Last night, just before seeing the latest Harry Potter movie (which was darkly cool) I saw a trailer for The Polar Express, an upcoming animated Christmas movie from Tom Hanks and Robert Zemeckis. The film uses a new motion capture technique to give life to the computer-generated characters. What I found interesting was that the film appears to fall into what Japanese robotics expert Dr. Masahiro Mori calls the "uncanny valley". The uncanny valley is the uncomfortable space computer graphics or robots slip into right before they become truly lifelike. Mori argues that we more readily identify with, and like, animated characters or robots that have human characteristics, but don't appear too close to human. If you come within a few inches of human, says Mori, you end up making humans nervous because we realize that something isn't quite right. That's why we find the movements and whistles of R2D2 endearing, but find the stilted "live action" mannequins of video games so off putting. Unfortunately, The Polar Express characters are more creepy than cuddly, a decided negative in a Christmas flick. Their movements appear too realistic for cartoon characters (which succeed by exaggeration), and their faces seem textured mapped on and plagued by too much Botox. The net result was that I spent my time during the brief trailer trying to figure out what creeped me out, and little time paying attention to anything else. I hope, when the film opens, it doesn't give kids nightmares before Christmas.
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