Penelope Janice Winnie "Penny" Forrester is a major protagonist in Disney's 48th full-length animated feature film Bolt and its video game tie-in.
She was a child actress who played a leading character in the in-universe fictional TV show of the same name. She is also the titular dog's owner, whom she happily takes care of even while on set.
She is voiced by Miley Cyrus. As a child, she is voiced by Chloë Grace Moretz, who also played Hit-Girl in the live-action Kick-Ass duology, Nimona in the franchise of the same name, Darby and Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family franchise. In the video game tie-in, she was voiced by Ashleigh Prather. In the Japanese dub of the movie, she was voiced by Ryoko Shiraishi.
Penny is a kind-hearted and sensible teenage girl. Ever since she adopted Bolt, she cared greatly for the dog and was extremely distraught when she discovered that he ran away. However, she is constantly in odds with her agent who ignores her pleas, and attempts to manipulate her into doing what he wants. She is also very caring towards animals, such as Mittens and Rhino.
Appearance[]
Penny is a redheaded teenage girl, who has a thin body, brown eyes, and light skin complexion. She also wears a red shirt with dark brown sleeves, black shorts, black socks, and black combat boots.
Biography[]
A younger Penny is first shown in the beginning of the film where she decides to buy Bolt from a local pet store. Years later, she has become an actress starring in the fictionalized TV show, "Bolt" with her titular pet dog. There, they were able to foil plots of the evil Dr. Calico, a ruthless mad scientist who intends to conquer the world. One of these examples was when she and Bolt go on top of a skyscraper to spy on one of Calico's associates, who reveals that he had taken her father captive. After Bolt destroys the associate's sedan and tells him where Calico is located, which is in Lake Rogaguado, they are both chased by military forces mobilized by him. After successfully evading them, they reach the airport where they are surrounded by more forces, only for Bolt to finish them off with his super bark. With the shooting of the episode done, Penny and Bolt retreat back on their trailer.
On their trailer, Penny tries to convince Bolt that she is "fine" and that no one is coming to harm her since the episode is over only for Bolt to ignore her. She tries to feed Bolt food, urge him to fetch a ball, and have him play with Mr. Carrot, but to no avail. Penny, however, gets a phone call from someone and tells Bolt that she must leave him behind his trailer before they embrace. Outside, she meets with her real mother, her wardrobe artist, alongside her personal Agent and other staff members involved with the show. Despite convincing him to bring Bolt home for the weekend, her Agent gives her a pep talk and refuses and says that Bolt must live in his own world. They then leave so Penny can have a photoshoot.
The next day, during a cliffhanger episode, Penny and Bolt go on another adventure where they try to "rescue" her father in one of Calico's secret lairs in Bolivia. After sneaking past guards, Penny tells Bolt that they believe the Calico supercomputer can give them research on where her father is being held captive. They reach for the computer only to find out that it is a trap. After Calico gives a monologue on his world domination schemes, Penny is later taken "captive". As the episode ends, Bolt tries to rescue her only to be taken back to his trailer by one of the staff guards wearing a protective gear. Now out of the fake capsule, she tries to reach out to Bolt that she is fine and not taken hostage for real, only for Calico's soldiers, who also have their shift done, hold her off. She tries to tell both of them that they need to tell Bolt she is okay, only for her Agent to tell him that she is not "okay" since she has to accept the reality that she'll be "rescued" on the next episode tomorrow. Despite her protests, her Agent tells her once more to not let it matter to her so it can be resolved, before being escorted out by the staff. However, it is proven right when Bolt, still believing that Penny had been taken captive, escapes from the trailer and thus, getting him lost and shipped into New York City.
Some time later, the Agent gives a disheartened Penny good news; she is being starred as a lead guest in the Tonight Show, which she somewhat refuses. Penny believes Bolt is scared, but her mother convinces her that he isn't scared of anything. This resulted her and her mother to make lost dog files so Bolt can eventually be found. As Bolt continued to get lost, her Agent began to give Penny a replacement dog to fill in for the real one. At first, she refuses to work with the new dog since she believes its not the real Bolt, but the Agent brings up a story on how he got a baseball glove on Christmas instead of a bicycle, which led to him pretending to be a bike while going to school. However, she is convinced by Mindy from the network that she must let Bolt go and keep the show going on so a lot of people won't lose jobs.
Later, when Bolt reaches Hollywood, he sees Penny embracing his replacement counterpart, believing that he was replaced by another dog and leaving Bolt brokenhearted more. Unbeknownst to him, it turns out to be a rehearsal for an episode as the replacement dog runs to its real master. She then tells her mother that she still misses Bolt, which her mother says the same as well. During the episode's shooting, she is being held "captive" by Dr. Calico in one of his secret lairs and tries to call out to Bolt, in which the trained dog blasts through the elevator. As Calico calls out for his henchmen, the dog is spooked and causes a huge fire, causing Calico and the rest of the crew to leave while leaving Penny behind. As she removes her harness and tries to escape, she finally sees the real Bolt, and is overjoyed to see him. Their reunion is cut short when they are nearly killed by one of the set pieces (a helicopter that had been used by Calico's henchmen) and the building is still set on fire. Penny begins succumbing to smoke inhalation and tells Bolt to use the "zoom zoom" trick, guiding her as they reach an opening which turns out to be an air vent. Penny soon collapses and finally succumbs and convinces Bolt to leave without her. Bolt, not wanting to leave her behind once again, decides to use his "super bark", alerting nearby firefighters to their location and being successfully found by them. Penny is then escorted to an ambulance so she can be taken to the hospital for recovery. As she is escorted to the ambulance, her Agent convinces her mother that they should use the event for publicity purposes, only to be punched by her and being told that they quit. Despite him protesting, Penny's furious mother begins slamming the door on him.
Sometime later, Penny, Bolt, and her new pets, Mittens and Rhino have finally moved to a countryside to enjoy a much more happier life outside of Hollywood while the show still continues with a replacement actress and dog, in which it "jumps the shark" with an alien abduction storyline. After watching the recent episode, Penny begins taking a final photo with her new pets before bringing them outside to play with them. During the credits, it shows more adventures of Bolt and Penny along with their new pets enjoying a new life in the countryside.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
Chloe Grace Moretz was the first choice to voice Penny and recorded all her lines. However Miley Cyrus re-recorded a majority of Penny's lines, though Moretz' work as a younger Penny still remains in the film.
The newer Penny featured at the end of the film is slightly different from the original, with that Penny having a slightly darker hair and green eyes.
Like the original Penny in her youth, she is also voiced by Chloe Grace Moretz.
Penny is named after a character from the Inspector Gadget series, though Disney would acquire the show's producer 12 years ago.
Penny is also similar to and somewhat bears resemblance to Kim Possible from the Disney TV show of the same name.
Penny also shares the same name of the deuteragonist from The Rescuers.
