AN ALL-NEW computer-generated family flick, The Polar Express arrives on these shores, surrounded by fuss about its new "Performance Capture" technology.

A technique which will, apparently, allow us to experience capturing the facial movements of the voice actors, it's an enterprise which has much Hollywood weight behind it.

Directed by Robert Zemeckis, who won an Oscar for Forrest Gump and was also behind the innovative animation in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, he has recruited his buddy Tom Hanks, who seems to be the main human in the whole project.

The source book, The Polar Express, must be more famous in the States than here, given that no one I've met has read it as a child.

But it's not a revolutionary story, following the basic rules of most festive heart-warmers.

A young unnamed boy, who is approaching the crucial moment where he begins to doubt the existence of Santa Claus, gets a visit from the magnificent train The Polar Express one Christmas Eve.

Full of children who need a festive lesson of one form or another - boy with no friends, boy who only thinks about himself - it will take them to the North Pole to meet Mr Claus himself, who will hopefully reinforce the meaning of Christmas.

Having heard both Hanks and Zemeckis discuss the film at a press conference in London, I can let you in on the fact that this whole technological treatment evolved from their desire to retain the look of Chris Van Allsburg's book, something they felt they couldn't do any other way.

And although the end product has a certain charm and appeal, up against The Incredibles it will suffer quite substantially by comparison.

The children do not look real and have "dead" pupils, which make them seem rather drugged, and weird, scarecrow-like movements when they run and move quickly.

Add to this the fact that most people would rather see real fear, real love and real revelation on an actual human face and you can't help but wonder why they didn't just use real people.

Hanks not only voices the train conductor, the dad, Santa and the vagrant on the roof of the train, but has also provided the facial movements for the boy character - this is total overkill.

Unfortunately, I feel he's not so much of a talented actor that he can create enough differentiation between these roles.

Surely it wouldn't have been that expensive to hire a few more warm bodies?

Fair enough, there are (a few too many?) skilful roller coaster scenes in the train's laughably perilous journey, with an eye on the IMAX audience which the film has also targeted.

It is an exciting enough spectacle in parts, but ultimately how much you like it will depend solely on how willingly you succumb to its unreal world.

I did have a mini-tear in my eye at the end - but, then again, I well up at the Christmas advertisement for a certain soft drink.