Geoff's Movie Reviews

The Polar Express tells the story of an unnamed young boy who, as Christmastime approaches, becomes a little downhearted as he grows doubtful about the existence of Santa Claus. On the night of Christmas Eve however, a large steam-powered express-train mysteriously pulls up outside his house. The boy reluctantly boards the "Polar Express" and, after making a few stops along the way to pick up other Christmastime doubters, travels up to the North Pole, where he comes face-to-face with Santa, the elves, and their vast elaborate toy-making workshop.

There is some really great stuff in Robert Zemeckis's new film, but there's also some bad stuff, too. I'll start with the bad. For me, there's something odd about the near-photo-realistic CG animated films that I've seen (Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within being the other film that comes to mind). I don't deny that they look great -- it's really amazing how life-like they look, actually -- but there are tiny unnatural subtleties in the movements of the characters and their facial expressions that betray their photo-realistic look and make them all seem just a little bit odd. Couple that with the film's mediocre voice-acting, and the result is that I always felt like I was watching a really poorly-acted movie. Oh, and the know-it-all nerdy kid was one of the most annoying characters I've ever seen.

For roughly the first third of The Polar Express, as the train picks up its passengers and begins its north-bound trek, I kept wondering why they bothered to do the whole film in CG. It seemed as though it would've been better to use real actors and real sets -- or maybe real actors inserted into fantastical not-quite-real-looking CG sets. But then the film's 'good stuff' started happening: as the Polar Express train approaches the North Pole, its path becomes more and more treacherous, and there are some truly amazing action sequences involving the terrible terrain that it must cross, and freedom of the computer-generated world is fully explored to great effect with the film's 'go-anywhere' camera.

The cool visuals continue once inside the North Pole. Santa's workshop as depicted in The Polar Express is an incredible and imaginative creation, and by this time I had all but forgotten my initial complaints about the bizarre CG characters.

I think this is one of those films that will last a long time as a Christmas favourite, especially for children who see it while still young. It's imaginative and wonderful to look at, and I'd bet that those young kids who see The Polar Express will grow up always thinking, that's what Santa's workshop is supposed to look like!