The thing about Zemeckis is that his grasp of visual storytelling has never faltered despite having shot himself in the foot with his fixation on incorporating motion-capture into his work. As discomforting as the mo-cap humans are in his animated “The Polar Express” and “Beowulf” adaptations (which also featured Hanks and Wright, respectively), the actual films move like clockwork and are full of compelling ideas and captivating sequences. Thankfully, that also seems to be the case with “Here” based on the trailer, which suggests it has a much firmer grip on its tone and themes than “Welcome to Marwen” did. Aside from the de-aged Hanks and Wright’s unsettlingly smooth faces, this looks like an interesting continuation of motifs that Zemeckis has returned to time and time again in his career, even going back to “Back to the Future.”
Best case scenario, “Here” ends up being a little like “The Irishman” in the sense that you adjust to the de-aging CGI and its doesn’t distract from what the rest of the movie is doing. Worst case scenario, well, see most of Zemeckis’ output from the last 20 years.
Paul Bettany, Kelly Reilly, and Michelle Dockery round out the cast of “Here,” which was written by Zemeckis and his “Forrest Gump” scribe Eric Roth. The film opens in theaters on November 15, 2024.