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zingy
College Boy Z
Joined: Mon Oct 11, 2004 8:40 pm
Posts: 36662
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 The Polar Express The Polar Express Quote: The Polar Express is a 2004 motion capture computer-animated film based on the children's book of the same title by Chris Van Allsburg. Written, produced, and directed by Robert Zemeckis, the human characters in the film were animated using live action performance capture technique, with the exception of the waiters who dispense hot chocolate on the train, because their feats were impossible for live actors to achieve. Performance capture technology incorporates the movements of live actors into animated characters. The film stars Daryl Sabara, Nona Gaye, Jimmy Bennett, and Eddie Deezen, with Tom Hanks in six distinct roles. The film also included a performance by Tinashe at age 9, who later gained exposure as a pop singer in 2010, as the CGI-model for "Hero Girl". The film was produced by Castle Rock Entertainment in association with Shangri-La Entertainment, ImageMovers, Playtone and Golden Mean, for Warner Bros. The visual effects and performance capture were done at Sony Pictures Imageworks. The studio first released the $170 million film in both conventional and IMAX 3D theaters on Wednesday, November 10, 2004.
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| Thu Nov 11, 2004 6:43 pm |
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movies35
Forum General
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 1:53 pm
Posts: 8626
Location: Syracuse, NY
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Extremely cute movie, and amazing to look at. This is easily one of the best, or maybe the best CGI movie ever. It's certainly better then the overrated The Incredibles!
8/10 (B+)
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| Sat Nov 20, 2004 1:15 pm |
 
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The Scottie
King Albert!
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 1:04 pm
Posts: 11838
Location: The Happiest City on Earth
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This movie was creepy, but creepy in a good way (like Willy Wonka). Okay, so some of the animation was scary, but the feel is great. The music and the songs are very beautiful, heck, I'm going to buy the soundtrack (though the underscore sound alot like Small One). Alan did a great job.
Grade: B
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| Wed Nov 24, 2004 5:03 am |
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Mister Ecks
New Server, Same X
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 7:07 pm
Posts: 28293
Location: ... siiiigh...
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I take it ALL back. All of that stuff where I complained that this film was just going to be for the money. They made a movie with all budget and no heart. I think this is one film with a bigger heart than its budget. The music is absolutely enchanting. I almost felt completely washed away with the sounds. I really thought the film would be too simple-minded for anyone over 8 to actually like, but this movie is for all ages, especially those who have lost touch with Christmas. Nothing about this movie is about believing in a fat man in a red suit. This movie is about believing in Christmas, and everything Christmas stands for. Not the commercialized Christmas that we know, but the Christmas that brings families together, the Christmas that makes us want to give to others, and the Christmas that makes us happy for what we have. Somehow, such a small film was so powerful. I am still in shock over this.
Grade: A
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| Sat Nov 27, 2004 12:18 am |
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Dr. Lecter
You must have big rats
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 4:28 pm
Posts: 92093
Location: Bonn, Germany
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B+
A wonderfully animated and heartwarming Christmas feature. The animation is unusual at first, but once you get used to it, it's breathtaking. The movie is very fast, energetic with good characters and a wonderful, even though overused message. No question, it is overly clichéd, but I wasn't really bothered. The movie brought a smile on my face and surprised me with great action sequences.
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Last edited by Dr. Lecter on Mon Dec 03, 2007 2:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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| Wed Jan 26, 2005 12:19 pm |
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Algren
now we know
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 9:31 pm
Posts: 67043
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Gotta see this, of not for me, then for my little bro. He's wanted to see this for ages!
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| Thu Jan 27, 2005 10:12 am |
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jb007
Veteran
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 1:47 pm
Posts: 3917
Location: Las Vegas
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Imax version is fantastic. Hanks and Zemeckis's third outing is very good.
A
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| Thu Jan 27, 2005 11:59 pm |
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thompsoncory
Rachel McAdams Fan
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2004 11:13 am
Posts: 14544
Location: LA / NYC
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9/10 (A)
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| Fri May 06, 2005 7:55 pm |
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Andrew
Lover of Bacon
Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2005 7:05 pm
Posts: 4197
Location: Sherwood Forest, UK
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I enjoyed this a little more than a 25 year old should have done  but then i am still a big kid. B+
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| Fri May 06, 2005 7:58 pm |
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xXVincentxX
La Bella Vito
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 11:56 pm
Posts: 9146
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Absolutely fantastic film! This is bound to become a Christmas Classic in 10 years. It's just so beautiful to look it. The visuals are so gorgeous and eye-popping. The characters look so life-like it is so weird, but very incredible. The musical numbers weren't cheesy like some music in these type of films. It was actually enjoyable. It was so much fun, and definitely a great film to watch right before Christmas.
A
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| Fri Dec 16, 2005 6:46 pm |
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Atoddr
Veteran
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 3:07 am
Posts: 3014
Location: Kansai
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It's visually incredible, but lacks way too much of a story. I liked the beginning and ending, but was bored throughout the middle. If computer animation continues to progress, will this really be that special in ten years? It's not that I didn't enjoy it, it just could have been better. My grade: B.
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| Fri Dec 16, 2005 7:00 pm |
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Dr. Lecter
You must have big rats
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 4:28 pm
Posts: 92093
Location: Bonn, Germany
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This is a movie, I think, that needs to be seen on the big screen.
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| Fri Dec 16, 2005 7:04 pm |
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Bradley Witherberry
Extraordinary
Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2004 1:13 pm
Posts: 15197
Location: Planet Xatar
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Polar Express: Welcome to Bizzarro Land! This is the most bizarre 99 minutes of family entertainment I have ever been witness to! It is the gleaming dark dream vision of a child losing his belief in Santa.
The story itself from the kid's book, is 24 short pages, so you can imagine how they've stretched it out to feature length - Tom Hanks mugging it up as 6 different characters, seemingly endless, pointless train hijinks, and some of the scariest animated human characters ever. I swear that if they used these creepy looking kids in a horror movie it would terrify me! And that's not even mentioning the literally thousands of the freaky evil elves that inhabit the North Pole (when they finally get there...).
Luckily, we saw it in IMAX 3D, which is spectacular and makes all the train foolishness look awesome visually at least. I pity the poor fools who see this in a standard 35mm print or worse yet, those who later buy this on DVD.
2 out of 5.
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| Fri Dec 16, 2005 7:32 pm |
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A. G.
Draughty
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 9:23 am
Posts: 13347
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Re: The Polar Express I saw this for the first time two nights ago when ABC broadcast it. It's a new Christmas classic that will get more loved each year I think. A nearly perfect family film, much better than I expected. I had no problems at all with anyone looking soulless or weird, it all looked just right - like a storybook come to life.
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| Sun Dec 02, 2007 7:52 pm |
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Johnny Dollar
The Lubitsch Touch
Joined: Thu Jul 21, 2005 5:48 pm
Posts: 11019
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Re: The Polar Express This movie is chilling to the bone. Children kidnapped in the middle of the night, taken on a midnight ghost train ride populated by dead-eyed zombies and and a child molesting hobo who kinda sounds like Tom Hanks. God, I never want to see another minute of it again.
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| Sun Dec 02, 2007 8:18 pm |
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A. G.
Draughty
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 9:23 am
Posts: 13347
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Re: The Polar Express Yes, scary stuff! And the part where they torture the poor bearded railway worker to make the caribou get off the tracks. I still have nightmares.
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| Sun Dec 02, 2007 8:36 pm |
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MovieDude
Where will you be?
Joined: Tue Dec 21, 2004 4:50 am
Posts: 11675
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Re: The Polar Express As far as Christmas movies go, I'll take Die Hard. But if McClane said "Fuck that bullshit answer, pick a real Christmas movie that doesn't just use it as background noise!" I'd go with The Polar Express. It was a real treat to look at, I loved the scene where the ticket flies throughout the snowy environment. Either it's creepy to people or it's not, but I had no trouble accepting the digital creations onscreen as characters. Maybe that has to do with them all being symbols rather than living, breathing people, but it worked. One thing I'll give Zemeckis is that thusfar he's chosen the right material for these first baby steps into the future of motion capture: Both this and Beowulf as stories are meant to be either picture books or legends, and this larger-than-life quality to the story is much more kind to the technology than if he was making a character drama.
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| Mon Dec 03, 2007 3:03 am |
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Dr. Lecter
You must have big rats
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 4:28 pm
Posts: 92093
Location: Bonn, Germany
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I agree with what Archie said above. This has become part of my yearly Christmas staple now. I stil think it's a flawed film, but it so perfectly captures the spirit of Christmas, IMO. It's simply very enjoyable.
Now I do want Zemeckis to go back to live action at last, but to be honest his last two animated outings were better than the two live action outings before them (What Lies Beneath and Cast Away). Maybe he can combine the two and create something in the vein of Roger Rabbit again.
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| Mon Dec 03, 2007 2:09 pm |
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billybobwashere
He didn't look busy?!
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 3:59 pm
Posts: 4308
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Re: The Polar Express It's magical and fun enough to sustain its runtime, but Tom Hanks in every role got somewhat tiresome, and my god was that animation creepy.
B-
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