KIDS FIRST! News

When The Polar Express was released theatrically in 2004, it was lauded for its animation, and the quality of that animation is retained on the DVD recently released by Warner Home Entertainment. The animation is so exceptional, there are sequences when, watching it, you may well forget it is animation and view it as a live-action feature film. Director Robert Zemeckis made use of the technique of motion capture, in which sensors are attached to the actors’ bodies and their movements are then recorded electronically as they perform the characters’ roles on an empty soundstage. The digital information is then used to create the animation, merging it into the three-dimensional CGI world.

The story, however, does not flow as smoothly as the animation, as some sequences seem to be disconnected to anything else. Based on the book of the same name by Caldecott Medal winner Chris Van Allsburg, it centers on a boy of about eight years old who is just on the cusp of the “is Santa Clause real?” stage of childhood. The film opens on Christmas Eve, with the unnamed “hero boy” lying in bed listening in hope against hope for the sound of Santa’s sleigh bells. What he hears instead — and feels, for it shakes his room like an earthquake as it rumbles to his yard — is a passenger train: the Polar Express.

As no one else in hero boy’s family — younger sister, mother, father — seems to hear the train, perhaps it and hero boy’s adventures are a dream. There are scenes and characters that come in and out of the story with no defined reason, which is an attribute of dreams. But the animation is so life-like, it works against a dream effect if such is, in fact, what’s intended.

Body movements, especially musculature around the characters’ mouths when they speak, replicates that of a human body very closely, and the characters and scenery have little of the cartoon quality usually found in animated films. This makes all the more noticeable the lack of any human warmth to the story; we can identify with the characters but we don’t feel for them.

Hero boy is invited by an indifferent conductor to board the train. He finds other children already on board, and one more joins them at the next stop. One is a lost and lonely boy, one is a know-it-all boy — perhaps aspects of hero boy’s personality? — and one is a caring and mothering girl. These four, singly or in various combinations, share adventures with the conductor, a mysterious hobo who rides atop the train and, eventually, with Santa himself.

The train takes them through such action adventures as a broken-brake run on terrifying stretches of roller-coaster track and an attempted crossing of a frozen lake of which the ice begins to crack apart and the resulting waves threaten to submerge the train. Scenery is beautifully composed, from snow-covered forest to breathtaking Northern Lights to homes and towns. Ultimately, hero boy’s quest for truth puts it back to his own mind with the message, “Sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can’t see.”

Writes 15-year-old KIDS FIRST! reviewer Phoenix Diller, “The film, like the book, captures the Christmas magic and everything Christmas represents. My favorite part of the film is when the boy runs outside in his pajamas to the magical Polar Express at the beginning of the film. The train is so believable and the sounds are very much the sounds of a real train! It’s a very magical scene!”

Special effects bring both power and realism to the action. This, plus the premise of the story, makes the film suited more to an older child than a very young one.

A bad experiment gone worse releases a mist over a small town, and … viola! A kid’s wish comes true and parents and kids do a switcheroo: Parents act like little kids and kids take on the attitudes and behaviors of their parents. How this works with adults who aren’t parents is one of many questions that severely test the standards of cinematic “suspension of disbelief.” However, the thesis of Opposite Day, released by Anchor Bay for home entertainment on DVD, is sure to enchant kids eight to 13, who typically feel their parents give them too many rules and too little of their time. The good news for parents is that this fantasy ride comes with a moral: It’s tough being a grown-up and kids should appreciate their parents.

Opening scenes in an experimental laboratory introduce the viewer to a harried scientist (French Stewart) and a device with the potential to make an adult regress to childishness. With an abrupt change, the camera then swings through a small town, giving a quick visual overview of the people — and their personalities — who populate it, finally coming to rest in a schoolyard. “If kids ran the world, it would be so much better,” says one boy.

Sammy Benson (Billy Unger), the boy who speaks these prophetic words, and his sister Carla (Ariel Winter) leave town for a vacation with their grandparents. Tucking the children into bed, Grandma Benson (Renée Taylor) points to a night sky ablaze with twinkling lights and says of one of them, “Oh look, it’s the first star” (another test of the viewer’s ability to suspend disbelief — but, to be fair, there is one star considerably larger than the others that she might be pointing to, and, of course, there needs to be a wishing star to move the plot forward).

Sammy jumps on the opportunity. “I wish that kids ruled the world.”

Meanwhile, the harried scientist has been goaded by the lab’s director to show breakthroughs of some sort that could be used to make a buck, and he puts his own son into a device he’s been working on to enable parents to understand their babies’ talk. But uh oh — that’s the device we already saw turn a mature chimp infantile.

Understandably upset at his father for putting him at risk, Chaz (Dylan Cash), the scientist’s son, rampages through the lab, pulling wires to disable the device, which then malfunctions and releases the malignant mist that turns things “opposite” throughout the town.

When Grandma and Grandpa Benson (Dick Van Patten) bring Sammy and Carla home, they are mystified to see kids in their parents’ work clothes (resized to perfectly fit their smaller bodies — a seeming anomaly that is addressed in short order) doing their jobs and mouthing their sayings, while the adults (who, fortunately, get to stay in clothes that fit) play hopscotch and act out childishly. Of the predictable sight gags that fill the bulk of the movie’s 81 minutes, some are funny, some start funny but drag on too long, and some — like one kid ad exec who too perfectly mimics her adult counterpart — are simply disturbing.

To Sammy, the situation is perfect — or would be if only a kid-cop hadn’t arrested his grandparents for infractions that began with Grandpa Benson being “too young” to drive a car. And then, it doesn’t stay fun for long. “Being in charge is hard work,” Sammy admits after a day of taking care of his childish parents (Pauly Shore and Colleen Crabtree).

Sammy and Carla learn about what happened at the lab, realize it wasn’t Sammy’s wish upon the star that caused the madness, and head over to the lab to make everything back to “right” again. Chase scenes and fight scenes ensue, with the two youngsters taking on the lab’s security forces (Carla) and a gang of Ninjas (Sammy) set on them by friend-turned-evil Chaz.

But Sammy and Carla can’t make things normal again without scientific know-how. Will Chaz agree to help them? “We can take care of our parents better than they could take care of us,” Chaz tells them. To which Carla argues, “Parents look after us unconditionally.” Chaz, of course, has recent reason to question that, but the writers instead hark back to an early scene in which Chaz tells of his dad’s love and expresses only a wish that they had more time together. Sammy throws in the clincher: “Why rush growing up?”

With only seconds to go, they try to stop the attack Chaz had set in motion that would take the phenomenon global, and also try to undo the effect in their own town.

Outtakes during the closing credits share some of the silly moments on set during filming, giving a glimpse into the playful “child” in cast members old and young.

The title of Disney’s heartwarming children’s Christmas movie “The Search for Santa Paws” is a bit of a misnomer. There are several threads of “search” stories woven together, however, and this being a Disney creation the viewer can comfortably expect that everyone will get what they want — or deserve — in the end.

The film opens as a musical production, starting with the elves gaily singing through their tasks in Santa’s North Pole workshop and culminating with Santa (Richard Riehle) and his Missus (Patrika Darbo) sharing a loving waltz around his birthday cake. Young children may not notice the plasticity of the smiles at this point, but for those who want more warmth, be patient — expressions and dialog become more natural as the characters evolve.

“Paws” (who is not yet “Santa Paws”) is first introduced as a stuffed-toy dog gifted to Santa from an old friend who has just passed away. A little magic from the “Christmas crystal” in a beautiful ice cave brings him to life (voiced by Mitchel Musso), and a necklace pendant of crystal keeps him — and Santa — immortal when they leave the North Pole for New York City, which is suffering from a dire drop in Christmas spirit.

Santa and Paws are separated after an accident that leaves Santa without his memory. Happenstance connects Santa to the heirs of his old friend — a couple who are two of those sadly in need of Christmas spirit — who have been bequeathed the friend’s toy store if they can run it to a profit through one Christmas season. Amnesiac Santa — who thinks his name is “Bud” because people on the street have called him that — surprises himself and the toy store proprietors with his ability to get along with all the children who visit the store.

A Central Park bum (Chris Coppola) takes advantage of Santa’s accident to steal what look to him to be valuable objects — Santa’s crystal pendant and a travel bag that turns out to have his iconic red suit. Gus makes use of the suit to take over a donation stand, thinking to make personal use of the money. He thinks he’s only searching for a way to make a buck, but he ends up finding something more meaningful.

Intercut with these stories is one that follows a little orphan, Quinn (a charming Kaitlyn  Maher), sent to a foster home run by the thoroughly disagreeable Ms. Stout (Wendi McLendon-Covey), who goes to extremes to keep any spark of joy out of her charges’ lives. An early scene shows her snatching a doll — forbidden contraband her home — from one little girl and throwing it in the incinerator. Quickly over with, the incident serves to set up the drama of a later key situation. Quinn, of course, is looking for more love than Ms. Stout’s home provides.

Paws and Quinn cross paths, and she sneaks the pup into the foster home. Another musical number ensues when Paws throws out some Christmas Crystal magic and transforms the girls’ stark bedroom into a well-furnished one replete with Christmas ornaments and the girls’ dingy dresses into party frocks. Ms. Stout discovers him, snatches his magic crystal, and sends him and one of the luckless girls to the cellar.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Santa has realized something bad must have happened to Santa and Paws, and two of Santa’s helpers arrive in the city to save them. Through them, all the threads come together and tie off as everyone gains in Christmas spirit through actions of giving to others — which is the ultimate treasure found in “The Search for Santa Paws.”

To Blu-ray or not to Blu-ray, that is the question — with apologies to the Bard for debasing Hamlet’s famous musing. But the question is more than academic for families considering where to spend their home entertainment money. Blu-ray represents yet another investment in the never-ending line of technology advancements. Is it worth changing over your home entertainment system yet again?

While Avatar director James Cameron praises the quality of Blu-ray over standard DVD (“On Blu-ray, you can see the one-to-one relationship of what the actors did to how it was translated in the movie,” Cameron told attendees at the Digital Entertainment Group conference held in Los Angeles on Nov. 2, discussing the Blu-ray release of Avatar, which has become the No. 1 Blu-ray title of all time worldwide), parents of young children may be swayed more by a practical consideration: Blu-ray discs are less susceptible to damage from scratches and fingerprints than standard DVDs, thanks to the special hard-coating developed for them.

The more commonly touted advantage is, of course, the Blu-ray disc’s greater data-storage capacity — more than five times that of traditional DVDs. It is this greater capacity that enables Blu-ray discs to offer playback (and recording and rewriting) in high definition. Standard DVDs cannot store the amount of data needed to produce the sharp images and vivid colors of the increasingly popular HD, whereas a dual-layer Blu-ray disc can hold more than nine hours of HD video on its 50 gigabytes of storage. Of standard-definition video, the same disc could hold about 23 hours. Compared to a standard dual-layer DVD’s 8.5GB, Blu-ray discs’ storage capacity allows room for additional content and all those special features with which studios like to entice an at-home audience. High-def audio is also possible on Blu-ray.

Admittedly, the selection of movie titles currently available on Blu-ray is considerably less than DVD. Retail giant Amazon.com carries 150,000 titles on DVD but only 4,000 on Blu-ray, according to the company’s VP of movies and video, Bill Carr, speaking at the DEG conference. Yet DEG president Ron Sanders, who is also president of Warner Home Video, told the conference that, to date, standard DVD sales declined 14 percent while Blu-ray sales grew by 86 percent. Major movie studios Disney, Fox, Warner, Paramount, Sony, Lionsgate and MGM have released titles on Blu-ray, and, going forward, many studios have announced plans to release films on Blu-ray concurrent with standard DVDs. Many, in fact, release both together as a combo pack — with an additional digital copy that can be downloaded on other electronic devices — offering options for viewing almost anywhere.

Blu-ray 3D is yet another advancement to home-viewing options. Amazon, anticipating viewer interest and/or curiosity, offers information on its site about this format.

The message at the heart of this slapstick tale of doggy derring-do from Anchor Bay is relevant any time of the year: Everyone deserves a second chance. Delivering it in a Christmas setting adds an extra zing because, as the mother in this story insists, “No one should be alone on Christmas.”

Shades of “Home Alone,” but here with a former K-9 police dog as hero, give the film its big pay-off and most of its humor. Unfortunately, it takes far too long to get there, straining for humor and character identification along the way. Part of the problem with the movie is its ambivalence about what age audience it’s going for.

At the start of the movie, we meet Zeus, a golden Labrador Retriever who looks well fed and well cared for. But appearances must be deceiving, because Zeus shares his thoughts with us about getting picked up and sent to an animal shelter so he can be assured of “three square meals on the inside.” (Zeus is not so much a talking character as one whose thoughts we are able to hear.) Such references are above the heads of the youngest viewers, but the tone of voice most characters use is the one that many adults affect when they try to make conversation with toddlers.

Zeus is adopted from the pound by George Bannister, who promised his wife, Belinda, that he would not buy a dog until the two of them had time to discuss it more. His sophistry (“I didn’t buy it; I got it for free”) raises a point about honesty parents may want to discuss with their kids after viewing the movie. Ostensibly, George wants a dog that can be a guard dog, as there’s been a robbery on their block; Belinda, however, suggests they get an alarm instead. What George really wants is a pet, because as a child he lost his dog. So when it becomes apparent that Zeus lacks a basic requisite — he can’t bark — George insists on giving him another chance.

The Bannister kids, Kara and Ben, are on their dad’s side, and we see them getting a DVD “Teach Your Dog to Bark.” Even though they profess to care about Zeus, we don’t see any real feeling to their words or actions.

The source of Zeus’ problem is explained in a short, confused flashback scene: On a police mission, he barked at the wrong time and blew a five-year investigation. Now, he knows he has to overcome this psychological block, and, predictably, it takes a robbery attempt on the Bannister’s house to get him past his hang-up.

Recurring gags are Zeus drinking out of the toilet and one of the robbers with a flatulence problem. The pair of robbers are, in many ways, more likeable than the family whose home they’re robbing. They are stupid and clumsy, easy foils for Zeus’ tricks, and their conversation and pratfalls — over-the-top though they are — provide the most honest humor in the movie.

A secondary story involves a hermit-like neighbor about whom Kara and Ben propagate a rumor that she poisons dogs. Zeus also plays a role in resolving her relationships in time for a merry Christmas.

Recommended for ages 9 to 12.