Cynics should learn from this movie

Rating: Null/10 (24 November 2004)

Many of us look fondly back on the holiday evenings when the CBS Special Presentation logo would spin and then reveal such puppetoon classics as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer or Santa Claus is Coming to Town.
Yet, all the bad reviews for The Polar Express state how poor the animation is. How the eyes don't look quite right. That the North Pole looks like a fascist regime. Yet, we can't remember how the Munchkins or the Oompa Loompas acted around their guardians. Did the eyes in our puppetoon favorites look real? Did any of our favorite Christmas specials ever have tons of characterization?
The Polar Express is a sterling movie. The 1940's/Victorian feel gives it what I call "creepy warmth." The Hobo on top of the train. The industrial city that is the North Pole with the 30's/40's scratchy Christmas music playing through the loudspeakers. All this gives the movie an unsettling atmosphere that is comforting, yet at the same time, makes you shiver. This is the atmosphere of Charles Dickens and Norman Rockwell.
I was amazed at how much I was touched by the messages in The Polar Express.
These messages were obviously lost on the cynics panning it.
As I sat there watching the picture book coming to life, I put it in the perspective of the holiday specials I enjoyed as a kid. Within that boundary, it fits perfectly.
I give this *** 1/2 out of 4 stars.