The Polar Express

THE POLAR EXPRESS (2004) - Jan. 27, 2005
On one hand, much about this movie is very impressive, visually. I saw this in 3D, on an Imax screen, and it was quite an experience. But I was never really able to get into the movie, because all of the characters were so poorly done. I haven't seen animation this bad since Rocket Robin Hood. All the characters had a creepy, corpse-like expression on their face throughout the entire movie. There were times when I literally got chills because the characters looked human, and yet so eerily wrong. The lack of expression on all of their faces was quite amazing, especially since Zemeckis and Hanks keep touting this technology as the next big thing for animation -- it certainly is not, at least not at this stage. Even Fred Flintstone was more expressive than these characters (and certainly more appealing to look at). And I have to wonder: if the whole goal with this type of character animation was simply to emulate human beings as closely as possible, why even use animation? What's the point, other than to arouse morbid curiousity? Anyway, aside from that the film was basically entertaining, though overlong by at least twenty minutes. But I definitely think Zemeckis should leave animation to real animators, and go back to live action where he clearly belongs. **1/2