The Polar Express Movie Review:


Playing a variety of different characters in “The Polar Express,” Tom Hanks eloquently brings this magical Christmas story to life while touching the hearts of young and old alike. Director Robert Zemeckis (“Forrest Gump,” “Cast Away”) and Hanks both loved the popular children’s book “The Polar Express” by Chris Van Allsburg and had read it to their children many times.

The movie, written by Zemeckis and William Broyles, Jr., follows the adventure of a young boy who doubts there really is a Santa until the Polar Express stops in front of his house on Christmas Eve and offers him a trip to the North Pole. From the moment he steps on board and the delightful music score by Alan Silvestri begins, every wonderful and magical moment of childhood is on the line. The boy discovers that other children, each with unique problems, are aboard as well. The train is soon North Pole bound but not without lots of excitement and peril on the way.

In addition to highlighting a whimsical story, Zemeckis also wanted to capture the incredible artwork that makes the children’s book so vivid. “There’s something absolutely haunting about his (Van Allsburg) artwork,” said Hanks. “It has a tactile feeling that’s really the emotion he communicates through the artwork itself.”

Academy Award-winning visual effects wizard Ken Ralston proposed using a motion capture process that digitally captures the actor’s live performance and turns it into a computerized application. “The Polar Express” becomes the first motion picture to use this technique, and although it probably won’t work for every film, it’s absolutely incredible in this imaginative story. From the wild roller-coaster-like rides to the disappearing Christmas ghost, this process brings an amazing adventure to life.

To create the characters, actors were fitted with motion-capture suits like wetsuits, fitted with sensors that enabled digital cameras to capture their every move and expression. “We were able to imprint our performances onto the story as opposed to going into the studio and providing voices,” explained Hanks.

Incredibly, Hanks plays five key characters – the boy, his father, the conductor, the ghost-like hobo and Santa Claus. Since his sensor suit never changed, Hanks wore different shoes to help him get into each character.

Michael Jeter, in his last performance before he died, evokes audience smiles once again as the silly train engineer Steamer and oddball fireman Smokey. Nona Gage (“The Matrix Reloaded”) portrays the strong and capable Girl on the train. Peter Scolari (“That Thing You Do”) portrays the very sad Lonely Boy, who has never had a visit from Santa. Eddie Deezen (“Desperate Moves”) is obnoxiously great as the Know-It-All-Boy.

The movie takes moments of reality, such as when the Boy is passed over a crowd like kids do at rave parties, and creatively blends in the message of the book, that the most real things in the world are the things we can’t see.

“The Polar Express” is a rare Christmas gift for all ages.



Diana Saenger

As you get older you might think that believing in Santa Claus might just be a little too childish. The magic of Christmas will just become about what presents can get but for those of you how might just be losing your belief in the Christmas spirit, Santa has one more trick up his sleeve. You could be one of the lucky ones that a get a train ticket. Now this is no ordinary ticket, for this is a ticket for the Polar Express. All aboard for the North Pole!

Robert Zemeckis returns after a four-year break with another groundbreaking movie but does it have enough to capture the Christmas spirit. Not really.

Based on the best selling novel by Chris Van Allsburg, The Polar Express takes the magic of the season to new heights of technological wonder. Using the latest motion capture technology to create life-like human performances from the vocal cast, Zemeckis and his talented team have created a visual spectacle that is filled with some of the most realistic looking computer generated human characters to feature in an animated movie. The problem is that they look too realistic. Animation is not meant to be a recreation of real life but a chance for creativity to take over and transport you into another world. The Polar Express just leaves you thinking why didn't they just film this with real life actors. There is no question that the animation is astounding but it is not good enough to make the characters easy to connect to as they have little or no personality or quirkiness to draw you to them.

The story line isn't the best either. Hollywood's and the commercial sector's view of Christmas is getting ever more sickening. More and more they forget about the fact that it is a religious holiday and concentrate on what they call the true meaning of Christmas, giving presents. This is something that has spread around the world, with the Christmas season starting earlier and earlier each year as commercial profiteers prepare to cash in. The Polar Express adheres to this premise and only really has one real plotline for the entire movie, 'Believe in the spirit of Christmas and Santa Claus'.

The rest of the film is a collection of roller coaster, theme park type action sequences that become more elaborate as the film progresses. You might think why is Robert Zemeckis continuing to use this plot device through the movie until you find out that The Polar Express is also a 3D IMAX experience as well. While these sequences would look unbelievable in 3D, on a normal 2D cinema screen they just end up been too repetitive.

With a slight message and a definite commercial push for the holiday season, The Polar Express is a sugar coated seasonal event that certainly won't go down as a Christmas classic. As throw away piece of festive entertainment for the kids, it has just enough magic to keep them enthralled and get them believing in Santa. Just be prepared for a big Christmas list when you get home.

Star Rating for the kids =



Jamie Kelwick

 

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