barry-steers Reviews

Ghost Adventures (2008– )

Zak Bagans is a fake (in my opinion)

[3/10 · 4 May 2024]

I think I've watched nearly all of the GA episodes along with many other wannabe shows over the years. I am a sceptic but will look at the evidence presented to me to see if indeed there is compelling evidence for the paranormal, cue Zak and his GA show. Since Nick Goff's departure, Bagans has had a free reign on this and doesn't it show. Bagans is the most arrogant, self important and melodramatic blowhard ever to front a show. He believes everything that comes out of his mouth deserves respect and attention from those around him. That aside, his approach to 'investigating' and gathering 'evidence' is absolutely woeful. I can sum up every single episode with the following events;

1: Padding scenes about the venue, some are very irrelevant but serve to fill the limited material gained from the investigation. Also grossly over dramatic re enactments which bear little resemblance to reality but serve to embellish the alleged history of a place if it lacks enough drama.

2: Dubious interviews with witnesses where what I consider Zak is leading them to form a narrative of his choosing. He effectively puts words in their mouths so to create a more mysterious atmosphere than what is originally implied by them.

3: During an investigation Zak comically gets possessed whilst others get touched or feel nauseous. An obvious and typical ploy when the investigation is yielding nothing.

4: Mundane noises or airborne particles are instantly transformed into something paranormal. Everyone that owns an IR camera knows Zak is full of BS.

5: Highly dubious equipment is brought out to monitor ghosts. An Xbox Kinect derived camera that picks up stick people. This equipment has been debunked many times as not fit for purpose as the Xbox bit has to be stable and perfectly still or it will will give off weird readings. Walking around with it on a tablet is not what it was designed for and that is why it gives fake results.

6: Zak extrapolating the most ridiculous explanations from the minimal of information supplied. An Ovulus BS device spouting random words now is strung into a story of what the ghost really means, is hysterically bad.

7: A totally bogus conclusion is reached by Zak etal on what they think has happened that evening. The real answer is absolutely nothing at all but to them it is conclusive evidence of a ghost.

Dear oh dear...

The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch (2020– )

Weak science, Atrocious scientists and Laughable Results

[2/10 · 24 October 2022]

If Skinwalker Ranch was indeed full of strange phenomenon, dimensional portals, cryptids and otherworldly goings on as reported, why would Robert Bigelow ever sell it? Why wouldn't the US government buy it and turn it into another Area 51? The answer is simple, it's because it's all BS. It is clear that Bigelow and his NIDS team after 20 years of research found zilch all based upon a lie from the previous owner Terry Sherman. Bigelow continued the lie to sell it to Fugal to command a better selling price. Fugal now knows he was sold a pup but is making money from it with this hokum TV series. I've watched every single episode and I laugh at the preposterous extrapolations, from minimal evidence, derived by woefully inept experiments. An example of this is the boring into the mesa episode (SE03E07). An obviously earthly and mundane piece of silver paper wrapper is now a mysterious object inside the rock cavity. Pieces of rusty iron supposedly sieved from the excavation is perplexing to these scientists yet no fundamental checks were done however that it wasn't pre-existing contaminates originating from the slurry tank, from the borer itself or actually already in the ground from old farming implements. The lack of care in conducting proper experiments is astounding along with people like Travis' wild and wholly unsubstantiated theories. They have patently never heard of the principle of Occam's razor where the simplest and easiest explanation is most likely the best one to explain something. This TV series is reaching a point of diminishing returns as they cannot continue to make bold claims with no evidence. I can see Fugal selling this ranch to another sucker soon.

The Father (I) (2020)

So good I only want to watch it once

[9/10 · 16 May 2021]

I watched this with an open mind as I wasn't sure what to expect. The movie at the start played almost like a psychological thriller with character changes to unsettle you. Subtle changes of the scene with each shot and a real deja vu on conversations are then made to disorient and confuse you and put you into the shoes of Anthony Hopkins' character. It works very well indeed and near the end you don't know if you're coming or going. The last 5 minutes are overwhelmingly sad and hits home the subject matter of the film. From reading some of the low rating reviews it is clear these people have no clue what is a good film. Unless it's The Fast and the Furious or a no brainer action movie, it will be boring and confusing to them. To others who have a modicum of intelligence, an appreciation for good filmmaking and an understanding of the subject matter, this will be an absolutely outstanding gem with a strong resonating beat that cuts straight to the heart of you. Such is the utter emotional devastation this movie fills you with at the end, to watch it again would be painful. Hopkins deserves his Oscar for this without doubt.

The Vast of Night (2019)

A great 30 minute short drawn out to a 90 minute yawn

[4/10 · 14 January 2021]

There is no arguing that the general cinematography of the movie is nice but this is to distract the audience from the tedium of the screenplay. The 1st 20 minutes of the movie is pointless drivel of fast small talk that adds zero to the plot or character development. Its simply filler for a paper thin storyline. Actually the set scenes are just laborious over stretched time fillers that serve no real purpose other than to draw out this movie unessasarily. Machine gun delivery talk about nothing fills every scene. Protracted scene after protracted scene drains your interest as the painful minutes pass by. You could easily fast forward most of the movie and lose nothing as to plot. I found the camerawork although competent, ultimately self indulgent and saturated with pointless cuts, overly long and weary set pieces almost to show us how clever they were but boring us in the process. The phrase of 'less is more' passed the director by it seems. The climax was quite boring and I was glad when it ended. To summarise, this was a vastly padded out short that lost everything in making it unessasarily longer.

Penny Dreadful: City of Angels (2020)

Less Penny, more Dreadful.....

[3/10 · 16 July 2020]

I watched the original Penny Dreadful and it was great. All those great Gothic horror characters of Frankenstein and his monster, vampires, werewolves et al all encompassed in one universe and one city even, all interwoven beautifully into a multi layered storyline. This Penny Dreadful bears absolutely no similarity to the original in either characters, horror or even a supernatural undertone. This is basically 99% of the time a run of the mill cop drama with a light smattering of rather dull and tedious supernatural mumbo jumbo that to be honest could have been done away with altogether to just make it a 1930's cop series as boy, was it bloody dull. Scene after protracted scene of political rhetoric rammed down your throat. This was more a political drama than anything to do with the supernatural. The writers could have easily changed the Elsa / Alex / Rio / roles into 3 regular non demonic ones for exactly the same effect of pushing this politicised narrative. I'm really at a loss to understand what the objective of this series was. It didn't follow the original series and it was not even a similar tone for original viewers to feel comfortable with. I watched all 10 episodes painfully and it was just awful and I couldn't wait for it to finish. The writers obviously had forgotten what the original Victorian Penny Dreadfuls were that this series was based upon because if they did they'd have known that for a penny a reader would have been titillated with salacious stories of bloody murders, supernatural characters and grim crimes. I certainly won't be watching a 2nd season if they are stupid enough to commission one. Do yourself a favour and avoid this tedious series.

The Lighthouse (I) (2019)

That's 2 hours of my life I'll never get back

[3/10 · 14 January 2020]

This movie had all the right ingredients to make a brilliant thriller/horror with 2 great actors, a bleak and desolate location and the added element of an aspect ratio change plus black and white for a real atmospheric ambiance but unfortunately it ended up as a mess of a film not really knowing what it wanted to be in my opinion. It failed as a horror as it was just plain bizarre and not in the least bit scary and it also failed as a thriller as it went nowhere. The supposed climax was unexciting and a frankly dull end to a very dull film. Both characters were unlikeable so from the get go you really didn't care what happened to either. After about 30 minutes you were hoping the movie would actually go somewhere as it seemed to be protracted scene after scene of nothing but 'yah' talk monologues and BS symbolism alluding to some higher plane of understanding but no, it was just a very pretentious boring film that started with promise but floundered on the rocks. People on here are confusing the technical side of the movie i.e. it's cinematography rather than the actual content and story of the movie with their absolutely undeserved 10/10 scores. Although the cinematography was superb it's just how the saying goes, you can't polish a turd....

The Dead Don't Die (2019)

Terrible Movie

[3/10 · 8 September 2019]

I stupidly thought that this might be some type of spin off to the very good Zombieland as it starred Bill Murray. Alas I was so wrong. It started off slow, boring and very laboured... then continued like that right to the very end. The script was awful with amateurish dialogue. It just went nowhere. Scene after scene of bland unfunny dialogue and not so special effects. Right up until the end credits I was hoping for something exciting or unexpected to happen but it never did. A monotonous and badly made film with very little action and awful pacing. I'd say about 70% of this movie was just padding and slow, slow protracted scenes of talking about nothing. This is by far the worst zombie movie I've ever seen and it certainly totally failed as a comedy also. Do yourself a favour and give this stinker of a movie a wide berth.

Z Nation (2014–2018)

Silly, Funny and A Good Watch

[8/10 · 15 February 2019]

Having been an avid TWD fan I decided to binge watch Z Nation inbetween a TWD mid season break this year. I'd heard about Z Nation but wasn't sure what to expect. When I started watching the first episode I thought "WTF is this terrible 3rd rate rubbish?!" but I persevered regardless. My perseverance paid off and I started to really enjoy it by episode 3. My problem was like so many others who've switched to Z Nation after seeing TWD is the massive budget difference for starters. You go from a TV series with unlimited budgets, top end CGI, massive sets and casts/extras of hundreds to a TV series with a cast of a few, samey sets and a shoestring budget. You are so used to being spoilt by a visual feast that you feel totally underwhelmed by this perception of a poor imitation of TWD. Actually this train of thought is totally wrong. Although TWD and Z Nation are based upon the same premise of the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse, they are quite different in their approach. Whilst TWD focuses on the rebuilding of society, feudal conflicts etc thus in effect turning TWD into a zombie soap opera, Z Nation focuses on the the mission to find a cure with adventures along the way. I was totally hooked after about episode 4 of season 1 of Z Nation. I loved the characters, the dynamics of the group and the fast pace of the episodes. Z Nation didn't dwell too much on talkie and speeches like TWD and focused more on action and witty 1 liners which I found refreshing. Yes there were some duff episodes that kind of fell flat and season 5 was very PC but overall as a whole I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of Z Nation. The stand out aspects of Z Nation were the core characters Murphy, Warren, Doc, 10K, CZ and Addy who really carried the show. I think if The Asylum had a bigger budget it may have actually spoilt the show so their small budget made them become more creative. My advice to anyone watching Z Nation after TWD is to resist the temptation in comparing the 2 and watch it with an open mind. Watch at least up to episode 3 to get a proper flavour of it. I'll guarantee you won't be disappointed.

Occupation (2018)

Clichéd Budget B Movie Lacking Anything Original

[4/10 · 20 September 2018]

Occupation is a very budget driven TV sci-fi movie that certainly has aspirations for something bigger than it actually is. It's a mash up of various sci-fi movies and has cherry picked certain aspects out of each to formulate this very contrived and trite version that lacks any originality or edge. The acting is competent but not outstanding and the SFX are so-so. Look, the movie is not absolutely terrible but it's certainly not great either. These 10/10 ratings by 1 review wonders are an obvious and deliberate attempt by the film maker's family and friends to fool you into thinking this decidedly sub-par film is some type of hidden gem. Trust me it's not and never will be. At best it's an average TV movie and at worst a dire heavily clichéd homage to numerous other alien invasion movies that have done it infinitely better and on much bigger budgets. All in all it's a 4.5/10 movie that tries hard for the budget and casting restraints but fails mainly due to poor script and no originality.

Action Team (2018)

Sub Par Comedy

[4/10 · 7 March 2018]

I've watched both episodes and can state that this won't get a second series. I love all types of comedy whether In The Thick Of It type of clever political satire or Airplane style slapstick spoof but this falls short in all aspects. The jokes aren't strong or funny enough to stand up on their own nor is the writing clever enough to make up for it. Will I continue to watch it? Well possibly not as it's a pretty unfunny 30 minutes. The potential for comedy gold in spoofing spy material has been exhausted previously over the years so you'd have to be on top of your writing game to make something worth watching. Alas, whoever wrote the scripts must have had a very lazy Sunday afternoon and knocked out a complete series of poor to non existent jokes and slapstick skits tenuously cobbled together. This is definitely a C-, please try harder.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

Good Story, Good Acting, Terrible Ending

[6/10 · 19 February 2018]

I can see why this is up for awards as the acting is pretty top notch and the story is good but boy does the ending suck. For almost 2 hours of the slow burn storyline and tension build up you are expecting a fulfilling finale pay off but alas it's a damp squib.I felt cheated after buying into these characters only to have no resolution or conclusion almost like the writer couldn't think of one so a hastily contrived one was brought in near the finish then the end titles roll. I was actually very disappointed with it. Up until this point it was a great movie.

We Go On (2016)

Solid low budget but not outstanding

[5/10 · 31 October 2017]

From looking at other reviewers it seems they have over rated this movie. Don't get me wrong it's not a bad movie, it's just not as good as they say.The acting is solid but plot lines seem rushed in order to progress the story resulting in unrealistic actions taking place. Scenes involving the interaction between Miles and his mother seem at odds with the story playing out making his mother's actions seem illogical and extreme. Other reviewers that have scored this movie down have highlighted these areas. I believe the movie could have made more with the material at hand and created more tension with little to no extra budget but it built up the story to the 45 minute mark and then it started to unwind somewhat I feel instead of ramping it up. The end was anti climatic and just left me feeling that the movie could have had a lot more potential which is a shame.

Shock (2016)

Amateurish Rubbish

[3/10 · 13 January 2017]

Well that was a waste of 69 minutes! The lead protagonist couldn't act if his life depended on it. He was so wooden I'm surprised he didn't give himself splinters every time he opened his mouth to give a tedious and lengthy line. The film was really bad. I was wondering why scenes were so long and filled with absolutely meaningless dialogue then realised it's because talking is a lot cheaper than doing anything. Basically this movie was written on the back of a stamp with no budget so it had to be filled with mundane, irrelevant and poorly executed dialogue to pad it out by about 90%. Examples of this were excessively protracted scenes where the lead actor was asking a series of questions in his role as a private detective. Not only were they delivered flat as if he was reading cold off a script he'd never seen before but the questions went on and on obviously to fill time on an already short running movie.Such was the length of such drivel that one actor in particular had issues with her lines. Her dialogue was peppered with points where she stumbled over them which was most bizarre. They also couldn't afford proper microphones so sound levels were all over the place and even in the same scenes, actors had completely diverse levels so either booming or quiet. The whole film was just a waste of time and effort. I'm sure the production team slapped each other on the back to congratulate themselves on reaching past the hour mark for material to piece together to make this film but boy was it dull and 3rd rate. The problem is that I've seen low budget movies and if you have the right story and cast you can work magic. Unfortunately they didn't have any of that here. It was a movie borne out of someone's ego that they thought they were special and could create some type of masterpiece. I hate to tell you but you suck as a director, the story sucks, the script and actors certainly suck and everything about this stinker does also.

Pitchfork (2016)

Terrible

[3/10 · 7 January 2017]

I had high hopes for this movie. The very opening scene cinematography was quite good but unfortunately that was it. There are many things wrong with this film; some really bad acting, poorly edited scenes, lack of pace, devoid of menace and atmosphere to this wannabe slasher movie. It also was illogical and had many plot holes. The constant back lit fog effect was clichéd and so poorly executed as if the production wanted to get their money's worth from the fog machine even when the conditions made it look ludicrous. I think the director watched Nightmare On Elm Street as he plagiarized quite a few scenes but alas, Freddy Krueger was infinitely more menacing than this clown in a furry mask. This whole movie was a tired, badly acted and amateurish affair. It wasn't the worst movie I've seen but it's certainly not one I'd recommend.

Shelley (2016)

Slow and Tedious

[3/10 · 30 December 2016]

Talk about slow paced! This movie just went on and on and on with no real progression. It was an hour and a half movie that could have easily been squeezed into 30 minutes with the needless scenes and repetitiveness taken out. The premise was good but due to a lack of a good script, editing and direction the film just meandered on with no real climax, pay off or closure. As it abruptly ended you thought "Is that it?". You could have forgiven the director if there was a great finale after the incredibly slow build up but it just whimpered out after 90 minutes of hoping that something great was going to happen. Greatly disappointing. You could see the director has seen the Omen from the numerous plagiarized snippets he randomly inserted (all the cheap ones that don't involve CGI)but it was just a very,very poor imitation to a movie that did this infinitely better. This was no horror and barely a thriller.Unfortunately the director thought broody scenes of landscapes made up for actual content.Sorry but this movie was a complete dud.

Krampus: The Devil Returns (2016)

Dire!!!!!!!

[1/10 · 29 December 2016]

Where do I start? Let's start with the technical and say the sound is truly awful. It's like they only had one mic between all actors so in scenes with background noise you can't hear what people are saying. This happened all through the movie where actor sound levels were below background sound levels causing whole scenes to be inaudible (actually a blessing when looking at the film as a whole). Another is atrocious editing. Meaningless long single scenes with no cutting, pregnant pauses, protracted shots that are pointless and moronic fade outs for no reason. The FX were laughable. A guy in a dodgy mask and laughable sound FX. I've seen better CGI on a smart phone (This is not a joke!). Now the story: Contrived and a painful joining of a stupid story line to just add more running time to to the original shaky one. This was a terrible idea and just makes you shake your head in disbelief. Finally the acting. It was awful. Kids with no acting ability and adults with about the same. Scenes of meaningless terribly scripted small talk, protracted scenes of more terrible small talk and lots of ham.It was just an obvious way of filling time. A scene of a news reporter was hilarious. His sole job was as an exposition vehicle due to the poor editing and dialogue up to this point. This film just reeked of minuscule budget, no imagination and someone delving into a dressing up box for costumes. This was dire on all fronts and a waste of 119 minutes.

Delirium (VII) (2015)

Confusing Pile Of Rubbish

[3/10 · 19 July 2016]

When I first watched this movie I actually thought someone had jumbled all the chapters up and I was watching this out of sequence. Talk about confusing and losing the whole narrative of the film. It was in the present then it jumped to what you thought was the past but was the future, present, past (future, possibly past or not)then present then dwelled on the past which you then guessed was the future but was now the present by now. I just kept thinking this would all make sense and there would be some grand reveal but alas it was a real let down. I pretty much guessed very early on that the main protagonist was some sort of conduit for the supernatural. It was telegraphed clearly so the rest of the movie's hinge on this fell very flat as you knew the plot already. Acting was so-so to adequate but the awful direction and editing just made an average flick into quite a dire affair. Pretty much a waste of 1hr 21mins. This could have been a lot more atmospheric and tense but was just a shambles of poor direction and editing.

The Walking Deceased (2015)

Terrible Unfunny Steaming Pile

[1/10 · 22 October 2015]

As you've probably guessed from the majority of reviews about this, the movie is awful. As a fan of The Walking Dead I had hopes for this movie but unfortunately it failed miserably. I think the main purpose of a spoof movie is for it to be funny. Alas this was not. It seemed like it was being made up as it went along with the same laboured lines and skits constantly being used. They were either unfunny or weak to start with but after a short time of the same lines, quirks and scenes being churned out it was just bloody annoying. In short, poor acting, terrible unfunny script,low budget and just a mess of a movie. Whoever gave this high marks in previous reviews either watched a different movie or works for the production company.

The Anomaly (2014)

Average, Could have been better

[5/10 · 15 November 2014]

After seeing the movie and reading the reviews I can say that some comments are fair to this film. The premise is very much lifted from Total Recall and Memento with an amnesiac finding out who he is and why he's in the locations he wakes up in. The movie really falls apart as it really should have been produced on a much bigger budget. Doing this on a small budget results in little sets, sparse actors & extras plus limited CGI. This results in the audience being constantly underwhelmed by scenarios and situations that should really be a wow factor. Fight scenes for example seem to be there mostly to fill time and are slowed down for supposed effect but really they show just poor choreography.Noel is not actually a very good actor to be fair so this is more a vanity project as another reviewer pointed out. The ending of the movie was very trite and clumsy but to be honest, a lot of the movie was that. To summarise, a big budget movie done on a small budget results in the feeling of being let down.

Last Passenger (2013)

A perfectly good movie, ignore some idiots on here

[6/10 · 25 October 2014]

I have just watched this movie and although it's never going to be a classic I considered it a perfectly good watch for its 1hr 36 minutes. The premise of the movie is not original nor is the progression right through to the end but as a complete movie it delivers most respectfully. Naturally you will get the anorak geeks on here slating the movie for technical inaccuracies but if I wanted to know the exact workings of a train I'd not have any friends and sit on a train platform with a Thermos of tea and a note pad like these 'Billy-No-Mates' do. For normal people I want to just be immersed in a film for 1.5 hours. I thought the acting was OK and contrary to one reviewer from Bermuda, Dougray Scott's voice is clear and not a mumble, nor is is it a strange accent. Typical of someone not from the UK thinking all Scots should sound like either Billy Connolly or Mrs Doubtfire! Yes I sound like Dick Van Dyke from Mary Poppins because I come from London! All in all a good film to pass an afternoon with.

Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage (2014)

Ray Harryhausen Would Turn In His Grave.....

[2/10 · 14 October 2014]

I've been a big fan of Sinbad and Ray Harryhausen movies since I was a kid. These movies were some of the first I ever saw at the cinema and later in life I've introduced my 10 year son to them and he loves them too. When I saw what I can only describe as a 'remake' of a classic I decided to watch this with an open mind. Well within the first few minutes you could see what a crock of s*** this was. The FX were supposedly a homage to dear Ray but it completely lacked any soul or peril that the originals had. This movie was a hollow, amateurish attempt to recreate a classic and it failed miserably. I think my main gripe is the atrocious editing. It really was appalling and what could have been a barely passable film ended being cringe-worthy such was the terrible way it was put together. Yes some of the acting was creaky and the cast and extras only just about made it to double figures but the whole thing really is spoiled by the lack of care in post production. For the people giving this movie high praise, well we all know they are either part of the movie or associated with it somehow. Ultimately their high marks just make them look like morons. As a point, there are in fact 3 reviewers in a row giving this pile of steaming crap 10 stars but looking through their review history they joined IMDb at the same time, have all reviewed the exact same films at the same time and with the same or similar remarks so are in fact must be the same person giving multiple entries. This is probably an industry insider giving an inflated score to compensate for the real and honest low ones. Do yourself a favour and do not watch this, just go watch the originals as they are infinitely more appealing.

13 Sins (2014)

Ignore the haters, it's actually a good movie

[5/10 · 21 June 2014]

I've watched many a horror/ thriller in my time. They are my best movies to get engrossed with. This movie I consider a very well made and gripping (for the most part) thriller with a bit of horror thrown in. It's a bit like an inverted 'Saw' where people are rewarded for increasingly difficult challenges. The movie moves along at a good pace and gives enough back story to supply information on the main characters so you can empathize with them. Because I've watched enough of these plot lines I guessed a lot of the twists along the way but that still didn't detract from my enjoyment. I'm not sure what some critics expect from these movies as I considered that 13 Sins delivered what it was supposed to do with enough intrigue, suspense and action to keep you interested for the 90 minutes it was on for. There were some plot holes I got a little exasperated with like when money was being paid into the account after each task, surely you'd move it immediately to stop it going back out again? Also near the end when the brothers were at the father's care home and discussing the game, surely that was an instant disqualification. Also the paradox of the mentally ill brother to try and kill his own brother so he could buy them a nice wedding present. Yes I know he is supposed to be mentally ill but he obviously seemed to be able to accomplish 12 increasingly more difficult tasks without any problem up to that point. The ending was a little weak but at least it won't spawn a dire sequel because I feel any continuance of this would surely be at the detriment of the original. All in all a pretty decent film with good acting, good plot and pretty good effects. What else do you want??

Ghost Bride (2013)

A below average and quite tedious movie

[4/10 · 30 April 2014]

Contrary to the 9/10 score by another reviewer who seemed intent on blowing smoke up the director's rear (mainly because it probably was the director himself that wrote the review), this movie is a below par and tame horror and I use the term 'horror' very loosely. This is a movie that moves along slowly but is really non-scary and doesn't engage me at all when it does actually get going in places. The script is strange and illogical and the actors show their inexperience on quite a few occasions with some wooden performances reciting it. This movie could have been more if a better writer wrote the script and understood the premise of what a supernatural horror entails. To sum the Ghost Bride up I'd say it was slow, amateurish, poorly executed and lacking in any quality at all for the genre and audience it is supposed to be aimed at.

Carrie (2013)

Boring Remake of Classic

[5/10 · 24 January 2014]

When people write 'reimagining' in the movie blurb upon release then I expect a twist or different nuance to the original film. I want a clever retelling that makes you think you are watching a completely new film even if some scenes or characters are familiar. Alas this film does not do that at all. Why try and emulate the same original film? Although it was not a 100% scene for scene rehash it was so damn close to the original movie that you ask yourself on why bother to remake it at all. I fully understand that it's based upon the book but this was successfully translated to movie previously so the only way forward if you really have the need to retell it is to create a whole new story. This was not a 'reimagining' in the slightest but a lazy rip off instead. To anyone who's not seen either movie then I suggest to see the original one instead. You will feel far more fulfilled than with this tepid clone.

The Polar Express (2004)

A Superb All Time Top 10 Christmas Family Movie

[8/10 · 13 May 2013]

This movie has become a Christmas 'must see' every year in our house. I'm astounded by some reviewers stating it's too long or too scary. My son has watched it from the age of 5 and loves it just as much now as then and has never for one moment been scared or got bored by it. It is a wonderful movie capturing everything I hold dear about Christmas, the magic,the feeling of excitement and anticipation. It is not a slushy film but a firm and steadfast adventure with morality that isn't force fed to the audience. I thoroughly recommend this film to anyone young or old who have traditional values of what Christmas means. I have deliberately not gone into technical aspects of the film as some movies should be enjoyed for what they are, not the boring CGI specifications or pixel prattling that neither adds nor detracts to the enjoyment. Enjoy this film for exactly what it was designed to be, a wonderful Christmas time story.