Your next stop: the Polar Express

By: Dan Curlik

Posted: 11/5/04

With every new holiday season a whole new series of Christmas films hits the theaters, poised to win the affection of us all. Unfortunately, the majority of them usually fall short. Clichéd plots, stereotypical characters, and slapstick comedy make up much of what has become the Christmas genre. In a time dominated by films such as A Christmas Story, Bad Santa and National Lampoons Christmas' Vacation it is a rarity to see a seasonal film designed for the whole family.

Much to my surprise however, The Polar Express refused to fall into the typical holes these films fall into, forgoing the violence and crude humor that films such as Home Alone are famous for. Instead it gave the audience a truly emotional ride: laughter and suspense, joy and sadness are all presented in this wonderful ride. Then again, since it was created by the amazing teamwork of Robert Zemeckis and Tom Hanks (Forest Gump and Castaway) and based upon the short award winning children's book of the same name, one should really expect nothing but greatness from this film.

Just as the book opens, the film begins with a young boy questioning the existence of Santa Claus. Little does he know though that soon he will be presented with undeniable proof of the jolly red man's existence, a round trip to the North Pole itself via The Polar Express. On the way there though he will meet a variety of colorful characters, including a hobo who lives on top of the train, a young yet adventurous little girl, and a shy little boy. While these characters were not in the book version, some creative license is expected as Zemeckis changed a fifteen-page picture book into an hour and a half long film.

The film itself is set into two main parts, the train ride and the North Pole. The segments involving the train provide much of the action packed sequences, a musical interlude or two, and some light humor. What makes the portions with the train so enthralling, though, is the animation of the environment itself. Watching the train skid across a frozen lake and careen down the side of a mountain will leave you simply astounded, as will scenes later in the North Pole. One scene in particular that comes to mind is ceremony that is performed before the arrival of Santa Claus. Watching an entire city of elves celebrate in unison just has certain magic to it.

The beauty of the animation does not stop at the environment though, the characters as well have a very unique look to them. Created through a new method of animating known as "performance capture." In a nutshell, through this method the entire film is recorded as the actors act out the entire film. This leads to the characters having a much more realistic look to them then normal CGI, and also made several of the scenes in the film mirror the pictures in the book quite nicely. Combining these realistic looking characters, with the amazing camera work of Zemeckis truly gives The Polar Express a feel of realism.

Unfortunately, this animation style is not without its flaws. At times the expressions on the characters seem flat, especially that of the little boy. However, this is easily offset by the fantastic voice acting of Hanks and others that make certain the audience knows the underlying emotions of the characters.

Bringing together all of the visual elements of the film are the beautiful musical score by Glen Ballard and Alan Sillvestri. The score includes some traditional songs redone, such as "Silver Bells" and "White Christmas" as well as a fantastic song from Josh Groban titled "Believe."

The true beauty of The Polar Express though will not be witnessed in your typical theater. As if doing the entire film in motion capture wasn't ground-breaking enough, the film will open November 10 in both regular format, as well as IMAX 3D. Unfortunately the 3D version has not been shown yet so all that can be made are assumptions. However, seeing as how wonderful the film look on a standard size, 2D screen watching it in IMAX 3D will be simply amazing.

Overall The Polar Express is looking to be one of the best Christmas films of the year, providing entertainment the entire family can enjoy, while at the same time giving a wonderful message of belief and joy in Christmas that children, and even some adults, will take from the theater. Remember this next time you sit at home and put on Earnest Saves Christmas, or the next marathon of A Christmas Story; The Polar Express is both a new and innovative film in the Christmas genre.......?

Rating: 4 triangles