I got given this movie on DVD when it came out and I never even watched it. It wasn't until a few years ago that I finally watched it on TV one Christmas and I thought it was really good. The animation looks incredible; performance capture was used for this movie, which is when human actors perform movements which are then translated into lifelike animation.
The story for those of you who haven't seen it; a young boy who is starting to have doubts about whether Santa Claus is real boards a train heading to the North Pole. During the journey, along with a load of other children, he embarks on a journey of self discovery.
When they get to the North Pole and see Santa's town, it's not quite the cliche scene we usually expect. Instead of a snowy, happy looking village, it looks more like an industrial town full of elves who look like political activists instead of happy, toy making elves. And Santa himself is a nice man, but not overly happy and jolly. He's professional and his operation seems more like a professional business than a joyous, 'I do this because I enjoy it' type thing. But it's a great spectacle, and the operation is different to anything we're used to seeing, with a helicopter flying over and lifting a huge bag of toys and dropping int onto Santa's sleigh, knocking off the star on the tree and almost piercing a poor elf along the way.
There's a really fucking annoying kid in the movie who I just want to punch as soon as we meet him. Even if he is an animation, I still want to punch him and make him shut up. His voice is very annoying and you all know which character I'm talking about.
Fuck you.
This is a really good movie and it's safe to say it's not just for children. There's enough slightly deeper things going on that a child probably wouldn't notice, like the lonely boy who seems to have some trouble, and we get the feeling his loneliness still might be a problem even after he gets his present and returns home.
Tom Hank's conductor tells the children to get on the train throughout the movie, and it's something you should do too.
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