I read Holly E. Ordway's DVD review of The Polar Express: Two-Disc Widescreen Edition at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=18702 and... I found that I had a very different experience with this film. I have attached a review I wrote for myself when the film came out last year if you'd like to follow my thinking in any detail. The three major points of disagreement are that while the art direction was awesome, the rendering of faces was seriously wrong-headed. I also thought that the "moral" about believing, as expressed in this film, was indefensible. And I felt that very young children (the target audience for Chris Van Allsburg's book) ought not see this movie because the character of the tramp is far too sinister.
mzupeman2
11-22-05, 04:02 PM
Well I'm new to the whole widescreen TV thing so, I dunno. I have bars when I watch this movie... which is fine, I understand OAR and all but, it says it's enhanced for 16:9 TV's... doesn't that mean it should fill up the whole screen?
pro-bassoonist
11-22-05, 04:10 PM
.... it says it's enhanced for 16:9 TV's... doesn't that mean it should fill up the whole screen?
NO!
That is why you have different aspect ratios.....
Ciao,
Pro-B
Randy Miller III
11-22-05, 04:15 PM
Well I'm new to the whole widescreen TV thing so, I dunno. I have bars when I watch this movie... which is fine, I understand OAR and all but, it says it's enhanced for 16:9 TV's... doesn't that mean it should fill up the whole screen?
Only films with original aspect ratios at or around 1.78:1 (including 1.85:1 and 1.66:1) should fit a widescreen TV just about perfectly. Films with original aspect ratios of 2.35:1 (like Polar Express) should have thin black bars on the top and bottom---much thinner than they'd be on a standard TV, that is---while 1.33:1 films (commonly known as "full frame") should have bars on the sides. Does that make sense?
mzupeman2
11-22-05, 04:57 PM
Completely. Thanks.
Pasolini
06-20-06, 02:24 AM
Just got around to watching this. Apart from the quality of the film and animation, which I liked but had a few minor problems with, I cannot comprehend how a product sold as a feature-packed '2-disc special edition' which actually contains about 18 minutes of lame, repetitive, filler-filled making-of docs shot at the level of the average disney channel commercial break could possibly get the 'dvd talk collector's edition' rating? If the quality of the film/sound/transfer is what knocks it out of the park, then why not rate the single disc as the collector's edition, rather than making it look like this second disc is anything but the worst of all 2nd discs (next to the lame 2nd disc accompanying Spirited Away et al)
Buy: