The Polar Express
Reviewer: Tim Isaac
Issue 71 December 2005
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The Lowdown: Doubting whether Santa Claus really exists, a young boy is lying awake on Christmas Eve to see whether the big red one shows up. Instead a massive steam engine pulls up outside his house and he is invited on a journey to the North Pole with a bunch of other children, to see where Santa lives.
Review: When this movie didn’t set massive records on its cinema release last year, everyone labelled it a flop, but the fact is worldwide it made nearly $300, which isn’t a bad haul. It was helped by the fact that for the first time ever, a film was released in normal cinemas at the same time as a 3D IMAX version came out. As a result, almost 25% of the US gross came from IMAX screens. The DVD release doesn’t feature any more than two dimensions, but as 3D on a TV is normally a bit dodgy and makes your eyes go wonky, this probably isn’t a bad thing.
The enormously expensive film (thought to have cost around $160 million) uses people in motion capture suits (mostly Tom Hanks), which is then converted into computer graphics, to create a look that’s at once very realistic and oddly fake. For example they apparently spent ages working on the character’s eyes, to give them the same reflectivity and translucence as in nature, but the result is a hero with an oddly unnerving stare and eerily unreal expression. It means that throughout the film the people are impressive to watch on a technical level, while simultaneously not looking quite right. You can’t help but wonder at times whether zombies really would believe in Santa.
However children, who this film I squarely aimed at, aren’t likely to be bothered by this. After all, they’ll sit through something that looks like it was animated by overachieving kindergarteners, so this will be just fine. Likewise, the story isn’t as adult-friendly as Pixar and Dreamwork’s films, but will have just the right amount of magic for children. As always with his films, director Robert Zemeckis has packed the movie with unusual and arresting images, that really can take your breath away at times, while in other moments he appears to have got carried away with the technology, putting in action sequences that are so over the top, they just don’t work.
Of course it’s also Christmassy, and, coincidentally I’m sure, Warner have delayed the release until the festive shopping season is underway. If your young one found this in their stocking on Christmas morning, they certainly wouldn’t be upset, although they might be wondering why Santa’s produced his own corporate video. It’s a movie that really wants to be a Christmas classic, and it’ll probably get its wish, as all the things that appear odd now will almost certainly be forgiven in years to come, and there’s enough imagination and wide-eyed wonder (with a dash of darkness) to ensure kids will be watching it well into the future.
The DVD will be available in both one and two disc version, with the one discer giving you nothing except the film and a trailer. Even though there is a two disc version, you can’t help but wonder why they couldn’t fit them on a single DVD. Only one of the featurettes is more than 10 minutes long (it’s a whopping 11 minutes), while some of the others aren’t even half that. It’s the sort of film where to capture an adult audience as well as kids, it really could have done with something more extensive in the feature department, that looked harder at the technological breakthroughs the film made. Instead it’s a whirlwind trip through the basic rudiments. There’s also ‘Meet The Snow Angels’ where the cast and crew talk about some of their favourite holiday memories and Josh Groban singing the Polar Express theme song ‘Believe’ at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. It’s all okay, but you can’t help but think, ‘so what?’ at the end of it. Normally it’s a no brainer as to whether a one or two disc version is better, but here’s it’s a tough call. Unless features are a vital element to your enjoyment of a DVD, it might be worth going with the cheap single disc edition.
FILM: 7
EXTRAS: 6
Disc Info:
Starring: Tom Hanks, Nona Gaye
Certificate: U
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Distributor: Warner
Original Release: 2004
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Visuals: 2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Running Time: 95 mins
Price: £22.99
Special Features:
Scene Selection
Theatrical Trailer
‘You Look Familiar’ Featurette
‘A Genuine Ticket to Ride’ Featurette
‘True Inspirations: An Author’s Adventure’ Featurette
‘Believe’ Josh Groban Live Music Performance
‘Behind the Scenes of ‘Believe’’ Featurette
‘Meet the Snow Angels’ Featurette
‘Flurry of Effects’ Featurette
Polar Express Interactive Game
DVD-ROM Features
