所用的小技巧一个一个地揭示给我们的时候，我们也第一个知道了波特并非真的那样神奇。当然，这时闪电狗自己还被蒙在鼓中，它依然充满自信。它只是一只平凡的小狗这一认知，让它的英雄形象在观众的心目中破灭。此后，随着一次意外，波特被送往远离好莱坞的异土他乡，它真正的英雄破灭之路逐渐展开。

这里首先有“他人”的视角：波特寻主心切，却被三只鸽子利用，鸽子们拿它当小孩子般欺骗；它身为一只狗，虽然比黑猫咪咪要强壮很多，但是咪咪只当它是个自以为了不起的狗，甚至还叫它扮“狗脸”——即可爱状，去乞讨食物；当然也有例外，小仓鼠阿诺是波特的忠实崇拜者，它虽然是本片的一个小人物，但是它从来没有对波特失去信心，即使在波特最低落、想要放弃的时候，它也给予波特鼓励。或许这是因为，小人物已经把对英雄的崇拜从表面延伸至内心之中，表面的英雄是可以破灭的，但是内心的英雄是不会破灭的缘故吧。总之，在路人、伙伴的眼中，波特决不是像电影中那样神通广大，而是一个单纯、好骗，也会饿肚子的小家伙。这个镜头相当经典，它揭示了破灭的英雄但是“他人”视角下的英雄破灭，绝对没有“自我”视角下的英雄破灭来得残酷。当波特发现自己用一只爪其实根本打不倒一个人，自己也撞不破铁栏、解不开门锁，自己的怒吼其实也没有想象中那么大的破坏力的时候，它对自己的幻想开始分崩离析，它的自信也遭受到了前所未有的打击，它打起了退堂鼓。当然这时候，朋友的一席话往往胜过万千良药，阿诺在夜空之下的重量级发言，使波特的眼里重新充满希望之光，它开始意识到使人成为英雄的不是那些超能力，而是心灵。波特的英雄重建之路就此展开。

“自我”视角下英雄的破灭，只能通过“自我”视角下英雄的重建来自救。波特在飞驰的火车上，勇敢地向将要落下火车的咪咪伸出了援助之手；它和阿诺还一起配合，通过智慧就出了被抓走的咪咪。而这一切的表现，已经在潜移默化地影响着“他人”视角下的波特，咪咪对波特动了情，想要和它一起生活，阿诺也铁了心要跟随这个心目中的大英雄。波特虽然曾一度离开咪咪和阿诺，独自前往好莱坞寻找佩妮，但它的英雄气概已经深深地影响了它身边的人，它注定不会成为一个“独行侠”。

到影片的最后，波特义无反顾地冲进燃烧着热焰的片场，在一片火海中与佩妮相拥在一起，这个注定的重逢场面还是深深打动了我们的心；当波特用尽全力把佩妮拖到一个通风口前，并且用自己那“平凡”的吼叫向外面的消防人员呼救的时候，它实际上已经完成了在观众心目中英雄的重建。打动我们的，并非是那个充满超能力的、自信满满的波特，而是那个经历了挫折、挑战，对寻找主人充满执著，在明知道自己并不神奇的时候，为救主人而毅然决然地跳入危险境地，从而爆发出真正的自信、勇敢和神奇的波特。

《闪电狗》所讲的就是这样一个经典好莱坞故事，人们眼里的英雄往往是虚假的英雄，人们心中的英雄才是真正的英雄。

作者:inside