MovieChat Forums > The Polar Express (2004) Discussion > Why did adults have to play children? !

Why did adults have to play children? !


I was shocked when I learned the main characters are adult actors.

Really? ...come on.

Hanks,Scolari and Jeter are definitely capable of being child like actors.
They used children actors for voice overs. So why not use real children for the main characters.

They kept some good kids out of work.

I'm not a huge fan of the story and movie. It's a dark feeling throughout the movie.

But learning this has definitely changed my enjoyment of the movie.

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Child labor laws. Child actors can only work a certain number of hours a day, so with those limits and the amount of work it takes to make a movie in digital capture, the movie would have taken forever to make.

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They could have had adults do the motion capture and kids do the voice work. Probably would have been cheaper too. Just have one adult do all the motion capture.
Either way, the uncanny valley appearance of all the characters made this almost unwatchable to me.

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I could be wrong but I'm going to disagree that it had much to do with child labor laws. I think that Zemeckis just likes to be clever (not really meant as a compliment) and do stuff like this. See how cool I am? I used adults and made them sound like children.

He's taking the knife out of the Cheese!
Do you think he wants some cheese?


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Still you can't dispute that it would have taken forever to make if they used real children bc children can only work a certain number of hours.

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Some movies give me that dark feeling too, but this one seems to have more of a dream quality to me - strange events that feel both good and bad at the same time but still seem to fit some sort of reality.
The adult actors played into that as well since all adults are based on children...

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I don't think that they did use adult actors for the voices, just the CGI motion acting...whatever it's called.

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Correct. The voices are children actors

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