Good and Bad at the Same Time

Rating: 6/10 (14 November 2004)

I don't have a lot of reviews but I'll review this movie. I can see why audiences like and don't like this movie. I like this movie because I saw it in 3D and I like a lot of the scenery. Also, the boy believing in the end was kinda nice. I read this book about 25 years ago or so, and remember that I liked it. I can see kids liking this movie in general, regardless. But things I didn't like about this movie: 1. Most characters were flat, aside from the conductor. They didn't have a lot of uniqueness to them, and there was not a lot of character development. There was not a lot of strong character dynamics going on. And the annoying blond boy w/ the glasses, was just so over the top, he overwhelmed the main characters. A lot of the characters were creepy, like the quiet boy and the black girl. But animation is very difficult, so I can overlook some aspects of the way the characters creepily move. But even besides their movement, they were still creepy, like that quiet boy. 2. The movie had a cheeseball effect to it, like how the quiet boy and the black girl are singing that cheeseball song outside of the train, while they're looking into the night sky. I also thought Aerosmith singing in the end was out of place w/ the whole movie, and was the cheesiest of cheeseballs. 3. The elves were creepy and seemed mean. If I would have made this movie, I would have made the elves cute, jolly, and spiritedly. And I would have had one special elf pop out from the crowd that is memorable. 4. The whole movie is this journey to the north pole, but when they get there, the place is all empty and desolate, that is creepy and depressing. I would have made the place "happening," w/ elves walking around, doing things, etc. 5. There are too many superfluous things about the movie, like the lost ticket, the homeless guy having coffee w/ the kid. Just things like that to stretch the movie out. But I understand this was good for 3-D reasons. 6. The movie was often creepy, like when the main character the little brown haired boy was trapped in that dark room full of puppets. 7. tom hanks playing 6 characters didn't work for me. 8. I wish santa was better looking and more jolly looking and nice looking. Well, if I made the movie I wouldn't have made it creepy, and I would have done more character development, and involvement, and get more of a plot going, and lose all the superfluous stuff, or not spend so much time on it, but still be able to get a good 3d effect. I would have made the friendships more meaningful and special, like the kids in the movie, stand by me, or something. I would have done anything to this movie to make it a good movie, whether it agreed w/ the book or not. sometimes i don't think you can literally translate a book to a movie, you can easily end up w/ a bad movie. i would definitely have not given it the cheeseball effect w/ aerosmith. well things are easier said than done, but that's what i would have done. regardless i was glad i saw this movie, and like i said, i loved the 3/d and the scenery. if u wanna see good plot, character development, script, and animation, go see the incredibles.