Balto

Balto is an animated family adventure set in the Alaskan town of Nome, where a half-wolf, half-husky outcast lives on the edges of both the dog pack and the human community that distrust him. When diphtheria strikes the town's children and a blizzard cuts off every route to the nearest supply of medicine, a sled dog team is sent to bring back the antitoxin. The team loses its way in the storm, and the disfavoured Balto becomes the only one able to find them and finish the journey. Simon Wells directed the film, his third feature after An American Tail: Fievel Goes West and We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story, from a screenplay by Roger S.H. Schulman, Elana Lesser and Cliff Ruby. Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy were among the producers. The voice cast includes Kevin Bacon as Balto, Bob Hoskins as the goose Boris, Bridget Fonda as Jenna, Jim Cummings as the sled dog Steele, Phil Collins as the bear cubs Muk and Luk, and Juliette Brewer as young Rosy.

The film was released in December 1995 and runs 78 minutes. Made on a budget of about 31 million dollars, it took roughly 11 million dollars worldwide, a weak return for an animated release of its scale. Audiences have been kinder to it than critics: on IMDb it holds a 7.1 rating from around 52,000 votes, and on TMDB a 7.3 from some 2,259 votes, while the critics' score stands at 5.8 from 24 reviews.