Last night while Denis was out gallivanting with his co-workers in advance of the holidays, CootieGirl and I snuggled under some blankets and watched “The Polar Express” after CootieBoy went to bed. This movie is based on a book about a young boy who has doubts about Christmas and Santa Claus. Late on Christmas Eve he is awakened by a mystical train that arrives at his window. Reluctantly he hops aboard and begins the journey along with other children to the North Pole to meet Santa.
The story was fine, and the plot moved well enough, but what amazed me was the artwork. As I told Denis this morning, Pixar does amazing work, sure – the characters all look 3D and have a kind of slick subtlety about them. But “The Polar Express” was mesmerizing in it’s realism. Every tic, twitch and jerk was visible on screen. This must have looked amazing on a large theater screen because even on my 27″ television it was captivating. Only in one scene did the female character (can’t remember her name off-hand) look “fake” – the scene where she sings with Billy, the kid from “the wrong side of the tracks”.
And I think CootieGirl may have seen this movie, because about halfway through she looked at me and said, “I hear the bells!” Now, that comment didn’t mean anything to me until about 15 minutes later when the lead character discovered he COULDN’T hear the bells because he didn’t believe in Christmas. So either CootieGirl has seen this before and knows she’s supposed to hear bells, or daggum it, she heard those bells!!! Me? I didn’t hear them – but then that’s the whole point of the movie isn’t it? The innocence of children blah blah blah. Adults can’t hear them because they’ve lost their innocence blah blah blah.
At the end of the movie CootieGirl told me she liked it, so I didn’t close the Netflix envelope in case she wants to see it again.
It’s definitely going onto the Cootiepie Amazon wish list.
4 cups of hot chocolate out of five.
Guess I didn’t hear the bells. I did think the Animation was spot on, but the Story just dragged for me. I got all the way to the North Pole and a bit passed and just had to turn it off.
It made my eyeballs itch.:scared:
Ace, the movie did meander a bit once they got to the North Pole – at least 10 minutes could have been cut. But if a 2 1/2 year old can sit through the whole thing without losing concentration, so can you…
I don’t know… my attention span can be that of an 18mnth old. Maybe, I will try to rent it again and watch the second half this time. :biggrin: