Although I have no doubt most kids and many adults will love it, this Scrooge came away with mixed feelings.
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 have been 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 liked the movie's first half a lot; I found the second half going on and on. Although I have no doubt most kids and many adults will love it, this Scrooge came away with mixed feelings.
Video:
My friend and fellow movie critic Eddie Feng and I just the other day were discussing two issues related to this film. Namely, (1) the inability of animators to realize fully the nuances of human faces and (2) the relative ease in capturing animated characters on disc as compared to capturing, well, the nuances of real human faces. The result is that "The Polar Express" looks more realistic than most animated movies but not quite realistic enough to pass for the real thing. Nevertheless, like it or not, it shows up gloriously in high definition.
One could hardly fault any part of this new video presentation. While the standard-definition transfer was as nearly perfect as current technology could make it, HD takes it a step further. Again the video engineers have retained the movie's 2.40:1 screen dimensions in a 1080p transfer. Compared to the SD version, the HD-DVD has slightly deeper colors and overall sharper focus. Colors are still quite natural (for a cartoon or for real life), but the hues are even richer and lusher than before, with equally intense black levels. Comparing select paused frames, the SD picture, as good as it is, looks soft and dull. Believe me, the HD-DVD picture is a joy to watch.
Audio:
Just as the HD video is an improvement over the SD video, so the Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 audio is an improvement over regular Dolby Digital 5.1. There is a tremendously deep, taut, room-shaking bass, and ultrawide dynamics. Just wait until Santa's train thunders into your listening area. The effect is enough to rattle the rafters even more than the regular DD 5.1 track did. The fact is, the disc's Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 soundtrack is just as good as the disc's video, and, oddly, the wide dynamic range of the DD+ track does not pose quite the problem the regular DD 5.1 does. In regular DD 5.1 if you turn up the volume high enough to hear the dialogue easily, you'll occasionally get a deep bass and transient impact so strong it'll knock your socks off. In DD+, however, the sound is clearer, and the dialogue and sonic effects seem better integrated. What's more, the DD+ audio appears slightly wider and more open, making one more aware of the surround sounds.
Extras:
As with the standard-definition issue, I found the extras only so-so, most of them the same as on the earlier two-disc set, and again with no audio commentary.
First up, there's a four-minute segment, "You Look Familiar: The Many Polar Faces of Tom Hanks," explaining why Hanks played so many roles in the film. Then there's a five-minute bit, "True Inspirations: An Author's Adventure," profiling the work of author and artist Chris Van Allsburg; followed by four minutes taking us "Behind the Scenes of 'Believe'" and into the recording studio.
After that is the main documentary, "A Genuine Ticket to Ride," lasting about twenty-five minutes and covering the usual topics: "Performance Capture," "Virtual Camera," "Hair and Wardrobe," "Creating the North Pole," and "Music"; and a new "Flurry of Effects" gallery, about eight minutes of motion-capture sessions comparing the live-action preliminaries with the final animation; followed by four minutes of singer Josh Groban performing the song "Believe" at the Greek Theatre.
Finally, there are about two minutes of Christmas memories, "Meet the Snow Angels," reminiscences from various of the filmmakers; plus a seven-minute, never-before-seen deleted musical scene with Smokey and Steamer, the train's engineers; and a "THQ" PC game demo with two playable levels (which apparently requires a DVD-ROM drive to realize). The disc has twenty-four scene selections, but no chapter insert; English as the only spoken language this time out; and English, French, and Spanish subtitles.
As always, Warner Bros. provide pop-up menus; an indicator of elapsed time; a zoom-and-pan feature; and an Elite Red HD case.
Parting Thoughts:
As a counterbalance to my curmudgeonly reactions, I should tell you that the Wife-O-Meter loved this movie. She thought the stop-and-go action was much like the way a child thinks, the colors, excitement, and adventure right up a child's alley, the themes moving, and the characters fun. She is convinced that children would love it as much as she did. Fair enough. It undoubtedly is an enchanting movie for children, and it even began getting to this cranky adult.
Now, indulge me a moment longer. Strangely, perhaps, I saw many similarities in this film and, of all things, Steven Spielberg's "1941." What's that? you say. Yes, in the movie's episodic construction, its fitful, irregular execution, its musical interludes and march music, its Eddie Deezen character, and its elaborate special effects, it reminded me of Spielberg; which may be no coincidence given that Zemeckis worked extensively with Spielberg early in his career and was a wizard at special effects. And like "1941" the sum of the many elements in "The Polar Express" don't quite add up to as much as they should.
Nonetheless, "The spirit of Christmas lies in your heart." As the Conductor says, "One thing about trains: It doesn't matter where they're going; what matters is deciding to get on." If you can believe strongly enough, you can do anything or be anything you want. It's hard to knock so winsome and earnest a notion, and it's hard to knock anything about this HD-DVD's picture or sound.
The movie might better have been 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 liked the movie's first half a lot; I found the second half going on and on. Although I have no doubt most kids and many adults will love it, this Scrooge came away with mixed feelings.
Video:
My friend and fellow movie critic Eddie Feng and I just the other day were discussing two issues related to this film. Namely, (1) the inability of animators to realize fully the nuances of human faces and (2) the relative ease in capturing animated characters on disc as compared to capturing, well, the nuances of real human faces. The result is that "The Polar Express" looks more realistic than most animated movies but not quite realistic enough to pass for the real thing. Nevertheless, like it or not, it shows up gloriously in high definition.
One could hardly fault any part of this new video presentation. While the standard-definition transfer was as nearly perfect as current technology could make it, HD takes it a step further. Again the video engineers have retained the movie's 2.40:1 screen dimensions in a 1080p transfer. Compared to the SD version, the HD-DVD has slightly deeper colors and overall sharper focus. Colors are still quite natural (for a cartoon or for real life), but the hues are even richer and lusher than before, with equally intense black levels. Comparing select paused frames, the SD picture, as good as it is, looks soft and dull. Believe me, the HD-DVD picture is a joy to watch.
Audio:
Just as the HD video is an improvement over the SD video, so the Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 audio is an improvement over regular Dolby Digital 5.1. There is a tremendously deep, taut, room-shaking bass, and ultrawide dynamics. Just wait until Santa's train thunders into your listening area. The effect is enough to rattle the rafters even more than the regular DD 5.1 track did. The fact is, the disc's Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 soundtrack is just as good as the disc's video, and, oddly, the wide dynamic range of the DD+ track does not pose quite the problem the regular DD 5.1 does. In regular DD 5.1 if you turn up the volume high enough to hear the dialogue easily, you'll occasionally get a deep bass and transient impact so strong it'll knock your socks off. In DD+, however, the sound is clearer, and the dialogue and sonic effects seem better integrated. What's more, the DD+ audio appears slightly wider and more open, making one more aware of the surround sounds.
Extras:
As with the standard-definition issue, I found the extras only so-so, most of them the same as on the earlier two-disc set, and again with no audio commentary.
First up, there's a four-minute segment, "You Look Familiar: The Many Polar Faces of Tom Hanks," explaining why Hanks played so many roles in the film. Then there's a five-minute bit, "True Inspirations: An Author's Adventure," profiling the work of author and artist Chris Van Allsburg; followed by four minutes taking us "Behind the Scenes of 'Believe'" and into the recording studio.
After that is the main documentary, "A Genuine Ticket to Ride," lasting about twenty-five minutes and covering the usual topics: "Performance Capture," "Virtual Camera," "Hair and Wardrobe," "Creating the North Pole," and "Music"; and a new "Flurry of Effects" gallery, about eight minutes of motion-capture sessions comparing the live-action preliminaries with the final animation; followed by four minutes of singer Josh Groban performing the song "Believe" at the Greek Theatre.
Finally, there are about two minutes of Christmas memories, "Meet the Snow Angels," reminiscences from various of the filmmakers; plus a seven-minute, never-before-seen deleted musical scene with Smokey and Steamer, the train's engineers; and a "THQ" PC game demo with two playable levels (which apparently requires a DVD-ROM drive to realize). The disc has twenty-four scene selections, but no chapter insert; English as the only spoken language this time out; and English, French, and Spanish subtitles.
As always, Warner Bros. provide pop-up menus; an indicator of elapsed time; a zoom-and-pan feature; and an Elite Red HD case.
Parting Thoughts:
As a counterbalance to my curmudgeonly reactions, I should tell you that the Wife-O-Meter loved this movie. She thought the stop-and-go action was much like the way a child thinks, the colors, excitement, and adventure right up a child's alley, the themes moving, and the characters fun. She is convinced that children would love it as much as she did. Fair enough. It undoubtedly is an enchanting movie for children, and it even began getting to this cranky adult.
Now, indulge me a moment longer. Strangely, perhaps, I saw many similarities in this film and, of all things, Steven Spielberg's "1941." What's that? you say. Yes, in the movie's episodic construction, its fitful, irregular execution, its musical interludes and march music, its Eddie Deezen character, and its elaborate special effects, it reminded me of Spielberg; which may be no coincidence given that Zemeckis worked extensively with Spielberg early in his career and was a wizard at special effects. And like "1941" the sum of the many elements in "The Polar Express" don't quite add up to as much as they should.
Nonetheless, "The spirit of Christmas lies in your heart." As the Conductor says, "One thing about trains: It doesn't matter where they're going; what matters is deciding to get on." If you can believe strongly enough, you can do anything or be anything you want. It's hard to knock so winsome and earnest a notion, and it's hard to knock anything about this HD-DVD's picture or sound.
Average user rating (1-5):
[release]19989[/release]