"It tells the story of a young boy on Christmas Eve, lying in bed waiting to hear the sound of Santa's sleigh bells. Suddenly, a magical train called the Polar Express pulls up in front of his house, and the boy is invited to journey to the North Pole."
"THE POLAR EXPRESS"
Overviews
Director:Robert Zemeckis
Writers (WGA):Chris Van Allsburg(book),
:Robert Zemeckis (screenplay)
Release Date:24 December 2004 (India)
Genre:Animation / Adventure / Drama / Family /
Fantasy / Musical more
Taglinep:Journey Beyond Your Imagination.
Plot Outline:On Christmas Eve, a doubting boy
Boards a Magical train that's
Headedto the North Pole and
SantaClaus's home.
Plot Synopsis:View full synopsis. (Warning! may
Contain spoilers)
Plot Keywords:CGI Film / Airplane / 3
Dimensional / Toy Train / Ghost.
Awards:Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 4
Wins & 14 nominations.
A young boy goes on a train journey to visit Santa in this animated children's story directed by Robert Zemeckis:-
At just 35 pages, Chris Van Allsburg's illustrated storybook 'The Polar Express' seems unlikely inspiration for a Hollywood feature film, let alone this state-of-the-art animated movie that reputedly ran up a $170 million budget. Directed by Robert Zemeckis - one of Hollywood's pioneers of new technology, as his work on "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and "Death Becomes Her" proves - this tale of a young boy who's whisked off on a magical train to meet Santa Claus becomes a showcase for the next generation of motion capture technology. The result is a technical triumph, but a rather dark Christmas movie.
The first ever feature to be shot using the new "performance capture" system, The Polar Express really is a feat of 21st century cinema. The animation has a photorealistic quality that allows the live performers (chiefly Tom Hanks, who takes several roles) to sing, dance and act against beautiful snowy backdrops. It paves the way for some stunning moments, not least of all a sequence that would have been near impossible to render in live action in which a ticket is blown out of the train by a gust of wind, flies across mountains and valleys, gets picked up by wolves and eagles before seamlessly floating back into the racing train carriage it escaped from. It's jaw-dropping stuff that, when combined with Alan Silvestri's catchy Christmas song numbers, turns this story into an enjoyable Christmas outing.
When it comes to the characters themselves, though, the technology is not quite as seamless. Lips occasionally move out of time with dialogue, faces seem soulless and movements are jerky. Ironically, such not-quite-perfect animation gives this hyper-real outing a certain unreality, reminding us just how wide the gap between digital animation and real life remains. It also gives the proceedings a slightly spooky feel, something exaggerated by the screenplay's constant stream of scares. No sedate Yuletide trip, The Polar Express is instead a frequently scary journey chock full of ambivalent characters (including a ghostly hobo who's not to be found in the original book) and a series of run-away-train moments that make the most of the film's simultaneous (Stateside) release in IMAX format.
The slightly sinister tone prevails at the North Pole. Santa proves to be a dour old man who presides over a mechanized kingdom of conveyor belts and surveillance systems that spy (Big Brother-like) on the world's children. He's helped by millions of red-suited elves who gather in the city's main square to hail him on Christmas Eve in a scene which might strike older members of the audience as having more in common with "Triumph Of The Will" rather than The Santa Clause. It's moments like these that make one wonder if the adult filmmakers were so obsessed with their technological toys that they forgot who they were supposed to be making the movie for. It's also enough to prevent this entertaining, groundbreaking film from becoming a real Christmas cracker.
PLOT SUMMERY:
It tells the story of a young boy on Christmas Eve, lying in bed waiting to hear the sound of Santa's sleigh bells. Suddenly, a magical train called the Polar Express pulls up in front of his house, and the boy is invited to journey to the North Pole. The train is filled with many other children, all dressed in their pajamas, who drink hot chocolate as rich as melted bars and the train rumbles on.
As the train reaches the North Pole, the boy and the other children see thousands of elves gathered at the center of town to send Santa on his way. The boy is handpicked by Santa Claus to receive the first gift of Christmas. Realizing that he could choose anything in the world, the boy asks for one beautiful-sounding silver bell from Santa's sleigh. The boy places the bell in the pocket of his robe and all the children watch as Santa takes off for his yearly delivery.
Later, on the train, the boy discovers that the bell has fallen through a hole in his pocket. On Christmas morning, his sister finds a small present wrapped under the tree, behind all of the other gifts. The boy opens the box and discovers that it is the bell, delivered by Santa who found it on the seat of his sleigh. When the boy rings the bell, both he and his sister marvel at the beautiful sound. His parents, however, are unable to hear the bell and remark that it must be broken.
The books end with, "At one time, most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I've grown old, the bell still rings for me, as it does for all who truly believe."
"Bibliography"
http://www.imdb.com/find?q=review%20of%20The%20Polar%20Express;s=tt;site=aka
http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=139047
http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=139047&page=2
http://www.durangotrain.com/polarExpress/indexpolar.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Polar_Express
http://www.encyclocentral.com/15675-The_Polar_Express_Animated_Movie_Based_On_Chris_Van_Allsburg_Novel.html
.............................................................................................rishu
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