THE POLAR EXPRESS
WB
RELEASED 3 December 2004
Back in the fifties, the emergence of television threatened the future of the cinema. Attendances were falling and the studios began to look at ways of getting bums back on seats. Big-budget epics such as Samson and Delilah (1950) and The Ten Commandments (1956) were one way for the studios to stick two fingers up to the humble television. Another avenue the studios explored was the use of ‘gimmicks’, such as color films, bigger screens and 3-D.
Cinerama debuted in 1952, a technique that required three cameras, three projectors and interlocking, semi-curved screens. Although there were a few box-office Cinerama hits, the technique was ultimately abandoned due to expense. Widescreen processes came thick and fast with CinemaScope leading the way from VistaVision, SuperScope, 70 mm, Panavision-70, Technirama and Ultra Panavision. Today the 70mm format is still used - it’s when you get that really wide screen!
The biggest profile ‘gimmick’ and holy grail of viewing has always been 3-D. Films in the fifties using this device were mostly horror and science-fiction such as House of Wax (1953), It Came From Outer Space (1953), and The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). The process has shown it’s face on and off over the years, with moderate successes like ‘Jaws 3-D’, ‘Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare’, and ‘Spy Kids 3-D’. But the glasses have always been too flimsy, everything looks red and blue, and the 3-D has been blurry and far too two-dimensional.
Another cinema experience began surfacing in America during the 70’s. Called IMAX, the screen is large enough to show a whale ‘life-size’ and boasts the best sound-system available. Being so huge, the screen encompasses your entire field of vision, leading to a more immersive viewing experience. A wide variety of films have been specially shot for the IMAX screen since it’s inception, notably ‘Antartica’ (1991) and ‘Everest’ (1998), and IMAX has also been pushing the 3-D envelope with progressively more impressive features such as ‘Wings of Courage’ (1995), T-Rex: Back to Cretaceous (1998), and ‘Space Station 3D’ (1999). After dipping it’s toe into the IMAX water with Disney fare such as ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘Fantasia 2000’, Hollywood has now begun to appreciate the unique experience IMAX can offer, and the big blockbusters have been modified to fit the towering IMAX screen in conjunction with their standard cinema release. Star Wars: Episode II, Spider-Man 2, and The Matrix sequels have all gone under the IMAX splicing knife to dizzying effect. Indeed, before each screening, an announcement suggests you may suffer some disorientation during particulary kinetic scenes. Don’t worry, all you have to do is close your eyes for a few moments and everything will be okay when you re-open them. It’s a bit like hiding behind the sofa when those pesky Daleks show up!
London’s own bfi IMAX Cinema on the South Bank was opened in 1999, thanks to £15 million from the Arts Council of England's Lottery Fund. It boasts the UK's biggest cinema screen (nearly the height of five double-decker buses) and the 11,600-watt digital surround-sound system is like nothing you’ve ever heard before. The cinema is also fully disabled-accessible, with eight wheelchair spaces and an induction loop for hard-of-hearing people.
So with all the history of big screens and 3-D covered, what’s so special about ‘The Polar Express’? Well, this is the first truly three-dimensional film, created in three dimensions in the computer, and converted through IMAX technology into a totally convincing and jaw-dropping 3-D experience. This is not an exaggeration when I say I had more fun and experienced more wide-eyed wonderment than I think I have ever done before in the cinema. You see, IMAX 3-D uses polarized glasses where one lense is rotated 90 degrees so that one eye sees vertically polarized light, the other sees horizontally polarized light. Two projectors then project through their own polarizers. The audience does look somewhat like a convention of Dame Edna lookalikes in the huge glasses but it’s all good fun, the glasses are very comfortable, and the effect is incredible. If I give you some examples, I hope I can go some way to verbalising the sensation. When it’s snowing, you can see snow in front of your face and stretching away into the distance at the same time. When the Polar Express swings around at speed on an iced-over lake, the engine looks like it’s moving so close to your face you can smell the coal burning in the fire. When the Express careers out of control down a wildly undulating track, you feel like you’re on a rollercoaster along for the ride. When a giant balloon picks up a huge sack of presents from above, the four wires actually seem to be hanging in the air in front of you. When the kids are crossing a deep chasm via a thin track, my legs got that wobbly vertigo feeling. Throughout the film you are never in any doubt that a real, three-dimensional world is at your fingertips.
With all this amazement at the success of the 3-D technology, I realise I haven’t mentioned whether the story is any good. Rest assured, the writers have done an equally fine job. ‘The Polar Express’ will be just as enertaining and thrilling on a standard screen as it is on the IMAX. Based on the 1985 children’s book by Chris Van Allsburg, ‘The Polar Express’ takes place on Christmas Eve, where a young boy is in bed trying to sleep when an extraordinary train pulls up outside his house. Crunching through the snow in his slippers, the young boy is asked by the the Polar Express’ conductor (Tom Hanks) whether he would like to board the train, destined for the North Pole. Accepting with some disbelief, he finds he isn’t the only child to be invited along for the ride. The journey to the Pole is fraught with thrills and excitement, and every child will learn, or rediscover, the true meaning of Christmas.
The script is full of fine writing and funny moments, Hanks plays the stern but mischievous conductor with great relish, and all the kids are genuinely charming, especially the poor little guy who has never received a Christmas present in his life. Being an animated film released in the golden times of Pixar (Toy Story, The Incredibles), the computer animation team have done an excellent job photo-realising both Hanks and the child performers, enabling them to film action that would simply be impossible in real-life. Everything you could want in a Christmas film is here: snow, elves, reindeer, santa, and the true meaning of Christmas. There are too many moments of creative inspiration to mention, but just watch for that train ticket that flies out of the window - that’s not the last you’ve seen of it!
I have no doubt ‘The Polar Express’ will come to be a staple of the Christmas schedules for many years to come in the same manner as ‘The Snowman’ and ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’. I urge you to spend some time with your family and enjoy the perfect Christmas movie.
FIVE OUT OF FIVE