So tonight my darling daughter and I are stretched out for our weekly Gilmore Girls fix and we are blasted with a preview of the Polar Express movie. What a travesty! I am heartbroken. Such a lovely children's book, elegant in its simplicity and its tremendously beautiful artwork, transformed into a Broadway musical extravaganza. What is it with our culture?
The Polar Express was one of our Christmas favorites for a long, long time. I probably read it aloud 20 or 30 times a December for at least ten years. We loved the gentle story, the muted colors, the wolves deep in the woods, and the crescendo of the elves' excitement. There was a time in my life when, night after night after night, I was curled up in the center of my bed with three children heaped around me for an hour or two of reading. The Polar Express was the perfect book for capping off an evening when the house was a bit chilly and snow was falling softly outside.
I have nothing against musicals -- my daughter's been involved with several and they're lots of fun. But The Polar Express is not Broadway material. I hate to think of its being ruined for a generation of children whose parents will rush to the movies tomorrow night, unwilling for their little darlings to miss one second of the latest Hollywood gloss on a not-so-old classic.
I hope they stay away in droves and read the book instead.
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Walked 1 mile yesterday and 3 miles tonight.
8 comments:
It's animated with Tom Hanks doing the narration. I read The Polar Express to my son every year, and we're both really looking forward to the movie. I'll let you know how it is!
Tom Hanks was on Oprah promoting the movie, I hated how little attention she, of all people, gave to the author/illustrator, Chris VanAllsburg. I met him at a book signing once in Austin. He is from western Michigan. I worked for a man with the same last name, good chance they were distantly related. His work is stunning.
I felt the same about STUART LITTLE. It was the first book my youngest son read to me aloud. I had just started homeschooling him (he was doing very poorly in public school). The movie STUART LITTLE is just dumb, nothing like the lovely story of Stuart and Margalo and the bittersweet nature of love and loss. It is a travesty!
You go girl........ and I couldn't agree more about the book. judi
I just read a review of it and they tore it apart. Then they interviewed kids who just saw the movie---and the kids loved it...go figure...The book is a gem.
I completely agree with you. I bought the book when Austin was 1.5 and we have loved it every Christmas season. What a disappointment. Even if the movie is spectacular (which I doubt since the kids don;t even look rea) how sad to take away from the classic.
We have this book at home, and the kids want to see the movie, I think I'll take them to see the Incredibles first. I'm not big on musicals. I really liked the book though.
~JerseyGirl
http://journals.aol.com/cneinhorn/WonderGirl
That sums up my feelings about it exactly. I am soooo not interested in seeing it because I love the book so much. I rarely enjoy a movie about a book I love and I don't see anything but a travesty possible with this one.
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