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POLAR EXPRESS review thread...

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POLAR EXPRESS review thread...

Old 11-10-04, 09:57 AM
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POLAR EXPRESS review thread...

Ebert

'The Polar Express' is a movie for more than one season; it will become a perennial, shared by the generations. It has a haunting, magical quality because it has imagined its world freshly and played true to it, sidestepping all the tiresome Christmas cliches that children have inflicted on them this time of year.

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Film Jerk

"'Express' is a light holiday confection, brimming with Christmas flavor and adolescent fantasies, and the story marks a ripe opportunity this season for a little Santa worship and seasonal festivities. Judge by those criteria alone, and the picture is near perfect."


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Old 11-10-04, 10:20 AM
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CNN.com

It's a shame. "The Polar Express" wants to be an uplifting holiday film, but it tries too hard to make its point. Moreover, the technology just hasn't caught up to the lofty ambitions of the hundreds of talented people behind this film. And when it comes to the characters within, the film looks like a remake of "The Children of the Corn."

Better to let the "Express" go on its way.

review link
Old 11-10-04, 10:39 AM
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Roger Ebert actually said something good about a 3-D movie, which is quite a leap for him.

He usually grumbles worse than Norma Desmond bashing the talkies in SUNSET BOULEVARD.
Old 11-10-04, 11:26 AM
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Originally posted by JLyon1515
CNN.com

It's a shame. "The Polar Express" wants to be an uplifting holiday film, but it tries too hard to make its point. Moreover, the technology just hasn't caught up to the lofty ambitions of the hundreds of talented people behind this film. And when it comes to the characters within, the film looks like a remake of "The Children of the Corn."

Better to let the "Express" go on its way.

review link
I will judge for myself on this one. The movie looks really good!
Old 11-10-04, 11:58 AM
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Seeing as how it's based on a children's book, I don't really expect much.
Old 11-10-04, 12:46 PM
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From the NY Times:

Directed by Robert Zemeckis, who wrote the film with William Broyles Jr., "The Polar Express" is a grave and disappointing failure, as much of imagination as of technology. Turning a book that takes a few minutes to read into a feature-length film presented a significant hurdle that the filmmakers were not able to clear.
Old 11-10-04, 01:32 PM
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It just looks creepy and wayyyy too sugar-sweet for my tastes. I'd rather see "The Incredibles" again.
Old 11-10-04, 03:08 PM
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Originally posted by Dr. DVD
Seeing as how it's based on a children's book, I don't really expect much.
A book that is only 34 pages long.
Old 11-10-04, 06:19 PM
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Here's a repost of my review from seeing a sneak peek on Saturday:

I saw a sneak peek afternoon of "The Polar Express" today.

I was very interested to see it due to the combination of using motion-capture and textured CGI for rendering the entire film, as it offers the director an enormous amount of freedom in utilizing the actor's acting for each role in the film, and placing it into the film from any camera angle possible.

Well, I came away from this "exercise" mildly bored from the film. There are a lot of "Cool, look what we can do with this technology!" scenes that really don't add to the meat of the story for the film, but just feel like padding out a story that didn't need to be 90 minutes long, or even 60 minutes long.

What sort of bothered me about this new motion-capture/CGI technique is that the eyes for the characters just don't look or move "right", they just have that doll-like sparkle to them, not a more realistic feel to them, and it distracted me to no end.

The other thing I wasn't crazy about was Tom Hanks' voices for multiple characters because his voice is too distinctive at parts, and it destroys the illusion of different characters, different voices.

I'd suggest ratcheting down your expectations if you plan on seeing this "experiment" of a film.

I give it 2.5 stars, or a grade of C+.
Old 11-10-04, 06:29 PM
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The CNN review was highly critical of the technology.

Not live action, and not totally computer-generated animation either, "Polar Express" uses motion- -- or performance- -- capture technology. This process allows a filmmaker to use actual human beings acting out their roles on an empty soundstage, and then merges them into a three-dimensional computer-generated world.

Without getting mired down in technological gobbledygook, this complicated system involves the performers dressing in skintight bodysuits with hundreds of infrared sensors covering the suits and their faces. These sensors then relay the smallest nuance of movement back to a computer, where it's all translated into human motion -- and emotion. (The same process was used for Andy Serkis' portrayal of Gollum in "The Lord of the Rings.")

The results are breathtakingly realistic except for two vital facial areas: the inside of the mouth and the eyes, where the sensors cannot be placed. Therefore, these areas have to be computer generated. It just doesn't work, and this fact is called into sharp relief since the faces of the actors are so incredibly expressive.

To quote an old cliche, the eyes are the windows to the soul -- so these characters look soul dead. When the characters are experiencing extreme emotions, such as fear or surprise, the animation seems to work. But when the characters are still -- and processing information from each other -- they look lifeless.

To put it another way, you can knock, but nobody's home.

The mouth action is also less than overwhelming, since the characters' tongues look like slabs of meat when they speak their lines.
I felt the same way looking at the trailer. I prefered the look of The Incredibles, which went for a more stylized look.
Old 11-10-04, 06:32 PM
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My office gave us free AMC passes to see this. But since it's a generic pass...I dunno. I may end up using it to just rewatch the Incredibles. hehehe.
Old 11-10-04, 11:14 PM
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Not sure if some people just aren't in the mood for this flick or if I'm easily entertained...but I loved it. The movie looked fantastic and the characters really came to life for me... it was much more "intense" in some scenes than I was expecting and now I'm gonna make the trek to catch this in 3-D for sure... Zemeckis and Hanks are a great team.

MATT
Old 11-11-04, 09:23 AM
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Originally posted by mdc3000
Not sure if some people just aren't in the mood for this flick or if I'm easily entertained...but I loved it. The movie looked fantastic and the characters really came to life for me... it was much more "intense" in some scenes than I was expecting and now I'm gonna make the trek to catch this in 3-D for sure... Zemeckis and Hanks are a great team.
Amen.
Old 11-11-04, 09:56 AM
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The boston globe gave it 1 star. And they usually like everything. Of course, I will see it before I judge.
Old 11-11-04, 06:07 PM
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A book that is only 34 pages long.
Jerry Bruckheimer can make a movie that's loud, has lots of "cool" catchwords and phrases, and with lots of things blowing up from a book half that length.
Old 11-11-04, 06:14 PM
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I liked it, maybe not as much as The Incredibles, but I don't like many movies as much as The Incredibles. The motion capture was less creepy than I expected, and gave the whole movie a sense of mystery. It avoided being saccharine, except when the kids sing, but I'll let that slide. The high point for me was the hot chocolate scene - complete insanity. In fact, I don't know if it was intentional, but the sound design and art direction made this a pretty weird movie. And I mean that in a good way.
Old 11-12-04, 08:28 AM
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Ebert's 4-star review here.

"The Polar Express" is a movie for more than one season; it will become a perennial, shared by the generations. It has a haunting, magical quality because it has imagined its world freshly and played true to it, sidestepping all the tiresome Christmas cliches that children have inflicted on them this time of year.

Note: I've seen the movie twice, once in the IMAX 3-D process that will be available in larger markets. New, oversized 3-D glasses, big enough to fit over your own glasses, light enough so you can forget them, made this the best 3-D viewing experience I've ever had. If there's a choice, try the IMAX version. Or go twice. This is a movie that doesn't wear out.
Old 11-12-04, 05:05 PM
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I just got back from the Polar Express. I was really disappointed. There was no character development at all. I don't believe a single character in the film had a name. No explanation of why or how this kid lost his ability to believe. No backstory. And the young girl seemed so upbeat and positive and seemed to have a Christmas spirit--why in the world, then, was she on the train? The animation was excellent...but it just felt so hollow to me. I wanted to like this movie soooooooo much. What a let down.

Normally you'll get conversation between characters that helps the characters in the film understand more about each other and their situations, but also enlighten the audience--there was none of that. I just felt way too distant to everyone on screen and in the end didn't care too much in regards to what happened to them. The train conductor punching tickets like "Lead" and "Learn"...come on, that was the obvious way out for Zemeckis and crew on that. I wanted more.
Old 11-12-04, 09:04 PM
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Originally posted by PacMan2006
I just got back from the Polar Express. I was really disappointed. There was no character development at all. I don't believe a single character in the film had a name. No explanation of why or how this kid lost his ability to believe. No backstory. And the young girl seemed so upbeat and positive and seemed to have a Christmas spirit--why in the world, then, was she on the train? The animation was excellent...but it just felt so hollow to me. I wanted to like this movie soooooooo much. What a let down.

Normally you'll get conversation between characters that helps the characters in the film understand more about each other and their situations, but also enlighten the audience--there was none of that. I just felt way too distant to everyone on screen and in the end didn't care too much in regards to what happened to them. The train conductor punching tickets like "Lead" and "Learn"...come on, that was the obvious way out for Zemeckis and crew on that. I wanted more.

If you wanted more, may I suggest PAYING ATTENTION to the movie? That might've helped your argument.

The kid losing his ability to believe is explicitly addressed in the opening of the film, how did you miss that?
Old 11-12-04, 09:35 PM
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Got there a little bit late, but enough to not miss a whole lot. What did I miss?

Either way, character development was absolutely awful. Obviously it was done on purpose as Zemeckis and crew just didn't forget, but I didn't care about anyone on screen at all--and they are KIDS for crying out loud.
Old 11-12-04, 10:40 PM
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Originally posted by PacMan2006
Either way, character development was absolutely awful.
That sucks. Don't you hate it when a kids movie does not have good character development. You can already here the kids coming out the movie telling their parents how it was a good movie but it had weak character development.
Old 11-12-04, 10:51 PM
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Yes Worms...I was looking for some deep, psychological development. Give me a break.

No character even had a name. This could work--in dreams a lot of the times we don't refer to people by names--but it just was poorly implemented into this movie. I like Zemeckis movies, but this was disappointing.

I cannot believe you think that a movie--regardless of whether it's for kids or adults--doesn't need to provide some depth to their characters. That's movie making 101. Check out anything from Bambi to The Lion King to Toy Story.
Old 11-12-04, 10:58 PM
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Originally posted by PacMan2006
No character even had a name.

I cannot believe you think that a movie--regardless of whether it's for kids or adults--doesn't need to provide some depth to their characters. That's movie making 101. Check out anything from Bambi to The Lion King to Toy Story.
The characters were not named in the book either. That's why Zemeckis gave all the kids distinct personalities. A wonderful directorial touch, going beyond "moviemaking 101."

Ug, stop reading Entertainment Weekly...

Apparently you gave up on the film simply because they didn't name the kids. That's fine. But I strongly disagree.

EXPRESS isn't a cookie-cutter family film, and I sense that's irritating people. IMO, there is lovely "depth" to the entire film in the form of holiday magic. Much like the bell of the climax, either you hear it/see it or you don't.
Old 11-13-04, 12:14 AM
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Alright...I'll post a little bit more in detail.

Originally posted by scott shelton
The characters were not named in the book either. That's why Zemeckis gave all the kids distinct personalities. A wonderful directorial touch, going beyond "moviemaking 101."

Ug, stop reading Entertainment Weekly...

Apparently you gave up on the film simply because they didn't name the kids. That's fine. But I strongly disagree.

EXPRESS isn't a cookie-cutter family film, and I sense that's irritating people. IMO, there is lovely "depth" to the entire film in the form of holiday magic. Much like the bell of the climax, either you hear it/see it or you don't.
Yes, I know the characters had no names in the book. But Spiderman didn't have organic web shooters in the comics. Sometimes making changes helps the transition from book to screen. I'm sure it worked fine for a short book, but names would've been a nice addition to personalizing the characters.

My other problem, like I stated before, was the lack of depth and substance behind the characters. You had, in one scene, the little boy who remained on the train while everyone was lining up for Santa in two lines. The little girl and boy go back into the train to see why he won't come out. He then states something to the effect of, "Christmas just doesn't work for me" and he looks saddened. But come on, you can't just throw around statements like this. There needs to be a reason why Christmas doesn't work for him. There should've been some kind of revelation to the characters and the audience that, for some reason, he lost his love for Christmas and stopped believing in Santa Claus. The kid seemed about six years old, there's no reason why his belief in Santa should be gone.

Then on top of it all, you have the little girl giving the kid a pep talk about what Christmas means. She states something to the effect that Christmas time is wonderful and is about family and love, etc. My question is...if she apparently has the Christmas spirit/belief, why in the world is she on this train to begin with?

I just felt the characters were physically talking and walking, but there was no substance to them. They just seemed physically there, but when an emotional scene would come up, there was nothing I could fall back on and therefore feel sympathy or even empathy for anyone on screen. In short, it felt like the whole movie and everyone in it was just going through the motions because I knew nothing about them.

I can see how this type of moviemaking would seem attractive--it's a variation on the norm--but it fell short. I would've felt better if there was just a couple scenes involving the kids sharing their feelings on why they are indeed on this train. It wouldn't have to be an extremely overt, interview session type of situation at all. Just something where I could relate and understand these kids--their different backgrounds and lives that, for some reason, have caused them to be skeptical of Santa's existence. I understand the obvious reason is them getting older...fine...show that. Show them maybe cracking jokes among each other--trying to dispell the idea of Santa. Just do something--make me care about them so that when they indeed DO see Santa, I feel they have changed and grown from the start to the end.

Even with the train conductor punching the tickets at the start and end of the film. I thought this was setting up something special. It turned out to be things that I either already knew--like the little girl was a leader and has that trait/quality--or things that I felt the writers came up with because they couldn't figure out anything else. It just felt like lazy writing and storytelling. Punching "Learn" into a ticket...come on...we already know--or at least we are supposed to infer--that these kids learned on this journey of imagination and belief.

I give everyone involved an "A" for effort and I'm happy they attempted this. It just didn't connect with me. And I wasn't in the movie theater taking notes on why this wasn't working for me. These are all just my reactions from after I exited the cinema. Some may think all this is irrelevant, but character development matters no what genre of film it is.
Old 11-13-04, 09:40 AM
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The little girl had the weirdest dead eyes in the bunch.

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