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This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3
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Topic: The Polar Express (IMAX and regular 35mm)
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Brian Michael Weidemann
Expert cat molester
Posts: 944
From: Costa Mesa, CA United States
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 11-24-2004 04:37 AM
As I recall, Spy Kids had that cheesy, old-school green/red 3D. It's a different kind of 3D system. The look of this film is very colorful and rich. The polarized 3D still retains the full color and contrast. The green/red 3D would have just ruined it, I think ... Not that the bad animation and horrid story (in some people's opinions) didn't do that already. ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
Many employees at my theatre have remarked how good it looks in IMAX, then after watching part of the 35mm print (or even the digital; since we had it in our DLP auditorium, too) they say, flat out, "Oh, what's the point? It doesn't work at ALL in regular 35mm. How boring." And ultimately, I agreed. It fell flat. ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 11-30-2004 07:20 PM
I watched "The Polar Express" last night, mainly to check out the first stadium seated screening rooms to open at the local Carmike theater. The theater is in the process of converting all eight screens to stadium seating. The first three were finished and opened just a few days ago. Three other screens are now having the seats and carpeting ripped out of them as of this writing. I'm fairly impressed by the conversion. The results were quite a bit better than I had expected. Also of note, wheelchair access and seating position has been incorporated into this design to shut up some of those litigators out there.
Why didn't I watch the movies in the other two newly opened rooms? The Bridget Jones sequel and "Christmas With the Kranks" were less appealing.
Anyway, on to my opinion of the show. I actually liked "The Polar Express" more than I expected. That's not to say my take on the movie is entirely positive.
Here's what I liked. The storyline was simple and worked generally well. It was nice to see child characters looking out for each other and doing things with positive motives rather than behaving like little shitheads we see way too often in other films. The "hero boy" and "hero girl" characters take risks in making sure "lonely boy" doesn't get left out of Christmas. Overall, that gave the movie a positive and appropriate tone and theme. On the technical end, I really liked the attention to detail, modeling of objects and even the rendering style of the movie was outstanding. It didn't look like any other all-CG movie I've seen in the past. The look seemed more ethereal, which I guess works for a fantasy. The steam locomotive was really cool. Even the way the snow was handled seemed to break new ground.
Here's what I didn't like: the movie dragged at times and seemed a bit too dark and lonely at times as well. As much as the original children's book is loved, I don't know if some children might be wierded out by the vibe. And this is really where the facial animation of the characters makes it most negative impact. Just from hearing people talk about it, I thought it was a superficial argument. But the problem really does affect the whole tone of the movie unfortunately.
To be fair, I didn't see too many parts of the movie where the characters looked "dead." More often, however, their facial movements seemed stiff and almost like that of a manikin or animatronic puppet. I even chuckled a few times where "hero boy" looked as though he was on a quaalude high. The worst instance of facial animation, for me, was the hot chocolate sequence. You have all these waitors and chefs doing acrobatic leaps throughout this coach as they serve cocoa, but they're mostly doing this stuff totally stone faced. Really odd. The fat train engineer was one of the few characters that seemed to look more alive. With so much excellent work on all the other details of the movie, the shortcomings in facial animation are all the more glaring.
The look of the film was great, but the sound mix could have been better. I watched this in a newly set up auditorium, playing DTS, with new subwoofer drivers no less. The arrival of the train was impressive. But much of the mix sounded broadly spread across the surrounds. I was kind of surprised by that, considering Randy Thom was responsible for the mix. His work on "The Incredibles" was very aggressive. I'm sure "The Incredibles" may be another sound reference piece on DVD to go alongside "Toy Story 2".
For the other areas drawing complaints, mainly with the impossible feats accomplished by the train, that didn't bother me at all. When some 200 ton magic steam train is able to roll up the street where there's normally no rails at all, and its traveling off to a fictional place, I would not have been surprised to see the train fly at some point. Sure, the train on ice thing was a big stretch (and they tried to make it seem plausible with the throttle and brakes steering the train). I was also fully aware that there's no locomotive on the planet able to pull trains up some of the mountain sides shown in this movie, much less even some of the more mild grades depicted. But, again, this didn't bother me. It fits right along with Superman being able to fly high in public wearing his panties on the outside of his tights.
Now, do I recommend this movie? At best my opinion is mixed. Grade school kids will probably like it. And the show might be a treat for any stream train enthusiast. But I think the creepy and stoned looking qualities of the characters are going to turn off a lot of adults.
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