Movie Review: THE POLAR EXPRESS

THE POLAR EXPRESS

2004
PG


"Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can't see."
-- The Conductor

The Polar Express is a 2004 animated film directed by Robert Zemeckis that was one of the first films to utilize motion capture technology to create an entire feature-length film. The story follows a young boy (voiced by Daryl Sabara) who has started to question the existence of Santa Claus and the spirit of the Christmas holiday. On Christmas Eve, he is awakened by a train rumbling to a stop outside his house. He goes outside to investigate and meets a conductor (voiced by Tom Hanks) who tells him that the train is on its way to the North Pole. The boy reluctantly agrees to go, and he embarks on a journey with a number of other children. The trip is long and dangerous, but once they finally reach the North Pole, they learn that Santa will choose one of them to receive the first Christmas gift of the year.

The first thing you're going to notice about this film is how stunning the visual effects appear to be. Well, stunning for the most part. Upon its release, The Polar Express faced mixed reviews, and a lot of the negative feedback came as a result of the mixed quality of the special effects. While most of the scenery and background effects are simply beautiful, there's something inherently creepy about the human characters that doesn't seem the least bit lifelike. It was so 0ff-putting that it took me out of the film, and I couldn't find a way to form any type of relationship to the characters. I blame the use of motion capture for this particular flaw. While motion capture has worked wonders in the past (see: Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, the Na'Vi in Avatar or, more recently, Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes), there's something a little off with it in this film. Still, it's not necessarily the filmmakers' fault - any time that a new technology is used, there's going to be some setbacks. It took Zemeckis to be the trailblazer, and from his start, more effective means have been found.

Sadly, the storyline and plot don't really make up for the shoddy special effects. The story seems a tad bit stale, and it's definitely rote in comparison to some of the holiday fare we've seen in the past. It so conforms to past Christmastime films that it's easily predicted. You know exactly where it's going from the very start, and that doesn't bode well for any film. A little unpredictability never hurt a movie, but a lot of predictability can kill one. Still, there's enough Christmas spirit in this one to keep a child occupied for the film's duration.

However, this is really a Tom Hanks vehicle. You'll be surprised to see that he occupies six different characters in this film, and it's all thanks to the powers of motion capture. I've already mentioned that he portrays the film's conductor (the character that most looks like the real-life Tom Hanks), but he also gives life to a hobo, Scrooge, the boy's father, the voice of an older boy reminiscing about the experience and Santa Claus himself. If you're a fan of Hanks, you'll recognize his voice in the many incarnations, and although he varies his vocal talent from character to character, it's undeniably him in each respective role. We're also getting bit parts from the likes of Michael Jeter and Steven Tyler, but if you're not paying attention, you're going to miss them.

I think the biggest reason I wanted to watch this film was for the Academy Award-nominated original song titled "Believe," which was sung by Josh Groban. The song became an instant staple during Christmastime, and I heard it over and over again in the holiday seasons that followed this film's release. For those of you unfamiliar, here's the song:

The rest of the film's soundtrack, composed by John Debney, takes its orchestral chords from "Believe," and it proves to be a delightful soundtrack overall.

At the end of the day, The Polar Express is a decent film, but it doesn't quite hold up to the holiday classics of old. The shoddy final result with the motion capture animation kept me out of the film, and the inaccessibility of the film was it's most major downfall. Had the screenplay been a bit stronger, I might've been able to look past the issues with the special effects; however, we had no such luck, so The Polar Express is destined to live in a state of mediocrity.

Movie Review Summary
Grade: B-
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DVD Challenge #24: JURASSIC PARK III

Jurassic Park III
2001
PG-13
Run-time: 1 hour, 32 minutes

Directed by: Joe Johnston
Starring: Sam Neill, William H. Macy, Téa Leoni, Alessandro Nivola, Trevor Morgan, Michael Jeter


When you start hitting the third and fourth films in a franchise, it becomes increasingly more difficult to keep things fresh and entertaining. When Jurassic Park III hit theaters in 2001, I was a twelve-year-old kid looking for a bit of nostalgia. This is the first movie I remember seeing on opening night, and I recall being ecstatic both before and after the film. Now that I've had ten years to process exactly what goes on this film, I've started to notice the flaws in its overall approach.

We're given an interesting storyline from the get-go (I say "interesting" because I'm trying not to be harsh). While it's not the worst screenplay I've ever seen, there's just a little too much ridiculousness for it to be considered good by any standards. The basic storyline is good: a couple's son is lost on the dinosaur-ridden island from The Lost World, and they hire - albeit through lying - Dr. Alan Grant (Neill) to help them find him. As one can imagine, bad things happen, and everyone becomes stuck on the island, setting up a trek for survival. So, the story isn't bad. What's really worthy of some good eye-rolls are the leaps to assumptions that nearly all the characters take. Because some of the science is a little far-fetched, it's hard to assume that Grant and his protégé Billy (Nivola) can instantly know exactly what the dinosaurs are doing. However, they come to their conclusions with lightning speed, but it just plays out as a little over-the-top.

Still, it's nice to have Sam Neill back in the mix after missing his dry humor in the second film. His presence was steady throughout Jurassic Park, and while he's not quite as good in this installment, I think a lot of the issue has to do with the aforementioned screenplay. We also get a couple of good comedic relief performances from the likes of Michael Jeter and William H. Macy, who proves to be the best actor gracing the screen this time around. Macy has continually proven himself to be one of my favorite actors, and while Jurassic Park III is by no means his greatest achievement, he still brings a very fine presence to the film. Without him, it might be a total throwaway.

I think the biggest issue with the film is that it tried too hard to be different from the first two installments. It almost feels like the filmmakers were trying to spice it up, but they just didn't do so in the right way. Their biggest problem was taking out the T-Rex early in the film, settling for a different beast called Spinosaurus. Now, I see where they were going with this decision - the Rex had been the centerpiece of the first two films, but they wanted to bring something bigger and badder to this one. However, I think that fans of the first two films had grown rather fond of the Rex, and to see it simply cast aside after about thirty seconds was a bit of a let-down. At least we still get the Velociraptors, even if they look drastically different from the first two films...

Still, I can't really complain. We asked for a movie about dinosaurs chasing humans, and that's pretty much what we got. Although it doesn't hold a candle to the previous installments, Jurassic Park III still offers the special effects and the chase sequences, and who knows - maybe you'll get a laugh or two (intentional or not) out of it as well.


Awards
2001: Nominee - Best Sequel; Best Young Star; Best Visual Effects