Mightybalto1925 wrote:
The colors never really bothered me personally. Even in Balto 1 Balto's fur color changed from brown to silver. The only thing about Balto 3 that bothered me color-wise was the cover. To me Balto seems purple.
http://www.animationsource.org/sites_co ... gcover.jpgThat's either a shading/coloring mistake, or an example of
Covers Always Lie [just like the US cover for Wolf Quest, which did bother me. The height between Balto and Aleu was so
WRONG. Even Balto looked weird in that pose, but I digress...], but I blame the artist. He looks fine to me on the WoC cover. The new Balto DVD, on the other hand, ... EW. Give me the original cover any day!
Anywho, to the question. It's hard for me to really choose which version of Balto was my favorite, so have a pros and cons of each from me!
Balto [AKA the original]
PROS:-
Stand-out design: Brownish-gray fur, realistic mixed appearance... heck, he doesn't look like any of the other characters. That's a GOOD THING. His looks grab your attention because he looks different.
-
Yellow and red eyes: Duh. He's half-wolf... and the main character focus. Yeah, it works.
CONS:-
Personality is... too perfect: Yeah, we know he's the outcast main character, but does he have to be so darn flawless? The only flaw about him was out of his control [being half-wolf], yet that seems to be the
-
Voice...?: I never really liked any of Balto's voices. One made him too old and gruff while the other was... um, nice, heroic but again, too perfect. Yeah, take a guess which one's about Kevin Bacon's voice. XD
Balto II [AKA Wolf Quest]
PROS:-
Imperfect personality: They... um, sorta made him imperfect here. Not as much as with WoC, but his parenting skills were crap and the relationship between his friends and mate were... lacking. Okay, maybe he was too imperfect, mainly because of the whole "new parent" thing. Speaking of which...
-
Looks match personality: Yeah, he looks much older here, not like himself at all [at least in WoC, they got the looks correct], but he seemed old-fashioned - the guys get dangerous, the girls are always at home or protected/saved/etc. Did the last film teach you nothing?
CONS:-
No yellow eyes/Inconsistencies from original film: WTF, inconsistency. For a movie that focuses on wolves, common sense would be to make one of the main "wolf" characters keep his yellow eyes. Then again, it did make Aleu seem more lupine compared to her father
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[if only to fulfill that prophecy from Aniu via Nava - she definitely looked more wolf yet knew nothing about being a wolf. It worked.]
... but that's still no excuse! Also, his appearance is much, MUCH different... and it's only been at least two months since "Balto" ended at the earliest to over a year after that by the ending.
-
Overprotective Dad: Obviously the main gripe of WQ!Balto, mainly because it's overused in sequels. He's way too protective, if only because Aleu looks lupine like him [though she pulls off the wolf look better!], but his reasons are stupid. My question is "Why didn't he just tell Aleu the truth sooner instead of waiting for her to nearly die before having the balls to do it?"
Balto III [AKA Wings of Change]
PROS:-
Yellow eyes: Back from the first movie! It did make it seem like he was the same hero from the first.
-
Flawed: THANK YOU. Finally, he [or should I say, the writers!] realizes his flaw of "perfection"! Here, he's not perfect, and he knows he's not a superdog [or in this case, fast enough to beat the bush plane], but after encouragement from Jenna, he tries his best anyway. He realizes that the possible demise of the sled team and the changing times, regardless of their win and that his words may hurt his son and the team.
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Good parental role model: One of the things that WQ never really had. We see how much of a dad he was, especially to a pup left behind in Aleu's shadow. You really see him bonding with Kodi, encouraging him... and I think it's a gender thing again, but it's natural for a father to take care of a son that aspires to be like him one day. That and it's nice to hear him talk about his fathers, both the unknown husky that bred with his wolf mother and Boris, the goose that took him in as his own.
CONS:-
Flight obsession: I... I don't even know about this one. It's rather silly that all of a sudden, Balto likes flying. What the heck...?
-
Where's the wolf?: At least in the first two films, they openly mention the "wolf", despite the fact that he's still teased about his heritage. Here, it's just "the call" or howling. That's... stupid. You should have at least stood up for your heritage, Balto! Did "Wolf Quest" not happen?
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So, based on my personal recollections of the designs [and a bit on personality behind said designs], I would have to say that my pick is the original movie. Despite my hatred of how terribly-perfect his character is made to be, his appearance is much better than the sequels - obviously due to the higher budget and the years of work put into it. He looks like a hero, and I'll admit that WoC!Balto was close to winning my vote for his appearance.
So, that's my two cents.
- Juuchan17