Movie review: Polar Express

Tom Hanks plays six different roles in new Christmas movie | Gene Edward Veith

In Shakespeare's fantasy A Midsummer Night's Dream, Bottom the Weaver enjoys acting so much that he volunteers to play all the parts in the play. Now, we have the technology to make that possible. To make The Polar Express (rated G), Tom Hanks hooked himself up to sensors that programmed his movements into a computer, which then translated them into 3-D animated figures. To these he added his voice-overs, allowing him to play six different roles (the boy, his father, the conductor, Santa Claus, the hobo, the Scrooge).

The technology is impressive. The visual impact of the film, with its dizzying chasms and vast arctic landscapes, is spectacular. The hyper-realistic animated figures, with every gesture true-to-life, are uncanny. But they are also creepy. The figures are lifelike, while clearly being not alive. They render the externals of the human form accurately enough—like a highly realistic puppet, mannequin, or robot—but there is no inner life to shine through. To hear so much human sentiment coming from behind lifeless eyes is unsettling.