*** Official THE POLAR EXPRESS Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Tom McDonald]

I will second what Steve has said, the family just got back from seeing this at the Imax and this is a amazing 3D movie experience, if you have a Imax near you and this is playing go see it. Big Thumbs Up

 

[Pat Ashmore]

The IMAX 3D experience was simply awesome! Give yourself and others this gift if you have the rare opportunity.
It was something that I'll never forget.

 

[Keith I]

When my wife and I saw this on the weekend after it opened, we were surprised at how empty the theater was. After seeing The Incredibles in an almost-packed house, we knew why.

However, the experience of seeing The Polar Express (even though we live in Hawai'i and never experienced this kind of Winter climate) was joyous, regardless of how the animation looked. The story and execution were fantastic and we loved the message...

"BELIEVE" (which we did with this movie, too)

And in response to IMAX theaters growing in numbers: Not here. Our one IMAX theater (next to the now-gone Waikiki Theatres) went with those Waikiki Theatres. The Polynesian Cultural Center IMAX Theater only shows stuff aimed at tourists. They don't show mainstream Hollywood IMAX films.

 

[Craig S]

We saw this in IMAX 3D yesterday. What an absolutely incredible experience!! This is not one of those gimmicky "stuff flies out out of the screen" things. It is, however, incredibly immersive, with one breathtaking sight following another in rapid succession. The Polar Express is, at least in the 3D format, a moving work of art. If you live anywhere near one of these theaters do not miss your chance to see this.

 

[Ernest Rister]

Saw Polar Express in IMAX 3-D a few hours ago, and everybody here at the HTF that lives within two hours' drive of a 3-D Imax theater owes it to themselves to go see this. I don't care how you find a way to get to the theater, just get there. If you let this slip by, you are going to be missing out on one of the most memorable theater-going events in recent years. Yeah, its that good. I can't reccomend this movie higher.

 

[Brian Sheffield]

Didn't much care for the movie, but as a 3D experience it was AMAZING.

I'd seen 3D before with Jaws 3D, Friday the 13th part 3D and one or two others that came out in the mid eighties, but this was completely different. In other 3d films you basically get a normal film with one or two scenes with something sticking out at you, like the Yo-Yo in House of Wax. In The Polar Express the entire film used the 3D effect to enhance every scene.

I feel like I've seen my first "talkie" or color film.

I truly hope IMAX - 3D is the wave of the future.


Imagine how I'd feel if I actually liked the flick. :wink:

 

[DougFND]

We very much enjoyed it, though I wish we could have seen it in IMAX. We took our four-year-old daughter and she liked it as well. I found nothing creepy about the look of the characters. The eyes and mouths didn't bother me at all.

We'll be getting the DVD on release day and I'm sure this will be required viewing during future holiday seasons.

 

[MarkHastings]

I think the reason why Gollum and Yoda work is because they are fictional characters. The reason why the Polar Express characters were "Creepy" was because they were as close to human figures as the technology would allow.

We have come SO close to replicating human characters in 3D, that our minds are actually believing that they are REAL. So the fact that they aren't real, really freaks us out when a character does something that isn't "right" (i.e. something that goes against the wway nature works).

This is why the figures seemed like corpses. It felt as if they took real humans (because they looked real) and put animatronics in them (because they were almost stiff-like).

The "dead" faces made the characters look creepy. If they used a more stylized approach (like Dreamworks does with Shrek), then you wouldn't be as bothered by it because your mind knows the figures aren't real.

This is exactly what people have been saying by the technology is becoming TOO advanced. The 3D characters look so real and our minds are believing the illusion so much that it's creeping us out when something breaks us away from that illusion (i.e. and brings us back into the animated world).

 

[Jerry R Colvin]

I usually am not so late to the game, but I just saw the IMAX 3D version last night and LOVED it. One of the best movie-going experiences I ever had.

I take it by all the comments here that the flat version isn't as good. Therefore, I hope to never see that version, and to never watch it on TV. I hope to go back to the IMAX 3D version year after year....

 

[Steve Phillips]

Just curious: are the reviews based on the flat version, or the IMAX 3-D version? It seems everyone who sees it flat comes away less than impressed, but nearly everyone who's seen the 3-D version can't say enough good things about it.

Me...I've only seen it in 3-D, and have no plans to see it flat.

 

[MarkHastings]

The technology shouldn't make a film "better", so if you liked the IMAX version, then you should like the flat version (unless you were only impressed by the fact that it was shown in 3D).

 

[Chris Atkins]

I saw the flat version.

And, the best part of all: my wife and I had the theater ALL to ourselves.

 

[Steve Phillips]

The 3-D technology made me enjoy the film far more than I would have in 2-D, and that seems to be the case with most people...even Roger Ebert agreed, which was a shocker.

Technology should never be the only reason to see a film, but that doesn't mean it doesn't help ones enjoyment.

GONE WITH THE WIND was made more spectacular by Technicolor; THE ROBE is more interesting in CinemaScope than when cropped and/or panned and scanned. POLAR EXPRESS is cooler in IMAX 3-D. Taking the color, widescreen or 3-D away from these films would make them suffer.

At least the 3-D was used more like the 50s films; for depth and realism and not just for pointing sticks at the camera like the 80s movies were. Seen flat, there is still something to see....it just isn't as fun.

 

[Mark Palermo]

I've seen both versions. It's a good movie either way, but in 3D it's an amazing experience.

 

[Chris]

As it continues to chug along at the box office, an interesting look into the marketing campaign behind Polar Express:

http://www.slate.com/id/2111391/

 

[Jim Ogilvie]

I waited until to day to see it in imax. Christmas day is usually pretty quiet for me, so it was a nice activity.

Wow.

Big thumbs up. I hope they bring it back next year.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

I'm not sure what you are talking about but I just saw parts of this again and there was definitely a lot of blinking going on.

~Edwin