My wife had two really big reasons for picking up The Polar Express on DVD last weekend; 1) Josh Groban performs the title song ‘Believe’, and 2) the title song ‘Believe’ is performed by Josh Groban. I thought number 2 was supposed to be the fact that Tom Hanks features very prominently in the picture, but apparently even a two-time Academy Award winner can’t compete with ‘Joshie’ (as Shauna calls him). Unfortunately for my wife, this is not a review of Mr. Groban. I’m pleased to let the rest of you know this is a review of the movie.The Polar Express is an endearing and, hopefully, enduring Christmas story about a little boy who is having doubts in Santa Clause, elves, the North Pole and generally Christmas itself. On December 24th a magnificent train pulls up outside his house where the conductor informs him that their destination is in fact, the North Pole. It’s all-aboard the Polar Express where the Hero Boy (credited as such) experiences a number of exciting adventures, meets numerous interesting characters and ultimately has to decide for himself whether he really believes or not.
The Polar Express was created entirely with computer graphic animation. Impressively, Tom Hanks performs the motion capture for virtually every character in the film and provides the voice talent for most of them as well. The animation alone is worth a look at this film. It’s important to remember that the film is based on the children’s book, written by Chris Van Allsburg, and the animation is based on the illustrations within. I’ve read a couple of reviews for The Polar Express where the writers thought the character animation was somewhat creepy – almost real but too cartoony. What those critics failed to understand is that the animation is intended to look like that – an accurate CG representation of the artistic drawings in the book. Funny how some people expect an animated children’s book to look more “realistic” than the illustrations themselves.
In addition to looking beautiful, the motion capture is breathtaking. There were several moments where Shauna and I said to each other “That is SO Tom Hanks”. And these were moments where there was no dialogue. The technology for capturing facial movement and expression is incredible and really brings the film to life. I bet Tom had a lot of fun making this movie.Overall the story is just what you would expect from a children’s Christmas tale. It’s very light-hearted and with few, if any, dull moments. The story jumps from scene to scene, keeping the audience engaged and interested. I felt there were maybe one too many ‘roller coaster’ type scenes, but these are the kinds of things that kids would love to watch over and over, so I can’t complain too much. There are plenty of gags to keep adults entertained and the wonderful message of believing is here, as it should be in any Christmas movie. While primarily focused on Santa Clause, there are some not-so-subtle references to belief in something more. The title quote for this blog sums it up quite nicely.
The DVD is presented in Anamorphic 2.35:1 video which is perfect for showing off the brilliant colors and detail. As with any computer animated film it’s difficult to find anything wrong with the video. There’s none of that pesky graininess that can sometimes plague live-action films (though not so much with newer releases), nor is there any blurring or color separation. This is one of those films that is just as wonderful to look at as it is to watch. Wait…er, you know what I mean. The audio is presented via a Dolby Digital 5.1 track and there were actually a couple of moments where both Shauna and I thought a DTS track would have been much better. One the things that DTS seems to do better than Dolby is allowing voices to be heard distinctly during musical pieces. It was hard to understand some of the lyrics during the more lively musical numbers and I believe a DTS track would have solved that little problem. Otherwise, the sound is more than sufficient – the train sounds like a train, the people sound like people and the thunderous, cracking, disastrous frozen lake scene sounds like you’re on a thunderous, cracking, disastrous frozen lake.The two-disc edition comes with a second disc of bonus features, which I haven’t had a chance to watch yet. Surprise, surprise. However, the bonus disc does seem to be chock full of all the kinds of stuff I’m interested in seeing, including a featurette on the motion capture technology used to re-create Tom Hanks’ many performances. Several other ‘making-of’ features are included, as well as Josh Groban’s live performance of ‘Believe’ at the Greek theatre (which Shauna will probably watch even though she already owns Josh Groban’s entire performance ‘Live at the Greek’). There are even a couple of games for the kiddies to play with.
The Polar Express is a great Christmas story that is a delight to watch and I’m sure would be enjoyed by any child out there. That alone is enough to make it a great choice for one of your own movie nights. Tom Hanks’ superb performance, wonderful music, and incredible visual effects are just the icing on the cake, but help to make this film a sure Christmas classic. Try not to be too serious and I’m sure you’ll love The Polar Express.The Polar Express gets 8 jingle-bells (out of 10).
Merry Christmas to all, and to all some good trivia.
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