Sheol777 (post: 1310665) wrote:Me too...what is all the hype about?
It wasn't as creepy in a horror way as it was in an (how should I put it)......inappropriate way.
Or, to be more blunt, you are concerned that the film is encouraging of tendencies of pedophilia, notwithstanding that children and preteens have their own ideas about sexuality even if this does not usually lead to actual intercourse. To be sure, transposing a female vampire who is both eternally twelve in both mind and body while possessing characteristics of a much older and more mature woman (in Eli, the vampire cycle seems to have replaced the menstrual cycle, so she will never grow fully into womanhood) with a twelve year-old male mortal who is young and inexperienced but will continue to grow and mature creates a point of semiotic instability related to everyday assumptions about aging and sexuality. On a personal level, I think the most powerful element of the film is its open admission of doubt related to male gender roles, which is often culturally regarded as tantamount to blasphemy.
In society, males are often told either directly or by implication that if they do not give off the image of strength and invulnerability, and if they do not assert this image in aggressive behavior, then they cannot be legitimate members of their own gender. The problem with this, however, is that the structure of the universe is intrinsically bound up in ontic frailty, and so this idea of masculinity creates an unreconciled duality between man and the world he lives in that always threatens to undo his sense of legitimacy as a man, which in turn creates deep-seated conflicts and anxieties within his very sense of being. To make matters worse, because the admission of doubt related to these roles is often regarded as an unwelcome bearing of the marks of fragility, most men don't even have an emotional outlet with which they can come to terms with it. In terms of the cinematic technique of the film, this element is shown by its approach to lighting and color, which makes youthful skin look rosy and fragile in its awkward attempts to attain the ideal of masculinity, and adult skin look grim and harsh in its so-called "success". Having grown up as a frail and meek individual in circumstances deeply akin to Oskar's own, I have on some level always been acutely aware of these conflicts. So set this in contrast with a female vampire who openly admits to her belief that her vampiric condition has controverted her claim to true femininity ("I'm not a girl," Eli often remarks), and place these two together in a heterosexual relationship that allows them to resolve their own gender conflicts, and you have a film with immense power to effect beauty and healing. These are, of course, only the beginning of my thoughts on the film, and I would be very much interested in writing a full-scale analysis.
This movie redeemed kids' movies for me; after Treasure Planet and Brother Bear, they all seemed to be really stupid and shallow (other than Pixar movies, of course), so when I went to see Bolt the first time, I was expecting to be disappointed. And actually...I was really impressed! And watching it again just made me like it all the more. It's still exciting, still really well done, Rhino is still hilarious (I was helpless with laughter when he fogs up his ball, then makes a smiley face on it), and I still cried at the revelation of Mittens's past 
