I hate to say this, but yes, there is a third Balto. I was just fine with one Balto, but the more installments they add, the more they’re drifting from the true story, and that just bugs me. But, moving on . . .
In “Balto III: Wings of Change,” Balto and Jenna’s children are all grown up, and Kodiak (voiced by Sean Astin) once a puppy, is now a sled dog. He gets to help bring the mail into Nome, and feels a lot of pride in his job. His ambition is to some day, be lead dog. (But honestly, isn’t that what we all want?)
A bush plane lands in Nome, and the pilot goes in to talk to the postmaster. He explains that his plane can fetch and carry the mail much more quickly than a team of sled dogs, and asks to be given the job. The townspeople aren’t sure; they’ve received their mail by dogsled for so long, and still at the turn of the century, planes are such newfangled contraptions. Finally they decide to have a race – their best sled dogs vs. the plane.
Balto, as the most famous sled dog in the area, is chosen to be lead dog, and Kodiak is placed right behind him. Along with the other dogs, they run their hearts out, and manage to make it all the way to White Mountain and back again, the prescribed course for the race. The plane beat them to White Mountain, but the dogs reach Nome far ahead of the plane, and as a few hours go by, Balto realizes that the plane is in trouble.
The other sled dogs don’t want to go search for it. That plane was the competition! But Balto tries to convince them that the man inside the plane is friendly and needs their help. Finally he goes off alone with two silly polar bears and a love sick goose to help him out.
The goose is named Stella (Jean Smart). She landed in Nome, spotted Boris, and developed a huge crush. But she doesn’t know that Boris is scared to fly, and rather than tell her the truth . . . well, let’s just say telling the truth is always best.
This film was okay – there was nothing wrong with it. I just think they’ve dragged out this storyline as long as they can, and then some. But I bet your kids will love it.
This film is rated G.
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