Great Technical Achievement But Characters Aren't Life-like

Rating: 8/10 (10 November 2011)

The Polar Express is a motion capture computer-animated film based on the children's book of the same title by Chris Van Allsburg. It was written, produced, and directed by Robert Zemeckis. The film stars Daryl Sabara, Nona Gaye, Jimmy Bennett, and Eddie Deezen, with Tom Hanks in six distinct roles.The human characters in the film were animated using live action performance capture technique, with the exception of the waiters who dispense hot chocolate on the train, because their feats were impossible for live actors to achieve. Performance capture technology incorporates the movements of live actors into animated characters.
The Polar Express revolves around Billy, who longs to believe in Santa Claus but finds it quite difficult to do so, what with his family's dogged insistence that all of it, from the North Pole, to the elves, to the man himself, is all just a myth. This all changes, however, on Christmas Eve, when a mysterious train visits Billy in the middle of the night, promising to take him and a group of other lucky children to the North Pole for a visit with Santa. The train's conductor along with the other passengers help turn Billy's crisis in faith into a journey of self-discovery.
The Polar Express is obviously visually stunning overall but the animation for the human characters isn't lifelike enough and the story is not engaging from at all.The viewer may find it not to care with the characters at all as the movie lacks energy and vitality.
Overall,The Polar Express is a great technical achievement in cinema but the story as well as the characters are empty and far from absorbing.