Two key Academy award winners of Forest Gump have once again come together to make a terrific film. That films director Robert Zemeckis has the Forest Gump star Tom Hanks playing a leading and a multitude of roles in his adaptation of the Children's story The Polar Express.
The BOOK
The children's book, The Polar Express has been popular for its story line and fine illustrations. It was the winner of The Caldecott Medal. I always thought of it as an adult book that kids might enjoy. I feel much the same about the movie. As an adult I was drawn into it and fortunately I was in an audience with children. It was actually exciting to hear them react to the movie and try to predict what may happen next. There was a real innocents in their reactions and questions. They have childlike qualities that are good for adults to hold onto.
Having read the book many times and really enjoying its storyline and wonderful illustrations I was ecstatic when I first saw a trailer for the film almost two months ago. I was happy to see that Zemeckis decided to keep the imagery that is found in the book.
BRINGING IT TO FILM
To keep that look Zemeckis knew that straight animation wouldn't do it so he decided to use CGI, Computer Generated Images. It's also known as motion-capture. I'm sure you remember Gollum in the Lord of the Rings. That is the technique that brought him to life. This is a method where the actor wears a special suit with sensor points on it that are picked up by a computer. I believe this 3-D image was first used to track athletes movements. These 3-D images are then filled in my the illustrators. This all comes together to bring Chris Van Allsburg's story and illustration to the big screen. To me there is something magical about the lighting of a snowy night and this film is filded with that magic. Put this along with a story line that is a challenge to any child's, and adult's belief in the make believe, or is it faith in what can be, and you have a tale that will engross you. This could be a blockbuster film.
STORY LINE
Without giving too much information, this is the tale of a young boy who seems to be losing his belief in Santa Claus. Into the picture comes Tom Hanks as the train conductor of the Polar Express, a huge and formal steam engine train, to take the boy on what will become a roller coaster of a story to the North Pole that ends with a heartfelt finish.
The story is able to fill in much that didn't happen in the book and yet stay quite true to the books message. There were some incredible scenes with the train riding through the mountains and an especially exciting scene with the train skidding on ice while trying to get back on track. There was applause at this turn of events in the movie house, something rare these days.
Once the train does get to the North Pole the foursome of kids have a few more adventures and then we are treated to a gala event as everything becomes a "go" for Santa to deliver gifts throughout the world. The scenes with hundreds of thousands of elves of which some parachute and even do some heroic bungee jumping are delightful.
Like the book the other children in the film are multi-ethnic, though we really do not see much of them except for three of which one is a lead character, a black girl, played by Nona Gaye who is a born leader. She is a remarkable person known as the Hero Girl who can see the needs of others. Another character was the Know-it-All boy played by Eddie Deezon who was the nerd kid who we all knew at sometime in our lives.
There was one child, the Lonely Boy, in the movie played by Peter Scolari, Hanks side kick in Bosom Buddies. The artwork on this kid was right out of one of the "Help the Children in a Foreign Land" info-mercial. It was the sad eyes and the helplessness that comes through. The development of this very quiet character added a lot to this movie for me.
Tom Hanks plays quite a bit more than just the hilarious must-be-on-schedule wide and soft hearted conductor. He also plays the boy though that adaptation didn't hit me as anying special. He certainly was an asset to this film as the Hobo. You can see his great acting ability. That's not all, you will also see him as...... you know, even though this review has a warning that much will be revealed in it, I can keep some mystery alive. He is involved with a total of five characters. Tom Hanks is an amazing actor and he has a way of bringing childlike qualities to the screen. He, once again, is a winner. Ha, he could be up for an award as the lead actor and as a supporting actor.
MUSIC and SOUND
The Polar Express has amazing sound that reverberates throughout the theatre. The sound helps expedite the roller coaster of a ride that is both literal with the train going over high mountain peaks and deep valleys and also figurative as the story takes us through thrilling action to quiet heartfelt moments throughout its one hour and forty minutes on the screen.
I was particularly drawn into the Christmas mood with many of the familiar tunes playing in the background like White Christmas, Silver Bells, Santa Claus is coming to town, Here comes Santa, and It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas. These are originals done by noted artists like Frank Sinatra, The Andrew Sisters with Bing Crosby, Kate Smith, Perry Como, and other familiar voices. They don't jump out at you but they do present their joy of the season.
There were a couple big musical surprises too. One was a sort of jive/stomp piece with tap dancers in a railroad car serving the kids hot chocolate. This was a hoot. Later we get a cameo of Aerosmith's Steven Tyler as a rockin' elf. This is a quick one but definitely a moment to catch.
Earlier in the film was a tear-jerker song between the Hero Girl and the Lonely boy that's equal a few tissues.
The theme music throughout the movie is Believe , a beautiful tune. We get to hear the words at the end as sung by Josh Groban.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Though I didn't see it that way, I learned that this film can be seen in an IMAX 3-D version. I can tell you that if you have that opportunity, by all means do it. I could tell that this movie was made to be viewed that way and though watching it in the usual format was still quite dramatic, seeing it in 3-D must be wondrous.
If you, as an adult, believe in the spirit of Christmas or are looking to get a piece of that magical feeling this is the movie for you. It is not a religious film but does hold onto a spirit of belief that some of the best things in life are those that we cannot see. It is definitely movie made to lift the spirit. Children will enjoy this movie but perhaps on a different level. We went to a matinee showing with many children and except for hearing them ask question, I noticed no antsy reactions. The kids were glued to their seats. The film is quite exciting and also works with children showing that having empathy for others is right and natural. This film does show many good moral values which is not a bad thing in todays world.
I rate this as four stars for most movie goers but if you have that Christmas spirit or are looking for it, then this is a five star for you.
Director Robert Zemeckis revolutionized the art of animated film in 1998's WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT by dropping cartoon characters into the same frame ...More at eBay
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