Little delayed with some reviews, those should go up later today pending a few things, for now lets look at 90s film Balto.

But first some history; Balto was a real dog, he was the lead dog of the sled team that successfully completed the 1925 serum run from Nenana to Nome transporting diphtheria antitoxin during a major outbreak of the disease in the harshest of winter storms, the successful journey saved the lives of hundreds of people and Balto has a statue in his honor in Central Park.
The film apart from the fact that it's obviously for children doesn't try to sugar coat or cushion the reality of the event albeit with a few historical inaccuracies but again it's an animted film.
Narrated by an old lady at the start, the film centers around a half wolf hybrid named Balto, who is fundamentily a stray dog at the beginning of the film and goes through the typical routine of causing a nuisance just to get a decent meal.
When diphtheria grips the small Alaskan town, Balto attempts to prove his worth as a sled dog in order to save Rosie and the other children from death, however top sled dog Steele isn't pleased with the idea of being beaten by a half breed and sabotages his chances of joining the sled team. But when it becomes clear that Steele is out of his depth leading the team back from retrieving the antitoxin, Balto goes into the wilderness to try and save them and finish the journey.
Like I said, it doesn't try and sugar coat or cushion you from the reality, it's made clear very visually that these kids are going to die; the scenes where it's looking more and more hopeless to the undertaker building loads of coffins are among the most powerful and it really sets the tone for the movie well, it also makes Steele look all the more despicable as he'd rather the delivery fail and have all those children die than lose his pride and position to Balto, Balto even says that he's not here to prove anything or fight Steele for his position he justs wants to deliver the medicine; when you look at it in that context you really despise the villain, also I kind of feel bad for the human rider, he gets thrown off so many times that he's in need of several hot cocoas laced with Brandy just to survive this film.
The side characters and comedy relief are tolerable and never take away the film's sense of danger and reality.
I watched this film when I was young and again earlier this year with my partner and apart from the obivous 90s aethetics it not only holds up well but it's aged very well and you know it could use some spotlight, it's been underrated for the last 20 years.