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Post by Jens Dietrich on Jan 7, 2005 7:38:41 GMT -8
Ok, I saw this on IMAX a little while back, and am convinced that it is a potential zombie Christmas classic! About bloody time we had one. Still, The Associated Press wrote So now I dunno... I always thought... well... whenever I picture a "Christmas classic" I always kinda think of bright-eyed zombies. Dead-eyed zombies seem so much more... I dunno... like Arbor Day or something. Also, I have something else to add -- something I’m surprised noone has pointed out already: Robert Zemeckis’ chilling and disturbingly obvious homage to Leni Riefenstahl’s classic Triumph of the Will. Santa: It is our will that this state shall endure for a thousand years. We are happy to know that the future is ours entirely! Elves/Santa Youth: All hail Santa! All hail Santa! Santa: Son, we want this people to be hard, not soft, and you must steel yourselves for it in your youth! I dream of a white Christmas! What say you? Bloody creepy or what?
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Post by pmrsim on Jan 7, 2005 8:18:52 GMT -8
Riefenstahl's Polar Express? ;D Never thought of it that way..., but I agree that TPE was pretty creepy in parts. The kids look like a bunch of brats you just wanna smack in the face. The train conductor looks like a meanie. Santa Claus looks like a meanie. And the elves...oh my god, they're pure evil!
Luckily, the scenery animation and the train itself are absolutely superbly done. And the film is drenched in Zemeckis' trademark wonderful visual style (e.g. camera-angles); and the music's pretty good too ;D
pete.
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Post by Jens Dietrich on Jan 7, 2005 8:33:59 GMT -8
The train conductor looks like a meanie. The train conductor must seem like a meanie to generate a false sense of urgency and peril for plot padding. Of course Conductor Hanks isn’t going to throw the "Hero Girl" (wouldn’t it be "Heroine", actually?) off the train, and of course nobody’ll be hurt in the many eye-candy-driven action scenes -- it is a kid’s film after all. But hey, what else is going to distract us from the utter lack of plot? Speaking of Hanks, making an animated character look exactly like the person doing the voice, as is the case here, seems like the most retarded waste of special effects budget ever.
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Post by pmrsim on Jan 7, 2005 9:09:39 GMT -8
I was particularly disappointed by the character animation. Having seen a perfectly believeable Gollum (a fantasy creature, no less!) I'm shocked by the terrible animation of the the humans in Polar Express.
I was also shocked by the utter lack of brainpower from these characters. So the girl (yes, heroine, pleeease) goes to the back of the train to bring the shy kid some hot chocolate. MUST the boy hero go after with her ticket? Couldn't he just wait 'til she got back and then give it to her? (Yeah, give it to her, baby..uh huh, uh huh.)
Oh... and who, in their right minds, would climb up to the roof of a FAST MOVING train, in FREEZING temperatures? These kids were morons.
And why did the ghost look like John Malkovich, but was it not his voice?
But, for me, the scene on the frozen lake made everything worthwile.
pete.
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Post by Jens Dietrich on Jan 7, 2005 9:19:32 GMT -8
I was particularly disappointed by the character animation. Having seen a perfectly believeable Gollum (a fantasy creature, no less!) I'm shocked by the terrible animation of the the humans in Polar Express. Humans are much harder to do than fantasy creatures, Pete. The problem's the so-called Uncanny Valley effect (incidentially, I contributed a few things to this Wikipedia entry). CG humans must hence be somewhat stylized to be pleasantly watchable, as in The Incredibles.
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Post by pmrsim on Jan 7, 2005 9:33:07 GMT -8
Humans are much harder to do than fantasy creatures, Pete. The problem's the so-called Uncanny Valley effect (incidentially, I contributed a few things to this Wikipedia entry). CG humans must hence be somewhat stylized to be pleasantly watchable, as in The Incredibles. Oh cool! I always *knew* this (or felt it), but never knew there was an actual name for the phenomenon. Thanks. pete.
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Post by BigMacGyver on Jan 26, 2005 16:43:14 GMT -8
In other animated movies for children you normally have the small kids screaming and talking like wild animals in the cinema. Well... from the moment when the train arrived there was silence in the cinema. They did not even start talking when the movie was over ;D I just wonder wether these kids were amazed or scared
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Post by Hook on Jan 28, 2005 19:20:52 GMT -8
Just stopping here to say this thread is brilliant.
Other than that, I must say the evidence is pretty heavy in this contest. "Believe, don't ask questions, do not infer, just because you can't see it doesn't mean it doesn't carry you toys"? This is creepy. Creepy yet brilliant.
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