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the Polar Express is a timeless christmas classic

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Piggus said:
Came in here expecting praise for one of my all-time favorite children's books. DISAPPOINTED.

I have a Polar Express train that goes around the Christmas tree, but I don't think a giant cat ever tried to derail it in the book/film.

I watched Muppets Christmas Carol the other day. Now THATS a Christmas movie I can get behind.
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That, the 1951 Alastair Sim version and Scrooged are the only adaptations of A Christmas Carol needed for the rest of time.
 
Saw the short version earlier this week in 4d at the Georgia aquarium and it was pretty fun experience. The fake snow, wind, rain, and chocolate smell added a lot to the scenes. I've never seen the full movie.
 
Isn't this movie about how the only acceptable way to celebrate Christmas (a holiday heavily borrowing from Pagan tradition and that is practically interwoven into Western culture) is to make it about Christ. Except that it basically uses Santa because the movie tries to dance around the mention of Christ?
 
Nothing like people praising stuff from 10 or 15 years ago that nobody liked back when they originally came out.
 
The movie always was, always has been, and will always be garbage. The book was 32 fucking pages that would take, like, 10 minutes in movie form. So to pad it out they bolted on 90 minutes of idiocy, musical numbers, and garbage animation that looked 5 years behind the curve when it came out.

Book's great. Movie's trash.
 
I like it but I can see why people hate it. Even before the animation started to show its age it always had a pretty strong nightmare vibe to it. Unlike other Christmas movies it's very cold and alien.

Like that train tracks scene? Chilling.
 
I remember liking it as a kid, but thought the book was much better. I don't think I've watched it since it came out in theaters though.
 
Waiting for this movie to be remade in 20-30 years time and the soundtrack to be surgically transplanted. This film is the best example of movie trying it's hardest to be a Christmas classic rather than naturally becoming one. Which sucks because it has the elements there, and then it has, well, this.

tyler.jpg
 
The CG is all over the place. Some of the animations and faces are creepy as hell. Update the CG and the movie could be a classic
 
thecosmicfly said:
This film is the best example of movie trying it's hardest to be a Christmas classic rather than naturally becoming one.
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THIS, it's trying way too hard and feels shallow and empty. There's more warmth and joy at the end of A Christmas Story when the mom and dad are quietly watching the snow fall outside by the Christmas tree listening to Silent Night on the radio, or Clark Griswold trapped in the attic watching old footage of Christmases past on the projector.

I don't feel anything at the end of The Polar Express, it doesn't instill any sense of joy or wistful memories of Christmases past, it doesn't have any basis in that.
 
CornBurrito said:
Isn't this movie about how the only acceptable way to celebrate Christmas (a holiday heavily borrowing from Pagan tradition and that is practically interwoven into Western culture) is to make it about Christ. Except that it basically uses Santa because the movie tries to dance around the mention of Christ?
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No. the movie isn't Christian/religious at all.
 
Polar Express is pretty good and has some nice feels at the end. It's a bit dark sometimes but that's part of the fun. The one thing I hate though is using an adult for that nerdy kid's voice. Terrible, clichéd performance.

99Luffy said:
If you havent already. Watch Arthur Christmas on netflix.
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Really underappreciated gem from Aardman Animations. I love it! Bryony is such an awesome character.
HRGXcBU.jpg
 
Pop-O-Matic said:
Part 1 of the Robert Zemeckis Uncanny Valley Tetraology with Beowulf, A Christmas Carol and Mars Needs Moms.
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Mars Needs Moms was not directed by Zemeckis; he was just one of it's producers.

CornBurrito said:
Isn't this movie about how the only acceptable way to celebrate Christmas (a holiday heavily borrowing from Pagan tradition and that is practically interwoven into Western culture) is to make it about Christ. Except that it basically uses Santa because the movie tries to dance around the mention of Christ?
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There is no mention of anything religious in the movie.
 
Opinions and all that but this is one of those rare movies that I can't even be bothered to watch all the way through. It's Disneys Cars/Planes level bad.

Aled Jones and the Snowman is the timeless classic you are like looking for.
 
I really enjoyed the book and some parts of the movie, but it had too many shoehorned action scenes that were only necessary to fill an hour and a half run time.
 
It's been awhile since I've scene it but I remember disliking it. I've always hated runaway car/bus/train/cart scenes in movies. Always felt like cheap filler. And if I'm remembering correctly there was a lot of that in the movie.
 
Personally I didn't enjoy the movie, it dragged on in a lot of places and while it's clear it had a message to convey, I didn't think it did it well. I also was not a fan of the animation like some here too but I could have gotten over it otherwise.
 
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