A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: The Polar Express

Date Viewed: 11/27/04, 11/22/05

Details:

Voice and armature talent: Tom Hanks

Leslie Harter Zemeckis

Eddie Deezen

Nona M. Gaye

Peter Scolari

Screenplay and directed by: Robert Zemeckis

Score: +

The Review: Yet another "classic" that grew up after I did (by Chris Van Allsburg); when originally published, this children's book was awarded the 1986 Caldecott medal. Yet another in the vein of "Christmas spirit" and "believing is seeing" holiday themes ("...remember, the spirit of Christmas is in your heart..."), this time animated with an unusual technique never before used for a full length feature. The full-body motion capture armatures used work well for large muscle groups, but have problems with nuanced facial expressions; as a result, not all the characters have fully animated features. Those upon which the movie focuses, however, are more fully detailed.

The mood and texture of the on-screen graphics offer some semblance to pastels, which happened to be the medium of the original illustrations in the hardcover edition. The scenery creation & animation are well-done.

This work should get some award for word and concept "amplification" -- the original book was only a few tens of pages long, more artwork than narrative, probably only a few hundred words, with a bare skeleton crew of characters. In its translation to the silver screen, it has been grossly expanded into a feature-length movie with scenes and characters well-beyond the original author's invention.

(1-Jan-05)

(Addendum for IMAX 3D version)

About a year after the release of the (flat) Polar Express, the IMAX-3D version has appeared, and it looks like it is intended to reappear, on schedule, in an attempt to become a holiday classic.

When I saw the initial release, I exclaimed that there were numerous sections where the feeling of flight or open spaces called out loudly for a 3D version. Be careful what you wish for. The 3D version works quite well, in all the places I would not have thought it mattered; but it was less successful in those places I most waited for. The coolest effect is being right in front of the cow-catcher when the engine stops!

After getting over the wonder of 3D, it faded into the background on many occasions -- but what came to the fore is the observation, made by many reviewers in the first pass, that most of the characters' faces are stern, dour, and unsmiling. This gets a bit wearing the second time through, and doesn't bode well for a would-be "classic."

(22-Jan-06)

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