The Polar Express

directed by Robert Zemeckis
(Death Becomes Her)
screenplay by Robert Zemeckis (Trespass) & William Broyles Jr. (Planet of the Apes)
based on the book by Chris Van Allsburg (Jumanji)
 
voices:  Tom Hanks (Toy Story), Daryl Sabara (Spy Kids), Eddie Deezen (“Dexter’s Laboratory”), Nona Gaye (The Matrix Revolutions), Peter Scolari (“Gargoyles”), Michael Jeter (The Green Mile),
Charles Fleischer (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?), Steven Tyler

low expectation:  
        I am not the only person who expects an appearance by the Coca-Cola drinking polar bears. 

       The animation for The Polar Express kind of creeps me out in the way White Chicks does, its ability to misrepresent a real face so badly while thinking itself genuine sinks to new pathetic levels despite an uncanny ability to still attract an audience.  Aside from its resemblance to a decade old TV advertisement, its photo-realistic faces evoke video game awkwardness.  It is SIMS Christmas. 
      Parents line up for failed projects like this one because they fill the role of traditional family holiday fare.  Kids are spoonfed such Santa Claus solemnity because parents continually think kids love anything having to do with Christmas without concern for quality as part of a brainwash cycle that they were once victims of themselves.  It also, in fact, is the reason that St. Nicholas has become such an icon of false formality and a gateway delusion leading toward brand loyalty and blind religous faith.  It is also a mindless multiplex choice because of associations to animation as acceptable and accessible. 
       The Polar Express may just as well have been a live action film in its desires to appear realistic and time spent filming live actors, but as a "cartoon" it has supposedly a few more narrative freedoms and results in an essence averse to the two Dr. Seuss adaptations which felt far too manufactured and plastic.  Both styles are still lacking in any warmth necessary to young people trapped in a world that growingly confuses the difference between reality and artificiality.

follow-up:

website:
PolarExpressmovie.WarnerBros.com

synopsis/press release:

        The Academy Award-winning team of Tom Hanks and director Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Cast Away) reunite for The Polar Express, an inspiring adventure based on the beloved children’s book by Chris Van Allsburg. When a doubting young boy takes an extraordinary train ride to the North Pole, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery that shows him that the wonder of life never fades for those who believe.

Expectation Key


there's no possible way we will even see this

we'll eventually see this but we aren't really expecting much

anticipating the release of this one but we're sure to be left unsatisfied

such high expectation of this film only leaves room for disappointment