Holiday Family Collection (The Polar Express, Happy Feet, A Christmas Story) (DVD)

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It's hard to complain when Warner Bros. package three holiday favorites in one DVD box set for essentially the price of a single deluxe-edition disc. Of the three films offered here, one is an absolute classic, "A Christmas Story," one is a near-classic, "The Polar Express," and the third is a near miss, "Happy Feet." Still, they are all definitely worthwhile movies, and at the price, if you don't have them, the set is hard to resist.

THE POLAR EXPRESS:
The filmmakers based "The Polar Express" on a short, illustrated children's book by Chris Van Allsburg, and Robert Zemeckis directed it, Zemeckis being the fellow who gave us such spectacularly creative delights as "Back to the Future," "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," "Forrest Gump," and "Contact," all of them filled with fascinating characters and glorious sights for the eye. In "Polar Express," however, the director stretches (an unkinder soul would say bloats) a simple story idea with so many visual effects that the characters can get lost in the proceedings.

The animation technique produces varied results. The scenery and surroundings are exquisite, imaginatively rendered in every detail, often looking like one of those Christmas globes with the snow swirling around inside; and from everything I can ascertain, the animation does a good job capturing the look and feel of the paintings in Van Allsburg's book. It's the people who inhabit this world who look artificial in a spooky sort of way. The filmmaking process that was used requires live actors to perform their roles and then computer animation to duplicate their actions. It's the modern equivalent of the early rotoscoping done by pioneer animators in the days of silent films. Although it's quite a bit more advanced now, the basic idea is the same. What I always have to ask is, if live actors perform the parts, why not make it a live-action movie? What more does animation do to make something a fantasy? Is the mere act of watching drawings instead of real people oblige us to believe all the more in a film's make-believe? Well, it may, and if it works for you, more power to the filmmaking.

The plot, what little there is of it, concerns a young boy at an age where he's about to lose his belief in Santa Claus and the magic of Christmas. In this most crucial year of his life, the Polar Express shows up at his doorstep one Christmas Eve to convince him there really is a Santa. Other children of a similar age and with similar feelings of disbelief fill the train. From here, the movie presents a sweet and moving fable of regaining (or retaining) one's faith in the Christmas spirit, as the boy learns to be kind to other people and to never lose his power of imagination. No complaints there.

Tom Hanks stars in the movie, and stars in the movie and stars in the movie. He is the voice behind most of the main characters, which works well for several reasons. First, he's a fine actor and provides good voice characterizations for, among others, the boy's father, the train conductor, a mysterious hobo, and Santa himself. Second, having Hanks voice so many of the characters makes it feel all the more like storybook time, as though one person alone were telling the tale, which, in fact is the case, as Hanks is supposed to be the boy grown up and looking back on his own childhood.

The other characters are ably, if not always so colorfully, voiced as well: A little girl that the boy befriends is played by Nona Gaye; the boy's sister and mother are played by Leslie Zemeckis; a shy, lonely boy is played by Peter Scolari; and, best of all, a know-it-all kid is played by Eddie Deezen. You'll recognize Deezen's distinctive voice instantly from things like "1941" and "WarGames." He practically saves the day by being the most unique and entertaining voice of all the characters in the movie; every time he appears, the movie livens up.

The action of the story takes places almost entirely on the train and at the North Pole in a series of short episodes. These brief segments involve the boy in various encounters and adventures, none of which are particularly involving because of their brevity. After a somewhat slow start, the episodes begin to come along rather quickly, and it's shortly afterwards that we realize there's not going to be much more to it than that; nothing lasts long enough to develop much tension, and there aren't many clear transitions between events to sustain an engrossing story line.

Possibly the rapid succession of incidents is intended to remind us of a child's dream, because certainly we're never convinced the boy is awake or asleep while all this is going on. Still, I found my mind wandering on occasion, maybe indicating I'm not a child anymore.

Several of the segments have a rousing spirit, though, and they display a verve sometimes lacking in the rest of the film. There is a scene with dancing waiters and the song "Hot Chocolate" that comes alive in an energetic, Monty Pythonesque way; there's a stunning shot of an eagle flying through a gorge that is lovely enough to frame; there's a sequence where the train is sliding down a roller-coast track and then slipping sideways on an expanse of ice that is really quite harrowing; and there is a passage set in a roomful of puppets that is scary in the way only puppets and marionettes can be scary.

But these instances of beauty and excitement are offset by too many songs that seem less than memorable ("Believe" being the main one); too much background music that tries to be uplifting and inspirational and comes off gushy; too much pacing that is awkward and herky-jerky; too much that is supposed to feel surreal but only seems tedious; too much that is simply sentimental; and too little storyline to tie it all together.

The movie might better be called "The Bipolar Express," with so much that is sweet and light on the one hand and so much that is tiring and humdrum on the other. I have no doubt most kids and many adults will love it, but this Scrooge came away with mixed feelings. Still, when it's good, it's very, very good.

Film rating: 7/10

HAPPY FEET:
"Happy Feet" is the animated brainchild of George Miller, the movie's co-writer and director, who previously brought us "Babe," "Babe: Pig in the City," "The Witches of Eastwick," and all of the "Mad Max" movies. So you know going in the guy's got talent, and "Happy Feet" is going to show a good deal of creativity. It does; just not quite enough to keep this grown-up from yawning a few times in the process.

The big "however" about the film is that I can't remember another of Miller's works so overflowing with lessons, themes, and morals. And not just a few related lessons but ones going off in all directions. I have to admit that in more than a couple of places the film's transitions left me wondering what the heck was happening. Although I thought at first it might have been because of a few dull stretches catching me daydreaming, I soon came to realize it was because the screenplay sometimes moves from one episode to another without much rhyme or reason. Among other things, the film conveys such varied messages as it's OK to be different; everyone needs to fit in and belong; humanity should be open-minded; superstition, tradition, even religion, should not cloud our better judgment; opposite minds can and should get along; and, ultimately, we as a people should exercise greater responsibility over our environment. Save the penguins, save the whales, save Antarctica, save the world. These are noble, valuable, and in some cases very personal sentiments that Miller has every right to include in his film, particularly a film aimed at children who need all the good counsel they can get; but, understand, they are also sentiments that can be somewhat tedious and redundant for adults.

Fortunately, the movie counterbalances its wayward story line about a young penguin who would rather dance than sing like the rest of his kind with, perhaps ironically, its fine songs, splendid dancing, and glorious CGI animation. Make no mistake: The movie is a musical from beginning to end, and you will find just about every style of music in it, most of it well-known, previously recorded material, from pop and rock to gospel and country, from hip-hop to blues, you name it.

Besides that, the computer animation will knock your socks off, if you don't mind bare feet. The picture is not just detailed, it's almost photorealistic. It looks practically like "March of the Penguins" except with music. Considering that most of the movie takes place in the Antarctic, where colors are predominantly shades of gray and white, the movie is brimming over with the vitality of its hues, with little splashes of color showing up all the more vividly for their stark surroundings. Then, the artists' ability to create literally thousands of penguins that in real life pretty much all look alike and personalize them with individual characteristics is quite a trick. So, the picture is a treat for the eyes and ears.

I wish, though, there was as much inspiration in the voice characterizations as there is in visuals. Robin Williams, playing several parts, invests his usual imagination and energy in the roles and keeps things moving along. Hugh Jackman as an Elvis clone and Hugo Weaving as a village elder also do their best to inject a little life into their characters. But, honestly, if I had not read on the keep case that Elijah Wood voiced the main character and that Nicole Kidman, Brittany Murphy, Anthony LaPaglia, Steve Irwin (who died shortly after completing the film), and others were also in it, I doubt that I would have recognized their speaking voices, they're so nondescript.

There is also another tiny oddity in the film. When the main character, a young Emperor penguin named Mumble, goes off in search of answers to his problems, he runs into a community of smaller penguins he's never seen before. Now, here's the thing: These little guys all speak English in Hispanic accents. Is this, I wonder, because they are all from south of Emperor Land's border? Or because the filmmakers are suggesting that Hispanic people are short? Figuring that surely a film taking such high moral ground as this one does would not stoop to such obvious ethnic stereotypes, I concluded by giving the filmmakers the benefit of the doubt and assumed they were just trying to be inventive. Or not.

Despite the film getting more than a bit erratic and preachy, "Happy Feet" is generally cute and entertaining, particularly for youngsters, and it is surely a delight to the senses. Don't be surprised if the dancing, at least, has you up on your feet and tapping your toes.

Film rating: 6/10

A CHRISTMAS STORY:
Saving the best for last comes the 1983 classic, "A Christmas Story." And just how close is it to reality? In 1955, when I was in the fifth grade, I wanted more than anything in the world a BB gun for Christmas. My father had no objections, but my mother was adamantly against it: "He'll shoot his eye out!" After a year of nagging and cajoling, I got a BB gun the Christmas of 1956, and although my eyesight today is poor, my eyeballs remain intact.