Ten years ago, Chris Van Allsburg’s Christmastime children’s book, The Polar Express, was adapted to the big screen in the form of a motion caption computer animated film.
This unique animation technique involves actors portraying characters on film that is used to generated computer-animated visuals (I think some of the most successful examples of this can be found in Middle Earth: Gollum from the Lord of the Rings and Smaug from The Hobbit; honorable mention to the Na’vi in Avatar, but that’s another blog). Motion capture is the modern and technology assisted relative of rotoscoping, which is an animation technique that traced over live footage with hand drawn animation; this was notably used in the creation of Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. But I digress.
I first viewed The Polar Express in the 2005 Christmas season, when my family rented the film (back in the good old days of Blockbuster), since I’m sure we had already maxed out on our animated movie theatrical release attendance by November of 2004. So, at the time I originally watched the film, I was 14, and had a pretty average education of animated films. I enjoyed traditional cell animation of my beloved classic Disney films the most, but was warming up to the idea of computer animation, thanks mostly to Pixar. I liked Christmas movies, I liked musicals and I liked other adaptions of some of my favorite children’s books to film.
But I did not like The Polar Express. I actually remember saying that I hated it about halfway through the film. And then confirming with my family that I indeed hated it very much by the end of the film. Of course this was a rather strong opinion, but do 14 year olds really have weak opinions? I had three main arguments to support this review:
1. The characters were very confusing. Only Santa Claus identified with a name from the beginning of the film. The boy is never named, nor is young girl who becomes his friend. However, halfway through we learn the name of a secondary character, Billy, and the protagonist’s sister, Sarah, at the end of the film. The nameless characters were consistent with the book, but I thought that if they wanted to name some, they should’ve named them all, especially in the case of the extended plot.
2. There was a lot of liberty taken with the plot, which resulted in a film that felt really long. The first time I saw it, I swore The Polar Express was three hours long. It’s not. It’s 100 minutes. But when I first watched it, I found the extended sequences on the train and in Santa’s factory to be unfaithful to the book and unnecessary.
3. The character animation was creepy. Something about the characters’ faces – especially their eyes, was just off. They looked somewhat like a cross between Sims characters and Old Navy mannequins, which was a far cry from the cute and cuddly Pixar characters I was accustomed to.
This evening, I returned from a holiday party with family friends to watch the final 20 minutes of Home Alone on ABC Family’s 25 Days of Christmas (more on this later). When I saw that The Polar Express was up next, I shared with my friends that I did not like the film. They were outraged and insisted that I give it a second chance. And I’m really glad I did, because I definitely enjoyed it more this time. So here’s my revisions to those original three points:
1. The names or characters, of lack thereof, were really not that noticeable this time around. Perhaps I knew to expect this, and tried to ignore it, but I found the characters engaging and well-emoted so much so that names probably wouldn’t have changed this. I also further appreciated the six characters portrayed by the amazing Tom Hanks.
2. Even with ABC Family’s promotions and commercials, the film was only 2 hours long. I ridiculously exaggerated the length of the film and probably elongated it even more over the last 9 years. And this time, I loved the extended scenes – they added action, excitement and innovation to a simple story. Also, my theme park imagination was going off the charts with excitement at the possibility for a train of the tracks roller coaster, a series of slides from Santa’s worksop and a fast ride inspired by the mail-like shoots throughout the North Pole.
3. The character animation is still not my favorite. Motion capture has definitely improved over the last 10 years, so the style does feel out dated and still a little off. However, I previously overlooked the value of the scenery, which is awesome animation! The exterior of the frosty landscape during the train journey is perfectly chilling in every way, and the North Pole is a colorful and creative adaptation of the famous location.
Overall, I’m really glad that I gave The Polar Express a second chance. It’s an inventive retelling of the classic story, and still carries the wonderful Christmas message of believing. It definitely made me feel the holiday spirit!
Happy holidays, everyone!
{Emily's Flip Book} 