Pixar or Dreamworks?

[The Neko]

Mr. Cranky on "The Polar Express"
"There is something seriously disturbing about this movie. As I understand it, the animation is produced via something called "motion capture," which means that real actors are used to create all the movements and then those movements are turned into animation.

However, instead of using different actors for different parts, director Robert Zemeckis has used Tom Hanks for most of the big parts, including the conductor, a bum, Santa Claus, and the little boy who's the center of the story. I'm not sure what was involved in turning Tom Hanks's movements into an animated ten-year-old boy and I'm not sure I want to know. What I can tell you is this: The kid freaked me out. All the kids freaked me out. They look fucking weird.

There's something disturbing about their eyes and their facial expressions. Oh, the movements, like walking and stuff, all look okay, but then you get to the kids' weird expressions and you begin to suspect they're possessed. You half expect them to grow horns and start declaring their eternal allegiance to "Satan Claus." Once the boy (who doesn't seem to have a name) gets on The Polar Express, he meets up with several freaky children, including a black girl, an annoying kid, and a lonely kid. Each child looks like lightning is about to shoot out of his or her empty, unholy eyes. The lonely kid is apparently a motion capture of none other than Peter Scolari, Hanks's pal from "Bosom Buddies." I guess if you're beset by the curse of owing Peter Scolari some sort of favor, the relative anonymity of an animated movie is the place to repay it.

And what exactly is a bum doing on top of the train? Bums aren't exactly known for befriending young children, so it's a strange choice. When the children finally do get to the North Pole, it resembles some kind of labor camp where the workers, instead of being beaten down, have been gassed with some kind of mind-erasing happy juice. Upon seeing the place for the first time, one kid on the train screams "Elves" in a way that makes you wonder whether he just suffered a mind wipe or shit his pants.

I'm not kidding. The movie is dangerously close to being truly deranged."

[Joel Fagin]

Tom Hanks voiced all those parts but I doubt he acted them all. The kid running, at least, would have to be done by a real kid.

And motion capture isn't the problem anyway. Motion capture is good stuff. If you look at the Matrix Reloaded, most of the Burley Brawl (with Smithx100) was computer generated but it didn't start looking fake until the fighters were doing things you couldn't motion capture. Same with Spider-man. I think that's the current limitation - computer generated characters and motion capture is great but without it looks iffy.

The problem with Polar Express is the uncanny valley, where a computer generated person is just a fraction off from being perfect. Cartoony (like the Incredibles) or outright inhuman is fine but if you're almost but not quite there, it's creepy and disquieting. Polar Express is in the uncanny valley.

- Joel Fagin

[HeDanny]

WHo gives a darn. The movie on the whole was bland and void of any personality. I have cut-scenes on PSOne games that were more impressive than POLAR EXPRESS in every possible way.

Seriously.. this was the worst christmas movie I have seen, and I OWN Santa Clause Conquers the Martians on DVD. It was almost as if it was made by someone who desperately wanted the audience to see that be believed in the christmas spirit, and understood where the magic comes from, but in the end all it did was proove the opposite.

IMO, of course.. see comment in sig..

[Birdie]

I'm finally chiming in and I'm going to say Pixar puts out more quality films. They have humor, action, and create likable characters that you care about. I liked the first Shrek, but the sequel was only funny for the last 10 minutes, the rest of the time I said, "what am I doing here?" I'm going to cry when I don't get a Pixar release of THE INCREDIBLES 2, because I know if anyone can pull off a kickass sequel it's Pixar. Right now their track record is KICKASS to me.

[Paul.Power]

I prefer Pixar, although I'm going to commit sacrelige here by saying that I wasn't overly impressed by The Incredibles. It was a good movie with some lovely touches, but it was a bit too dark at times for me and the central message got on my nerves a bit. I didn't enjoy it as much as the Toy Stories or Monsters, Inc.

I did enjoy Shrek 2 (I seem to remember reading that a lot of the British voice talent - John Cleese, Jennifer Saunders, Julie Andrews - only appears in the Brit version; is this correct? Shame if so, because they were some of the star turns), though I wasn't so keen on Shrek 1.