Depressing

Rating: 3/10 (6 January 2008)

I watched this movie on TV during the Christmas holiday and I found it boring and slightly depressing. Afterwards, out of curiosity, I read some on-line reviews and I was amazed to see that some critics described it as a "modern classic" which will be watched over and over. By whom? I have no desire to go through another session of watching "Polar express" ever again. What I did not like about it: 1) the mix of real actors playing one (or more) parts and the half-real, half-cartoon look. It is creepy, even if it allows for some special effects (like the train sliding over ice) which would probably be a lot more expensive if done for a real-real movie. However, movies are not any better just because they are stuffed with special effects. 2) the length. This movie stretches on forever, even if the story is very short: boy discover that Santa exists, because magic train brings him to Santa central. Consequently, one cannot help but notice that most of the adventures are there just to fill time: the ghost, the lost ticket, the carriage that takes the three kids for an unexpected journey through the creepy Santa village, inhabited by the weird elfs... All irrelevant to the final purpose. 3) the believing-in-Santa message. Just why believing in Santa makes you a better person escapes my imagination (unless we want to border into dangerous territory and suggest that believing in anything irrational is better than not believing). Finally, I guess it would have been impossible to do such a movie without the usual "screaming kids on fast vehicle" scene, which seems to be beloved by the American public. That scene is so incredibly boring, I think I saw it in a million movies and yet it does pop up over and over again. For that scene only I would have disliked this movie that is not as innovative and amazing as some critics described. In fact, the only innovative thing is the creepy technique. The story itself is two lines and the moral is puzzling.