The Polar Express

Rating: 5/10 (6 January 2008)

I saw snippets of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, and of course, Beowulf, and thought the computer animation looked brilliantly realistic, and then I got the chance to see this one that I had heard about. This film from director Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, Beowulf) sees the introduction of a new form of CGI that transfers the live actions of actors into a digital format, this is called "Performance Capture". Anyway, based on the storybook by Chris Van Allsburg, it sees the Hero Boy doubting the existence of Santa Claus, and Christmas Eve night a magical train suddenly appears in the middle of the street. The train's conductor (Tom Hanks) invites him on The Polar Express to the North Pole, and at the last minute, the boy jumps on. Many other boys and girls have got on the train hoping to see Santa Claus, who is going to give a special present to a child of his choice. The journey sees tickets almost being lost, blizzard, iced over tracks and many other complications. they eventually reach the North Pole, and after a little turn, Hero Boy, Hero Girl (Nona Gaye), Know-It-All (Eddie Deezen, I recognised his voice immediately, he plays Mandark from Dexter's Laboratory) and Lonely Boy (Peter Scolari) get to the ceremony just in time, and Santa (Hanks again) obviously chooses Hero Boy, probably because of his doubt earlier. I don't understand why he asked Santa for a sleigh bell, but on the other hand I suppose it is to help him remember that Santa does exist. Hanks also plays the Hobo and Scrooge. The animation is immaculate in detail, it must have taken them ages to get it as perfect as it is, it is just a shame the story is really, really cheesy. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Song for "Believe", which also won a Grammy and was nominated the Golden Globe, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing, and it was nominated the BAFTA Children's Award for Best Feature Film. Worth watching!