History WesternAnimation / Balto

* VillainousBreakdown: Steele has one when [[spoiler:Balto arrives to help the sled team. He was a SmugSnake before this but when Balto arrives, he goes completely out of his mind, trying to kill him, all the while looking completely psychotic. After he loses, he continues to appear insane until he returns to the boiler room and is back to his SmugSnake mode.]] It's hinted at earlier during several scenes where Steele nearly loses his cool when enraged, this is just the time he actually snaps.

* HeroesWantRedheads: A canine example here; Balto's love interest, and later mate, Jenna, has red fur.

%%* PetTheDog: Literally.

%%* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: Muk and Luk.

* DisneyVillainDeath: Subverted. [[spoiler:Steele accidentally causes himself to fall off a very high cliff while fighting with Balto but survives likely due to hitting several ledges on the way down instead of a sheer drop. Balto also suffers a subverted one later, surviving due to deep snow.]]

* BookEnds: The movie begins with a live-action scene, and ends with one.
* BravingTheBlizzard: Severe winter weather conditions are what prevent the antitoxin cure for diphtheria from reaching Nome, Alaska by sea and air -- and the nearest rail station is 600 miles away in Nenana. A sled dog team is put together to retrieve the antitoxin, but as the weather worsens the team becomes lost. Canine hero Balto sets off through the terrible snowstorm to find the lost sled dog team and lead them back to Nome safely.
* BrushOffWalkOff: When Balto succeeds in bringing the sled team home with the diphtheria antitoxin, all of Nome's dogs realize that Steele has been telling them bald lies. They already knew Steele was a GloryHound, but this is a blatant dereliction of duty, which is unforgivable by dog standards. All the dogs turn up their noses and turn their tails toward Steele, and leave the storage barn silently. Steele has become a disreputable pariah in their view.

* BlatantLies: Steele's story regarding [[spoiler: Balto and the medicine]] once he gets to the boiler room. In particular, he claims to have carried four dogs on the sled and three on his back -- he then does a quick, private calculation on his claws, probably vaguely aware of the fact that there were only six dogs other than himself. Jenna knows that Balto would never do such a thing and does't fall for his story, not ''one'' bit.

%%* MalaProper: Dixie, especially when she wants to impress Steele.

** GoOnWithoutMe: [[spoiler: Jenna's injury is what leads to Balto going on alone, as she insists he leave her behind, and he then insists that Muk, Luk and Boris take her back to the safety of town instead of going with him.]]

* TheDogBitesBack: A DeletedScene had Star, the henchman that Steele treated the worst, do this. He tore off Steele's collar (which was a racing prize he'd won) because he didn't deserve it.

* PullingYourChildAway: The titular hero is reimagined as half-husky, half-wolf and Nome's resident outcast. When Rosie, a local girl and the mistress of Balto's crush Jenna, tries interacting with him, her father pulls her away, warning her not to interact with the half-wolf. An undaunted Rosie protests they're hurting his feelings and [[spoiler:happily hugs Balto when he's let into her sickroom after saving the town children from diphtheria.]]

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Balto was a purebred husky who only helped pulling the sleigh the last distance back to Nome. The real hero was actually another husky named Togo, the runt of his litter who surprised everyone with his strength and intelligence, and who pulled the sleigh for the longest and most hazardous distance (while he was ''11 years old'' no less) until his exhausted self had to let Balto do the finishing miles. Being the one who actually led the sleigh into the town of Nome however, Balto was recognized as a hero more than Togo was. Additionally, the real Balto was neutered early in his life. He never fathered any pups, making the sequels pure fiction. He also [[http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/JerseyCaptain/Balto-kids.jpg looked]] dramatically different from the movie version, being mainly black and much less slender. He looked more like Steele than the movie Balto.

* MonochromeCasting: Averted, actually. While the principal human characters are white, at least half the extras are obviously comprised of native Alaskans. One little girl (and her family) [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/balto_native_alaskan_family.jpg can even be seen]] among the recovering children during the film's closing segments. This is actually TruthInTelevision - Nome had a very sizable native population, and the surrounding areas were also affected. (Some think even ''moreso'')

* NoNameGiven: The man conducting the serum run with the dogs is never named. Presumably, he's supposed to be Leonhard Seppala, who delivered the serum in real Great Race of Mercy, though he doesn't really resemble him.

%%* SarcasticDevotee: Boris again, to Balto.

%%* VillainousCrush: Steele for Jenna; unsurprisingly, it's not mutual.

%%* WhamShot: The carpenter building the child-sized coffins.

* NoNameGiven: the man conducting the serum run with the dogs is never named. Presumably, he's supposed to be Leonhard Seppala, who delivered the serum in real Great Race of Mercy, though he doesn't really resemble him.

%%* OhCrap: Boris gets a ''major'' one when he sees [[BearsAreBadNews the bear]].

%%* FakeUltimateHero: Steele; he's actually the BigBad.

%%* LargeHam:
%%** Steele. But then, it's Jim Cummings -- no one expected otherwise.
%%** Star can also be pretty expressive when he wants to.
%%** As can Boris and the polar bears.

%%* GrumpyOldMan: Boris.

%%* HeroicDog: Balto, of course.

%%* NiceGuy: Balto himself.

%%* OfficialCouple: Balto and Jenna, of course. The sequels focus on two of their offspring.

%%* WhiteWolvesAreSpecial: You know the scene.

* CrazyJealousGuy: Steele is ''displeased'', to put it mildly, when he catches on to the fact that Jenna prefers Balt over him. [[spoiler:This only makes him even more hateful of Balto, to the point that he sabotages his own team in an effort to ensure Balto can't succeed in leading them home.]]

%%** Balto pulls this to rescue Steele's team.

%%* CrazyJealousGuy: Steele, eventually.
* CollectiveDeathGlare: After being defeated by Balto and thrown off a cliff, Steele returns to Nome claiming that the wolf-dog made a FaceHeelTurn and left the sled dog team to die in the wilderness. When Balto returns home safe and sound with both Steele's squad and the medicine supplies, Steele's lie immediately catches up to him and even one of his greatest admirors (a Spitz she-dog named Dixie) is horrified by his deceit. She slaps a bone off his mouth, which lands in front of the entrance of the city's main boiler room (= the main hub of Nome's dogs) and the very group of (understandably pissed off) dogs which used to admire Steele at the very beginning of the movie.

%%* {{Determinator}}: Both the animated and real Balto.

%%* ICanExplain: Bye, Steele. No one's listening to you anymore, you worthless scumbag.

''Balto'' is a 1995 animated movie produced by Creator/StevenSpielberg, based loosely on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1925_serum_run_to_Nome 1925 serum run to Nome]]. It was the third and final feature produced by Spielberg's animation studio, Creator/{{Amblimation}}.

* AdaptedOut: The husky Togo was lead sled dog in the actual event, but is nowhere in the movie. Given the kind of hell Balto goes through, one could argue that he's a CompositeCharacter of the two.

** Most of the local dogs (with Steele as the ringleader), as well as the humans, have a very low opinion of Balto, [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything because he's part wolf]].

* AwardBaitSong: "Reach for the Light", performed by Music/SteveWinwood and co-composed by Music/JamesHorner, no less!

* BearyFunny: Muk and Luk mainly serve the role of PluckyComicRelief.

** Balto pulls this to rescue Steele's team.
** Jenna as well, [[spoiler:who [[ActionGirl attacks]] a ''bear'' about to kill Balto and saves his life.]]

** In ''WesternAnimation/BaltoIIWolfQuest'', one of Balto and Jenna's puppies is [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer ostracized]] by humans because she looks and acts more like a wolf than even wolf-dog father. Being more dog than wolf, Aleu should be ''less'' like a wolf than her father. Aleu also doesn't look like a gray wolf-- she has light brown fur and blue eyes, which are dog traits. Aleu looks like a husky mix, not a wolf.
** At the end of the second film, Aleu is allowed to lead a wolf pack (or "[[TheClan clan]]" as wolves call it), despite both being unrelated to anyone else and [[AChildShallLeadThem not even being fully grown]].

* CrazyJealousGuy: Steele, eventually.

* {{Determinator}}: Both the animated and real Balto.

* FakeUltimateHero: Steele; he's actually the BigBad.

* FeatherFingers: Boris, and later Stella.

* HeroicDog: Balto, of course.

* ICanExplain: Bye, Steele. No one's listening to you anymore, you worthless scumbag.

* LargeHam:
** Steele. But then, it's Jim Cummings -- no one expected otherwise.
** Star can also be pretty expressive when he wants to.
** As can Boris and the polar bears.

* [[MadeOfIron Made of Steel]]: How Steele survived falling down a tall mountain side, slamming into several shelves on the way down, with ''no'' visible injury, is anyone's guess. Clearly the film needed him to be the villain for a while longer, or the poor bastard would have been dead within the first impact.
* MalaProper: Dixie, especially when she wants to impress Steele.

* ManipulativeBastard: Steele, again.

* NiceGuy: Balto himself.
* NobleWolf / SavageWolves: Balto is the first one but his problems are caused by the second one. The townfolk believe him to be dangerous ("He might bite you, honey. He's part wolf.") when he's truly a NiceGuy and a loyal friend.

* OfficialCouple: Balto and Jenna, of course. The sequels focus on two of their offspring.
* OhCrap: Boris gets a ''major'' one when he sees [[BearsAreBadNews the bear]].

* SarcasticDevotee: Boris again, to Balto.

* ToothyBird: Boris is shown with teeth a few times
* TheTragicRose: Rosy, the ill girl. [[spoiler: Not only does she live to tell the tale, but she's the NarratorAllAlong.]]

* VillainousCrush: Steele for Jenna; unsurprisingly, it's not mutual.

* WhamShot: The carpenter building the child-sized coffins.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology:
** Realistically, Muk and Luk couldn’t live in the woods around Nome, since polar bears mostly inhabit the frozen Arctic sea during winter and only travel to the northernmost fringes of Eurasia and North America during the summer months, with the nearest Alaskan polar bears living a good 500 miles away from Nome. Furthermore, polar bears evolved to depend on a largely marine diet, especially on prey animals rich in fat such as seals, and tend to struggle literally living off the land, which is why many individuals starve to death during the summer months. Worst still, ''Balto 2'' shows them still hanging around Nome in spring.
** The film depicts the grizzly bear as a [[BearsAreBadNews large monstrous beast]], while the polar bears Luk and Muk are a [[BearyFriendly harmless and friendly]] [[ThoseTwoGuys comic duo]]. In reality, polar bears not only grow to be much bigger in size than grizzlies, but can also be more aggressive. Somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]] considering Muk and Luk are still cubs and Alaskan grizzlies can grow nearly as massive as polar bears. This is largely TruthInTelevision, since grizzlies are often cited as the most aggressive species of bear, and are often hostile to other bears and will kill the latter's cubs; despite their larger size, polar bears are often quite wary of grizzlies and avoid direct contact, sometimes even being driven away from whale carcasses by grizzlies.
** Also, given that it's the middle of winter, grizzlies should be hibernating.

The plot involves a large amount of children, who are sick in Nome, Alaska. The only way to get medicine is through a team of sled dogs. When the capable but completely self-absorbed lead dog, Steele (voiced by [[Creator/JimCummings1952 Jim Cummings]]), gets his team lost, saving the town falls on the shoulders (so to speak) of a wolf-dog hybrid named Balto (voiced by Creator/KevinBacon). He's accompanied by a Russian goose named Boris (voiced by Creator/BobHoskins), a female Husky named Jenna (voiced by Creator/BridgetFonda), and two hydrophobic polar bears named Luk and Muk (voiced by Music/PhilCollins).

** The film depicts the grizzly bear as a [[BearsAreBadNews large monstrous beast]], while the polar bears Luk and Muk are a [[BearyFriendly harmless and friendly]] [[ThoseTwoGuys comic duo]]. In reality, polar bears not only grow to be much bigger in size than grizzlies. It is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] considering they're still cubs and Alaskan grizzlies can grow nearly as massive as polar bears. This is largely TruthInTelevision, since grizzlies are often cited as the most aggressive species of bear, and are often hostile to other bears and will kill the latter's cubs; despite their larger size, polar bears are often quite wary of grizzlies and avoid direct contact, sometimes even being driven away from whale carcasses by grizzlies.

* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: Steele, and to a lesser extent, Balto, to the rest of the sled dogs. This is another inaccuracy, because the choosing of a lead dog on mushing teams was something done very carefully by the dog-driver, and never left to chance (which is certainly is in the movie).

* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: Steele, and to a lesser extent, Balto, to the rest of the sled dogs. This is another inaccuracy, because the choosing of a lead dog on mushing teams was something carefully by the dog-driver, and never left to chance (which is certainly is in the movie).
%%* AstonishinglyAppropriateInterruption