Soundeffects Wiki
Advertisement
Soundeffects Wiki
Sound Effects Wiki
143,691
pages
in: MOVIES, 90s Movies, Universal Pictures Movies,
and 88 more

Balto (1995)

Sign in to edit
Balto Poster

December 22, 1995

Balto is a 1995 animated adventure film directed by Simon Wells, produced by Amblin Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film, which stars the voices of Kevin Bacon, Bridget Fonda, Phil Collins, and Bob Hoskins, is loosely based on the true story of the eponymous dog who helped save children infected with diphtheria in the 1925 serum run to Nome. Though primarily an animated film, it uses a live-action framing device that takes place in New York City's Central Park and features Miriam Margolyes as an older version of one of the children.

Storyline[]

In New York City, an elderly woman, her granddaughter, and the latter's Siberian Husky, Blaze, are walking through Central Park, looking for a memorial. As they seat themselves for a rest, the woman tells her granddaughter a story about Nome, Alaska 70 years earlier in the winter of 1925, where sled dog champion Steele, a fierce and arrogant Malamute, cheats to ensure victory for his team and musher who returns first to the rural town of Nome. They almost run over Rosy's new musher hat, but Balto, a young wolfdog who is distrusted by dogs and humans alike, rescues her hat and meets her Siberian husky Jenna, whom he quickly develops a crush on, before being chased away by Rosy's father due to his part-wolf heritage. Following a confrontation where Steele, Star, Nikki, and Kaltag mock his heritage, Balto and his adoptive father Boris Goosinov, a comical snow goose originally from Russia, return to their home on an abandoned ship on the outskirts of Nome, where they live with two aquaphobic polar bears, Muk and Luk.

One evening, all of the children in Nome (including Rosy) are hospitalized with diphtheria, but Curtis Welch is out of antitoxin. Severe winter weather conditions prevent medicine from being brought from Juneau and Anchorage by air or sea, and the closest rail line ends in Nenana. A dog race is held to determine the best-fit dogs for a sled dog team to get the medicine by heading to rendezvous with the train in Nenana and transport the antitoxin back to Nome. Balto, who dreams of becoming a sled dog, enters and wins, but Steele is disqualified after exposing his wolf half. The team departs that night with Steele in the lead and picks up the medicine successfully, but on the way back, they end up in a blizzard, missing their second checkpoint. When this news reaches Nome, and with the children's health getting worse, Balto sets out in search of Steele and his team with Boris, Muk and Luk supporting him.

Getting desperate, Steele accidentally drags himself and his team off a cliff, stranding them at the base of an icy hill, with the musher knocked unconscious during the fall. Meanwhile, Balto, Boris, and the polar bears are stalked and attacked by a massive grizzly bear. Balto fights the bear to save the others, but is easily overpowered and almost crushed to death before Jenna, who followed their marked trail, intervenes and saves him. The bear overpowers Jenna as well before it resumes attacking Balto and chases him out onto a frozen lake, but due to its immense size and weight, the ice starts to break, causing it to fall through and drown. Muk and Luk overcome their aquaphobia and save Balto before he could drown as well. Warming a frozen Balto, Jenna gives him the latest news from Nome. However, she is injured after the bear fight and unable to move on. Balto instructs Boris and the polar bears to bring Jenna back to Nome, deciding to continue the search on his own.

Having fallen in love with Balto, Jenna gives him her bandanna to wear before nuzzling him good luck. He eventually finds the team, but Steele refuses his help and ferociously attacks Balto, only to fall off a cliff. Balto takes charge of the team, but Steele, refusing to lose, sabotages Balto's marks and the team loses their way again. While attempting to save the medicine from falling down a cliff, Balto himself falls. Back in Nome, Jenna is explaining Balto's mission to the other dogs when Steele, feigning sadness and remorse, returns, lying that the entire team, including Balto and his musher, is dead, using Jenna's bandanna as fake proof and lies to Jenna that Balto made him promise to look after her. Knowing that Balto would never say such a thing, Jenna sees through Steele's trickery and insists that Balto will return with the medicine. Using a trick Balto showed her earlier, she places broken colored glass bottles on the outskirts of town and shines a lantern on them to simulate the Northern Lights, hoping that it will help guide Balto home.

When Balto regains consciousness, he is ready to give up, believing himself to have failed Rosy. When a polar wolf appears and Balto notices the medicine crate still intact nearby, he realizes, thanks to remembering Boris' advice he told him earlier, that his part-wolf heritage is a strength, not a weakness. Balto rallies his confidence, embraces his heritage and drags the medicine back up the cliff to the waiting team. Using his highly developed senses, Balto filters out the fake marks that Steele created. After escaping an avalanche and falling stalactites in an ice cave, where they lose one vial, Balto and the sled team finally make it back to Nome, alerting Jenna, who then alerts the others. Steele is exposed as a fraud and the other dogs abandon him for his betrayal in anger. Reunited with his friends, Balto earns respect from both the dogs and the humans. He visits a cured Rosy who thanks him for saving her, before he is happily reunited with Jenna who chooses him as her mate.

Back in the present, the woman, her granddaughter, and Blaze finally find Balto's memorial, and she explains that Alaska runs the Iditarod dog race over the same path which Balto and his team took. The woman, revealed to be an elderly Rosy, thanks Balto before walking off to join her granddaughter and Blaze, while the statue of Balto stands proudly in the sunlight.

Also See[]

Movie Trailer[]

Sound Effects Used[]

Image Gallery[]

Audio Samples[]

External Links[]

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
Advertisement