THE POLAR EXPRESS: 3D/2D Blu-ray (Warner Bros. 2004) Warner Home Video

Based on Chris Van Allsburg’s illustrated children’s book, Robert Zemekis’ The Polar Express (2004) is a rather maudlin, somewhat simple-minded and not terribly engaging animated movie that gets blown out of proportion almost from the moment its hero boards that wondrous vintage locomotive on route to the North Pole. Personally, I have never understood the allure of Van Allsburg’s kiddie fiction and Zemekis’ big, bloated adaptation, to have suffered the vocal talents of Tom Hanks, as a rather creepy conductor, has not improved my impressions of the movie since. Obviously geared toward a younger crowd, The Polar Express offers some rather stunning computer-generated animation, and, Josh Groban’s sublime Christmas ballad, ‘Believe’ – heard beneath the movie’s end titles, and, in fact, the highlight to be gleaned from this picture. For the rest, it all pays a rather garish homage to Allsburg’s book; the stretch quality of its vignettes only exaggerating its thimble of a plot to an excruciating ‘ho-hum’ level of ennui. The picture was simultaneously released in both 3D and 2D versions, the former taking full advantage of the titular train as it careens and fish-tails its way through the frozen mountains on route to the North Pole, a decidedly abandoned outpost that results in a devastatingly dull and anticlimactic finale.

Hero Boy (voiced by Tom Hanks), lies in bed on Christmas Eve, desperately hoping he has not lost his ability to anticipate the arrival of Santa Claus. However, as the hours pass, he grows more skeptical about the actual existence of that fat jolly fellow in the red suit…that is, until the thunderous clatter of a roaring train echoes from just outside his window. Boarding the curious ‘ghost train’ – the boy is confronted by a rather stoic conductor (also voiced by Hanks), who ushers him into a travel car full of other pajama-clad girls and boys also set to make their pilgrimage to the North Pole. Hero Boy meets Hero Girl (Nona Gaye) and Lonely Boy (Peter Scolari) – his solitary companions on a journey that becomes more curious by the minute. The children are served hot chocolate by a bevy of dancing waiters. But then, the narrative becomes flawed. Hero Boy almost loses Hero Girl’s magic ticket to ride. There is a laborious chase sequence atop the roof of the train to retrieve this ticket, where Hero Boy meets a hobo ghost (also voiced by Hanks), who is more spooky than sympathetic to the young child’s loss. After some heart-pounding 3-D visuals that almost derail the train across a crackling tundra of ice and snow, the children arrive at their destination – looking more like a Macy’s window display than the timeless hideaway of Santa Claus. They meet the jolly man in red and Hero Boy is rewarded with the gift of a sleigh bell from Santa’s famed sled, proof that his journey was not merely a dream.

The simple message embedded in the story is that everyone – man, woman and child – need something to believe in; a message more magically and timelessly explored in the original Miracle on 34th Street (1947) than on this computer-generated outing. The movie's visuals are a frenetic feast, but utterly lack the weight and conviction of traditional animation. Worse, a lot of what’s here won’t hold the attention of anyone beyond the age of three. There is some style to be had, though oddly enough, no substance. The screenplay by Zemeckis and William Broyles is a real connect-the-dots affair, slavishly anchored to Van Allsburg’s illustrated book, but with virtually nothing in the way of memorable dialogue to elevate any of the situations the children encounter beyond mere dumb show. If ever a movie ‘talked down’ to its audience, The Polar Express is it, and such a genuine shame too, as the movie had real possibilities.  Zemeckis may think he is offering a new and revisionist take on the North Pole. But in truth, there is very little here that is refreshing or even cutting edge. Zemeckis inserts spectacular 3-D shots throughout the story, but the effect becomes tiresome less that 30-minutes into the story, when Hero Boy climbs atop the speeding locomotive to retrieve Hero Girl’s train ticket. In the final analysis, The Polar Express is a film as mindless as it is tragically absent of that elusive spark of magic to qualify it as anything better than a waste of 100 minutes.

The Polar Express 3D delivers overall adequate visuals with occasional banding and a constant mire of overly contrasted images to obfuscate much of the fine details in the computer animation. Overly thick and dark, everything from background details to character faces appear homogenized and indistinct. The animation is, in fact, underwhelming, and the overall darkness of this image does not improve it. Colors are accurate, but nothing ever reaches the level of bold saturation we’ve come to expect from Blu-ray. Most of the image favors murky blues and blacks, with interiors under-saturated in oranges and yellows. Regrettably, there is nothing special about either incarnation of The Polar Express. Given the big push to satisfy 3D aficionados, there are really no ‘wow’ moments here with a few establishing shots actually looking softer in 3D than in 2D. The impressive DTS 5.1 is solid, if hardly groundbreaking, with realistic bass and good spatial separation across all channels. Vintage featurettes, first made available on Warner’s retired DVD release are back again here: You Look Familiar, offering a glimpse into ‘performance capture’ technology; A Genuine Ticket Ride – divided into 5-parts, on the making of the movie, plus a 2-minute introduction, and, True Inspirations: An Author's Adventure with Chris Van Allsburg.  Finally, there’s ‘Believe’ – with behind-the-scenes footage of Groban recording the pop tune, a visual effects reel, and scene specific access to the other songs in the movie.

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

2

VIDEO/AUDIO

3.5

EXTRAS

4