I finally sat down to catch up on Ebert & Roper. They liked Polar Express so much that I had to see it. So I Fandango'd a ticket to the 9:15 IMAX 3D showing. It was a packed house.
The single trailer was for Cameron's new Aliens of the Deep, which is some sort of cross between his underwater epics and Aliens, and The Abyss in 3D. It was impressive.
Polar Express in 3D was a jaw dropper from the beginning all the way through to the end. The animation was amazing. The characters weren't as wooden or disembodied as the trailers make them seem. And the 3D part wasn't a gimmick. It was a continuous expansion of the visual field. This is the future of these graphics movies for sure, and frankly I would like to see it done in more live action films as well.
The story of the film was good. I've heard a lot of griping about how the musical numbers don't seem integrated into the plot. But, what plot? It's a story about a train to the North Pole. What is the plot? The whole thing is just a series of little vignettes on the way to the big payoff and the expression of the deeper meaning of Christmas. I thought it was fine. This is definitely the Christmas classic for Megan's generation, and it couldn't have come too soon, the little fuzzy Rudolf with his lightbulb nose was getting old. Though I will miss the gods of Winter and Summer. "I'm Mr. Heat Meister. I'm Mr. Sun. I'm Mr. Hundred Degree weather..."
Anyway, long story short, if you have the chance to see it in IMAX 3D, do it. Make the trip. Spend the money. You will be blown away.
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