A good story that paces itself well between the action, drama and humour. The film has some great characters like Boris, the Russian goose--although there were a couple times I lost his words in his Russian accent.

One of the most charming things about this tale is that it doesn't rely on the dialogue to carry it. There are a number of scenes where the story uses only the animation to express a characters' fears, longings and joys. And there was some really nice character design in this film--I particularly liked the look of the wolves and the marshmallowy polar bears were just fabulous. I was also pleased that the animators took the time to show Alaska in all of its fierce splendor as it makes Balto's journey that much more amazing.