The Polar Express

[BandSmurf]

So it's a kid's movie, my family went to go see it together tonight, in any case. In case you haven't heard anything about it, it's a computer animated rendition of Chris Van Allsburg's book, The Polar Express. Tom Hanks is the voice of the conductor, and about four or five other characters. Now for my personal opinion of how it turned out!

The music was pretty decent, a bit repetitive for my tastes, but decent for this type of movie. Absolutely loved the fact that one of the elves was Steven Tyler! The animation itself took some getting used to. Unlike a lot of the computer animation I have seen done, the artists went for a realistic approach, rather than an anime approach. The characters wound up looking kinda waxy at first, but I because accustomed to it quickly, especially since the detail was freakin' incredible. The characters themselves were portrayed well for the most part, the fleshing out of the characters worked in the same way that the book had them being, if the character was in the book. The additional characters that were added, as well as how the scriptor expanded on the book was very well done too. Nothing in the book was left out, and nothing that they added took away from the original story. While some of the lines were cliched, and while some of the scenes went a little overboard on the humour, it was still well done.

My absolute favorite thing about this movie though, was the incredible attention to detail. The artists for the film took every single one of the original illustrations and included them in the movie, and got all the details I can remember exactly right, from the type of wrapping paper used on the box, to the plaits in one of the kids hair. That sort of detail is what impresses me, and I can't wait to go see it again, hopefully this time in IMAX!

~BandSmurf

 

[mzarynn]

One of my elementary schools went to see this movie last Monday. I haven't read the book but I loved the movie. It looks as though it was made for an IMAX theater. All the kids were enraptured with the movie. Only one child got out of their seat the entire time, and only because he was having a coughing fit. That includes Kindgergarteners! We were able to take the field trip because the book could tie into classroom lesson plans. Not to mention it is based in Grand Rapids, MI which is only a couple hours away. The soundtrack even included one of our songs we are singing on the Winter Concert.

 

[Danny McG]

Old thread but hey, I've only spotted it.
Our local cinema ran this as a kids special screening just before Christmas 2024.

I went along with two of our fosterlings and they loved it, I hadn't seen it for years and I really got into it as well.

The special screening thing was an intermission but, instead of the ice cream person coming out, Father Christmas and two elves came out and got all the kids to line up and then gave them a chocolate selection box each. (Lots of pauses for photos!)

Of course, by the time the Polar Express finally ended, there were little 'uns everywhere with their faces and hands covered in chocolate

 

[KGeo777]

I thought the Hot Chocolate waiters in the movie were creepy the way they were jumping around in uncanny valley land.

 

[Danny McG]

the way they were jumping around in uncanny valley land

It was uncanny valley most of the way through.
Weird when the train conductor took his hat off and it was Tom Hanks with a bald head!

 

[Cthulhu.Science]

Moral to the story:
Hey kids, if a creepy old dude shows up at your window in the middle of the night with a fancy ride and promises of candy and adventure, GO GO GO - you'll have a great time.