Animation Source Forums

Here in Mexico, yes, I've only seen it on TV, i don't remember seeing it available in stores. The last time was when i rented WQ in January 2005.

Yeah, I would say so. I also got mine from the internet, as I could not find it in stores. Before I bought it, however, I was planning on watching one from Blockbuster. I called four different Blockbuster stores and not one had it (nor had probably ever heard of it for starters), though they seemed to have the second and third movie. 'Tis curious. Very curious.

Toy Story is a classic, and an absolutely quality movie. It might not be your personal opinion, but it won the heart of millions -- plus it has a relatively better and more unique storyline than Balto. Plus it was the first CGI film ever made (correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not entirely sure of this) and both of its sequels are just as fantastic, and were extremely successful. And for good reason. Both of Balto's films were complete flops, considering Universal clearly stopped caring about the franchise and were only doing it for the money. You cannot compare them to the Toy Story sequels, since they are nothing but quality.

Back on topic. Balto is EXTREMELY rare in the UK -- most people here don't even know it exists. I don't really care of course, and I'm not surprised since -- as you guys said -- they don't even sell the DVDs anymore. Usually the DVDs are hanging about HMV or even CEX, but that's about it. You'd be lucky to find it commonly in Britain.

I wouldn't say the movie's RARE, but it's definitely not popular if that's what you mean. I mean, you can easily find the movie on eBay or Amazon, since there's always people who sell movies they don't watch anymore. But go to a store, you'll be hard-pressed to find it. (then again, anything from 4 years ago or older usually isn't carried by the stores these days...)

I have all three Balto films, but I do agree with Rebelness. The films are extremely rare in the UK. None of the people I know apart from Eddie225 know it exists either. I am British, and I live in Britain myself. It is rare, no doubt about that. However, I'd say it was more known in the United States, and other parts of North America, as that is originally where the Serum Run took place, in Alaska. Which is indeed very close to North America (it could be classed as part of it, I cannot remember if it is or not). And most films where created in America, which I guess Balto was. So it's more popularly known in North America. But yes, I would class the Balto films as Rare. They are hardly seen in any film shop anymore. Especially not in the UK.

Wolf and dog I can understand, but anime? Furry?
The movie has nothing to do with anything anime--the only similarity is that it's animated. By the same logic, half the stamps on DeviantArt could be considered some form of anime. I do see where you're coming from, but no.

Same with furries. The movie makes no mention of furries, and none of the characters are furries, nor are wolves and dogs the only things furries dress up as. Again, I see your point, but there's nothing related to furries in Balto.

Well a movie doesn't have to actually mention the word "furry" or have any references about them to be tied in with the furry fandom. It's not always the movie that has to make the tie-in itself. It's usually the furries who make the tie-ins.

As you know, furries are people that like to act like animals and at times dress up like them. And the reason that some people become furries are due to their obsession over a movie. I've seen many accounts on YouTube from people claiming to be a character from Balto, The Lion King, and All Dogs Go To Heaven. How do you think they got the idea to act like a character from that movie? They obviously had to see the movie if they wanted to start acting like a specific character, and if they loved the movie enough to the point to where they begin acting like that character, then the movie would obviously have a tie in to their furry fandom. Now if that person was just acting like a wolf or dog or whatever animal character that they made up themselves (which is how most furries are), then there would be no tie-in. But since the movie is about wolves and dogs, then there are obviously going to be wolf and dog furries clamoring over how much they "love" the movie. (Pfft.) However, these tie-ins mainly rest within the individual and the furry fandom itself rather then out in the public's view.

I'm not saying Balto does have an affiliation with the furrie fandom, but what I'm trying to say is that it's usually the individual that makes their own affiliation.


Okay, back to the topic!

The movie does seem rare both in being available in stores and being known to the public. I haven't actually looked for the movie in stores because I don't buy movies or go to stores, but based on what I've read from other people that have looked around, I would say that it is pretty rare to come across one at Blockbuster or Walmart. However you can still find many copies on ebay and Amazon so in terms of being available on the internet, it's very common. For the public aspect, I would say that it's fairly known because almost everyone that I've talked to about the movie has said that they've seen it or have heard of it. Then again, everyone I did talk to about it was around the same age as me (16) so it's probably not a surprise that they would know about it. But if you compared the Balto fanship to the fanship of movies like Toy Story or Shrek or The Lion King, then it's going to be pretty obvious that the Balto fanship is pretty rare.

Interestingly enough on Rotten Tomatoes Toy Story has a 100% fresh rating, and 81% liked it, while Balto has only a 50% rating, and only 66% people liked it. (Balto has a smaller rating amount than the others, however it shows which one was more popular.)

In the US I found the movie at Target, and every few years or so I see a rouge DVD at the good will. It's not rare but it's defiantly uncommon.

In Switzerland I've never seen a DVD of Balto, nor have my relatives. So it depends on location.

I bought all three movies in one case all on seprtate disks for NZ$10.00 in store.
But I never saw it in a store before then. I always tryed to look for it.