MANILA, Philippines—Like the movie’s title character, Disney’s newest animated feature, “Bolt,” is charming, fast and easy to like.

Ever since Disney’s animated features decided to go down the CGI road, the legendary studio hasn’t exactly been able to match the success of Pixar or DreamWorks. With “Bolt,” however, it has finally come up with a winner, and it could be a sign of better times ahead. If you’ve ever sat through “Chicken Little,” you doubtless understand why this is such a welcome breakthrough.

Right balance

The movie tells the story of a dog who stars in his own TV show and doesn’t even know it. Bolt is a white shepherd whose life, as he understands it, revolves around saving the life of his person, Penny. What Bolt doesn’t know is that Penny is never really in any danger, his superpowers are fake, and his world is just a film set!

Then, a series of accidents sends the deluded canine from Hollywood to New York in a shipping box, and when he bursts out—still thinking that he has to save Penny from the bad guys—he finds out that everything he has always believed turns out to be—not real!

It all sounds very “Truman Show,” and it’s pretty deep for a Disney movie—but the film manages to strike the right balance between action thrills and the warm fuzzies. Unlike some of its predecessors at Disney, it has a genuine, sympathetic feel, and its makers have a flair for storytelling that is truer to old Walt’s spirit than most everything that the company has produced in recent years.

“Bolt” opens with a cleverly choreographed, over-the-top chase scene that’s more exciting than anything in a live action movie, and it doesn’t lose its momentum from the get-go. Its pace never falters, even when the action slows down for the production’s quieter moments.

While it doesn’t have the richness or artistry of Pixar’s features, it is nevertheless fun, diverting, and it has real heart! While most animated movies these days feel like a 90-minute stream of gimmicks, the film takes its cue from Pixar and just concentrates on telling a good story.

Interesting sidekicks

Bolt’s quest to get back home may hardly be an original plot, and we all know it’s bound to have a happy ending—but, being with the canine protagonist on his journey is fun, and you’ll get more than a few laughs in the process.

Voiced earnestly by John Travolta, Bolt is a genuinely likable character who, while a bit bland, has enough interesting sidekicks in the form of Mittens, a cynical New York alley cat, and Rhino, a hamster in a plastic exercise ball who is the quintessential fan.

Mittens is voiced with the right mix of feistiness and feline humor by Susie Essman (from “Curb Your Enthusiasm”), and Mark Walton, as the voice of Rhino, gets the geeky, hero-worship strains of a fan-boy down pat.

Apart from Travolta and Miley Cyrus (as the voice of Penny), there are no big stars doing voice-work here. But, it’s no great loss in terms of quality, since voice actors are invariably better than many Hollywood stars, anyway. It looks like the budget that would have gone to high talent fees has, instead, gone into making the animation clean and zippy.

For a more enhanced visual experience, you can also watch “Bolt” in digital 3D at select cinemas.