Gee, if you're going to be a Scrooge, there's no point to even watching this movie. I read the negative postings on every film I see, and it's amazing to me how much energy people put into picking apart what's intended to be a holiday entertainment. Especially these days with the advance in computer generated effects. There used to be a time when clay-mation was the rage, and how realistic was that? How about considering the message - I for one would be darned upset if there was no more magic left in the world. It's evident every time my little two year old granddaughter runs in the room and tells her gaga (that would be me), to 'sit' so we could play or watch a movie like this together. This one got around to showing 'Santy', and you have to marvel when a mere child sits enthralled by the spectacle of color and motion the way it's presented here. For a while during my adult life, there was probably a time when I didn't hear that bell, but as I get older the sound is coming back, even as my hearing diminishes. I guess you'd call it the magic of kids and Christmas together, and you can count me in when the conductor calls 'All Aboard'.
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classicsoncall19 December 2010
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madpenguin4118 December 2004So it was with much trepidation and even utter fear in my heart that I went to see this movie. After all, the last time I went to see a full-length adaptation of a favorite Christmas story, what I got was Ron Howard's absolutely God-awful "The Grinch". Having grown up with the book "The Polar Express" (according to my mom, I cited it as my favorite Christmas present when I was seven), I did not want to see this story bastardized in any way. Honestly, I was prepared for "Polar Express" to be a complete wreck. But instead
It soared. Completely. What makes the film such a success is not so much even the story itself, but an execution which somehow manages to inject every frame of the film with a feeling of childlike wonder and exuberance. In addition, there are so many clever touches and details added throughout that a feeling of mystery and excitement just fills the viewer. Among these are the waiters dancing and singing while serving hot chocolate to the kids on the train (a very funny scene, as well), the factory where the presents are prepared, and a ghost-like hobo who is never really explained, but is incredibly crucial to the feel of the film. At one point, three of the children wander lost through the empty streets of Santa's North Pole town. As they wander, various old Christmas recordings are heard playing on phonographs throughout the town. The music provides a pleasant and nostalgic ambiance to the scene. It's touches like this that absolutely make the film.
I'll never understand why films seem to be required to be at least 90 minutes long. I would pay money to see a 40-minute film, as long as it were good. And even if it sucked, I would have at least wasted less time. What I'm getting at is I have no idea why a 32-page picture book needed to be a 99-minute movie. What this means is that the original story is VASTLY expanded upon. However, what is added in actually fits quite well with the essence and spirit of the book. Some of it is just sheer entertainment; the train track is like a roller coaster, characters ski on top of the cars, danger lurks around every step of the journey to the North Pole (but admittedly fun danger). Other aspects further illuminate and expand upon the book's basic theme of the virtue of belief in the implausible. So I have no idea why this was made into a full-length, but in the end, I'm glad it was. It didn't even feel too long (and I think everything is too long).
Much criticism has fallen on the look of the characters in the movie. I can agree to a point. While there is incredible visual detail in the faces, they usually seem void of expression. In general, a lot of the motion seems rather wooden, as well. The scenery, on the other hand, is gorgeous. Overall, the minor problems in animation (which really boil down to a matter of taste anyway) are certainly not enough to diminish what is an overwhelmingly successful movie. Score: 8/10 -
eldreddsouza12 December 2021This is one of the better Christmas movies I've ever watched. It's fantastic. I watched this again after ages and right after 'A boy called Christmas' which I didn't like at all. You could say that I watched this to cleanse my eyes because that movie is quite bad.
It's an amazing fantasy Christmas movie with spectacular animation. Tom Hanks' animated character looks just like him. I didn't find the other characters as jarring as people claim them to be. The film's animation is so good that it's easy to overlook the "creepy" looking characters.
The film has extremely breathtaking visuals, gripping scenes, a jolly atmosphere. It also has songs which is really fantastic and something that happens to be missing from Christmas films including'A boy called Christmas'. The moral that this movie has is also quite beautiful. So overall a really great movie to watch during Christmas. All this hate is just not justified. -
jaqued29 November 2004Clearly the reviewers who panned this wonderful film can no longer hear the ringing of the silver bell. I am reminded of the know it all kid in the film when I read these reviews. Some said it was too dark. Too dark? It was set at 5 minuets to midnight.....As I recall its dark then. Another called it ghostly; a condition true of a Christmas Carol, the film is in good company there. While I will admit that the computer motion capture in facial expressions is not as strong as it could be it did not detract from the story. Some reviewers did not like the roller-coaster effects. One even pointed out that trains can not do what this one does.....It's a dream...physics don't count. It is a sad commentary that the meaning of Christmas and belief in it's historically documented magic is so lost on those with access to the press. My review...it's good and it is best if you make up your own mind. I could hear the bell ring and I hope you can too.
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fernandoschiavi20 May 2021Directed by veteran Robert Zemeckis, It is a production that unveils, throughout its 100 minutes, the story of an American boy in the late 1950s. By witnessing the polar express stop at his door, the young man will have the most fantastic experience of his life. Life, something that will mark him forever and allow his belief in Christmas, not as firm as one would expect for a child, to become even more solid. Initially reticent, the young man agrees to leave on the train that takes him on a tour full of incredible adventures. Each piece of territory crossed is a different learning experience, marked by its still incipient trajectory. He fights with Scrooge, the famous evil Christmas spirit, immortalized by the literature of Charles Dickens, passes by the famous Polar Aurora, a place with the optical phenomenon due to the brightness observed in the night skies of the polar regions, due to the impact of particles of solar wind with the high atmosphere of the earth, channeled by the magnetic field of our planet, that is, an impressive visual spectacle that leaves no one indifferent.
In the face of conflicts, as it is worth mentioning, the boy no longer believes in Santa Claus, the narrative becomes an allegory for the need to believe and invest in the "so" Christmas spirit. We check with some resistance, because the foot in reality does not allow us to surrender too much to the utopias proposed by the American cinematographic discourse. However, one of the "tasks" of art is precisely to allow us to clarify reality through fictional proposals, thus, the ticket to enter the world of Zemecks film is "bought" by all those who indulge in the charms of art. Narrative that unfolds before our eyes, a set of scenes built using visually incredible resources.
Zemeckis's filmography is known for playing with the ludic, and here it is no different. The script to be well digested by the viewer needs to be seen as a story about magic and aborted beliefs. Alan Silvestri's music helps to punctuate this feeling that life in the eyes of a child is more beautiful, even if that child no longer believes in legendary figures, as is the case with the central character. In "The Polar Express" we have a short, simple and objective plot. The director's intention was never to create a work of art in the plot with this film, but to prove that you can rescue barbaric feelings and emotions with the Christmas theme. Now imagine Tom Hanks facing five different roles in the same film. Imagine? Something very crazy to think about, mainly because the "motion capture" technique (technique used to make the character Gollum from the series "The Lord of the Rings, for example) was used, which captured all of Hanks' movements and transferred them to the computer, mixing reality and animation, fantasy and flesh and blood beings. The actor plays a boy who does not believe in the Christmas spirit, his father, a locomotive driver, a stroller and Santa Claus himself. It is a versatility never seen in the world of movie theaters.
This technique was used in a magnificent way for the sake of narrative. To get an idea of what was done, all the actors in the film acted in front of an empty screen, with motion capture sensors attached throughout their bodies. The data from these sensors were passed on to computers and served as a template for the creation of the character in the film itself. As these sensors were responsible for capturing movements and facial expressions, the actors did not necessarily have to have the same body as the character. This allowed Hanks to play five different characters. And look, it was not easy to shape all of his expressions, so much so that the work lasted almost a year. The interesting thing was to see Steven Tyler, vocalist of the band Aerosmith, as Elf singing a song at the end of the film. Very funny! They managed to capture the essence of their appearance (big mouth and ears)!
The film makes use of a very new advent for its time, and at least the main character is very excited. Already adults and peripheral child characters are astonishing to look at. This is thanks to the concept of Uncanny Valley, which preaches that figures that imitate human beings when they approach what man is become strange. The dialogues and interactions are quite artificial, but not as much as the attempts to make musical numbers. The waiters who serve the wagons are so tough that they look like imitations of androids. This issue is somewhat appeased by the parties involving animals running, flying and interacting with the typical things in the scenarios. Wolves and eagles represent more than just animals typical of North American fauna, and result in representatives of the work's sense of adventure. The criticisms received at the time of the launch, stoning the flesh-and-bone characters, their lackluster movement, their rubberized look and their glazed eyes, forgot the most important component of any short story: simplicity and narrative poetry.
And although the visual is the only really negative point of this technique, like ignoring the perfection of Zemeckis's camera, it went through, following in the smallest details the movement of a lost golden ticket and the travellings that lead us nimbly in and out of the train, especially during the free fall on the tracks and crossing the thin ice? The option for elegant frames also stands out, and the counter-plongée, which accompanies the little boy's belief through the frozen floor, not only dignifies the moment but anticipates the arrival of Santa Claus. Meanwhile, the photograph by Don Burgess and Robert Presley is breathtaking - as shown in the image below -, and the intense gold of the train ticket or the lighting of the bonfire on the face of a Beggar, the angel presents in the vast majority of people. Christmas stories, is enough to make a beautiful Christmas story shine.
At the end of the projection, we were left with the feeling that Zemeckis achieved his goal, of combining technology and magic in the same product. He, who is admittedly one of the directors who most seek to develop and perfect techniques and technologies, ends up creating a plastically flawless film, transposing to the screen with admirable perfection the engravings from Allsburg's book. Zemeckis also creates practically unimaginable plans and sequences, in a brutal effort to want to innovate. Zemeckis also loves to make references to other films. This time, he made the children's classic "The Fantastic Chocolate Factory", starring Gene Wilder. The ticket that gives access to the train is golden, just like in the classic movie. In addition to similarities like the big chocolate factory, the gift factory or even the driver with the funny Willy Wonka.
Assuming a metalinguistic tone on purpose - the Conductor, one of the characters voiced by Tom Hanks, refers sensibly to abandoned toys - and accidentally - Ebenzer Scrooge's puppet would serve as a mold some years later for the personification of the classic character by Jim Carey, O Polar Express culminates in the detail plan of a hand bell, which is much more than the complete proof of the fantastic journey, it is the true Christmas spirit within each one of us. The inner child who screams and cries out for the sincere remembrance of his attachment to the beautiful illusion of the good old man, of the communion of gifts and brotherly love, whose sound materializes in the tinkling of the bell at the ear of the, now adult, little boy.
On the other hand, it is noticeable that the biggest problem of The Polar Express is not so much its innovative and uncomfortable aspect - something crucial for a Christmas plot - and its plot, common and obvious. The protagonist is a boy who is starting to stop believing in Santa Claus. He is growing up, and with that, forgetting the magic of childhood. The events in The Polar Express take place in a very traditional and unoriginal way. There are not many news or discoveries: everything goes very smoothly, without scares or surprises. The few moments of suspense and tension soon dissipate, and normality then dictates the course of action again. The impression is that he devoted a lot of time to the appearance of the film and very little to the development of the script.
The film itself looks more like a roller coaster. You will have fun watching the ups and downs of the trip, with exciting moments and action sequences where the beauty of the most magical time of the year is paramount, while others are strange and out of place, like the setting of children singing songs. At least when the final season arrives, the home of Santa Claus, the magical character is rescued with a sequence of events that show the intimacy of the elven officials, including the architecture of miniature houses since they are small. There comes a moment in the film that is surreal to imagine that a boy can walk on top of a moving train, but it does not bother you because you are already involved in the fantasy atmosphere provided by the characters.
The care with the visuals of sets and costumes of the inhabitants of the magical place breaks the skepticism of the central character of The Polar Express too much, and this is certainly a film that has a lot of audacity, being a pioneer in many points that would become quite common in children's productions. And adults later on. The movement capture technique, new at the time, brings to the film the combination of "real images" and animation, in one of the most surprising Christmas cinematic experiences in the history of cinema. In addition, The Polar Express is a very, very beautiful and careful film with its theme, even if the story could have denser characters and conflicts to make the experience even more unforgettable. Still, it is a beautiful production about friendship and how we should, without being too deluded, cultivate our dreams, with a view to making our existence more bearable. -
tin-whistle5 January 2022Come on, guys. This film was made at a time when these visuals were still groundbreaking. Don't complain now that they were not as far along then as they are today. Thanks to pioneering work like The Polar Express, filmmakers can now create even more beautiful things. A lack of historical perspective is a major shortcoming for the contemporary viewer... And yes, it is always a joy to watch Tom Hanks, whichever movie he's in. Now and back then.
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xuanbacht22 January 2019When I was a kid I watched this like, a million times. My native language wasn't english, so despite being a child not understanding anything, I loved the movie. It's full of christmas and spirit. I would want a train like that go by my home
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ma-cortes14 January 2012Charming and worthwhile adaptation about a timeless and marvelous Christmas story dealing with a boy boards a magical train which's driven to the North Pole and Santa Claus's home . Polar Express is an enjoyable Hollywood production , set on Christmas Eve , a wonderful and straight forward approach to the original's source material , based on a storybook written by Chris Van Allsburg who also created ¨Zahura¨ and ¨Jumanji¨ , being splendidly adopted . It is given the full ¨Motion Capture¨ deluxe treatment in this superior Holiday film . The production values & acting are both excellent, with just enough attractive to appeal to the tenderhearted, and with moving doses of allucinogenic adventure , thrilling events , case of the potentially frightening elements and adding sentiment ; all of them are blended into the mix, until, like a nice Christmas punch, the result appeals to all . The Christmas story tells of a boy who has reached an age when he begins to have materialistic doubts believing in Santa . The young boy is lying awake waiting for the sound of sleigh bells ringing from Santa's sleigh . The little boy receives a surprise, a steam engine's roar and whistle can be heard outside his window , he jumps from his bed and sees a train in the middle of his street , as he is visited by a strange Polar Express . A rare conductor (Tom Hanks) who displays no charity to mankind generally invites him on board to take an extraordinary trip to the outside his window . The doubting boy grabs his robe and rushes out the front North Pole with many other pajama-clad children . The little hero boy meets a group of children (voices from Nora Gaye , Eddie Deezen, Peter Scolari) . There, he gets an extraordinary gift only those who still believe in Santa can experience a nd will learn the error of his ways . To his delight, the roller-coaster ride complete his beliefs in one night giving him the opportunity to mend his thoughts to reaffirm Mr Claus .
Splendid Tom Hanks who plays the train conductor of a magical express heading for the North Pole, in addition to five other parts. A marvelous recounting of a Christmas tale and Tom Hanks demonstrates once again his versatility on screen in this retelling of a surrealist, fantastic adventure that results to be a kaleidoscopic marvel . It packs spectacular set pieces , breathtaking sound effects , highly imaginative camera angles and impressive special effects ; furthermore a sensible musical score by Alan Silvestri , including a touching leitmotif . Atmospherically as a complete package it demonstrates the perfection of modern computer animation techniques . The movie is as comfortable and heartwarming as an old Christmas card .The whole concept of looking at a rapid train towards North Pole is creative in and of itself. After watching the movie, you may look at your life from the same enjoyable perspectives . Special effects add a nice little touch , but it is Tom Hanks's interaction with the various characters that really steal the show . Hanks manages to capture pure magic with his stunningly awesome portrayal of main characters , the Hero boy and the conductor , and it is definitely worth a look . It's fun and different approach to the Christmas tale with top notch effects by means of ¨Motion Capture¨ , a technique magnificently developed by Robert Zemeckis who will repeat in other films as ¨Beowulf¨ and ¨Christmas Carol¨ . A highly recommended film that nobody should miss it especially during Christmas time . ¨Robert Zemeckis's Polar Express¨ still ranks as one of the best adaptations of Christmas stories ever. This animated retelling about a doubting little boy taken on a journey of self-redemption and knowledge will appeal to Tom Hanks buffs , computer games enthusiasts and eye-candy fans . -
cosmic_quest20 December 2004I have to say that I adored 'The Polar Express'. It was just the sort of film I needed to truly get me into the Christmas mood. The story revolves around a young boy, who is coming to an age where he is doubting Santa Claus' existence, until the Polar Express- a magical train destined for the North Pole- takes him and a group of other young children on a journey to Santa and to reaffirm their faith in Christmas.
I had reservations about the use of CGI animation since I felt it really only worked for stories about cute animals but having seen the film, the CGI was the best way to capture the spirit of the film. It really wouldn't have worked as well in live action, the sense of other-worldly magic would have been lost. And as it was, the artwork was beautiful, especially the snowy mountainous scenery that the train passes through.
This film took me back to my childhood and that tingly-feeling every child gets on Christmas Eve in anticipation of Santa's visit. The story was sweet and innocent without being nauseating, and I think every one of us can empathise with the boy who wants to believe in Santa but is growing away from the innocence of early childhood and faith in magic. Much like Raymond Briggs' 'The Snowman', I predict 'The Polar Express' will go down as a Christmas classic. It certainly makes a pleasant change that this year's Christmas film was actually about Christmas and I hope they make the re-release of this film an annual Christmas event. -
D_Burke13 December 2011I try not to have expectations when I go to see films. Often, my problem is usually that I'm excited about a film's opening, and my expectations are usually high. In the case of "The Polar Express", my expectations were actually pretty low.
Growing up, I would read and reread "The Polar Express", a book written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg, every Christmas. It still ranks as one of my favorite children's books. The story was great, the illustrations were amazing, and the book never lost its charm to me as I got older.
Naturally, when I heard they were making a movie out of it, and an animated one at that, I could not help but dismiss it as a ploy for Hollywood to take a sweet, timeless children's fable, and exploit it for a cheap buck. Now that I've actually seen the movie, I can say that it was far better than I thought it would be.
Director Robert Zemekis, who also co-produced and co-wrote the screenplay, managed not only to make the film look amazing, but still kept the heart and the main moral of the original book within the movie. There are a lot of parts here that were not in the book, like the train slipping on an icy lake, and the caboose disattaching from the train with some of the kids on it. However, the really important parts of the book were maintained here. The main boy in the story still wants a bell, Santa gives it to him, and . . . you can figure out the rest.
I didn't expect to like many of the additional characters they added to the movie, but I thought they were all characterized very well. I liked how the conductor (Tom Hanks) actually had a personality, unlike in the book where the focus was solely on the boy. I also liked how the boy interacted with other kids on the train, especially an African-American girl (Nona Gaye) whom he befriends. There's also a really sweet song called "Spirit of the Season" that she sings along with a boy credited as "Lonely Boy". The way the song is sung, and the CGI-imaging of the night sky, are both truly spectacular.
Some of the films excursions that I thought were going to be cheap plot devices actually served the film well. After all, a book that's roughly 30 pages long probably won't amount to a 2-hour movie. Still, these subplots were used in a way to not only cleverly characterize the main characters, but also to give a better dimension to the North Pole. You would never see the elves, how they transport themselves, and what the villages in Santa's North Pole look like if the film stuck straight to the book. Zemekis has consistently been very good at using computer animation to add not only to characters, but make their worlds far more elaborate and interesting.
With all that said, I had some major reservations about the film. While the animation was really good in terms of set design, I hated how it made the humans look. They almost looked like zombies at times, and it was a little scary.
Don't get me wrong. Motion capture animation is pretty amazing, and probably not as time consuming as regular animation. However, when the main characters are humans, and the conductor looks exactly like Tom Hanks, why not just film them? That would probably cut the $165 million budget down significantly, or at least I would imagine.
Also, it really irked me that most of the children did not have names. The main character is labeled "Hero Boy" in the closing credits, the black girl is named "Hero Girl", a nerdy boy is credited as "Know-It-All", and so on. Why not give them names? What's the harm in naming Hero Boy something like Tommy or Jimmy? It's not hard.
I also hated how the main characters are kids, yet the actors who do the voices for them are not kids. "Hero Boy" is actually voiced by Tom Hanks, although he actually sounds like a real kid. Same with Nona Gaye, Peter Scolari, and Eddie Deezen. While their child voices sound authentic, it seems like a lot of unnecessary work to digitally doctor their voices to make them sound like kids. Why not just (Gee, I don't know!) hire child actors to do the voices!?!?! It worked for "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (1965), and it can't be difficult.
Tom Hanks doing the voices of six different characters felt more gimmicky to me than cutting edge. Hanks is far from the first actor to play multiple roles in a single movie, but Peter Sellers, Lee Marvin, or Eddie Murphy he is not. In the movies those actors were in as multiple characters, they disappeared into their characters so much that their multiple roles showed their acting ranges. Here, every character Hanks voices (except the boy) sounds like Hanks. You can tell that Hanks is the voice of the conductor, the hobo, the boy's father, and Santa Claus. The gimmick is so distracting that it takes you out of the movie for a few moments.
While "The Polar Express" has its hang ups, it can and should be considered the first Christmas classic of the CGI-age. It still gets re-released into theaters every Christmas, as it has a renewed following thanks to great 3D effects that are becoming increasingly popular amongst moviegoers. It also is one of the only adaptations of a children's book that adds to its source while also maintaining its heart. My guess is that many generations will return to it year after year, and it will keep ringing just like the bell in the story. -
nancyb-95 January 2005I'll give this movie three "C"s for Creepy, Cold, and Charmless.
Someone commented that the movie might be better titled "Night of the Living Dead" for the creepy "possessed" look of the characters. I'll second that.
The action was typical 2004 something wild and dangerous happening constantly, never a dull moment in which to think or feel. If you've raised your kids on video games, they'll love it.
And the message? Well, at the very beginning the father tells the main character "Santa Claus is as real as Christmas." If that's true, then I guess Christmas is truly nothing more than a giant gift-giving extravaganza. The "poor boy" tells the other kids that he's always found Christmas disappointing -- presumably because he's never had much in the way of gifts. At the end of the movie, he finally ecstatically embraces Christmas in the form of a huge present.
The best Christmas show every made, in my opinion, was the less than ½ hour original "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" by Dr. Seuss. The sum-it-up message of THAT show was:
"Christmas Day is in our grasp/ As long as we have hands to clasp.
Welcome Christmas while we stand/ Heart to heart and hand in hand."
"The Polar Express" is all about belief but not belief in the miracle of the birth of Jesus Christ not even belief in the beauty of Christmas itself. It's about believing in the big fat guy in the red suit and confidence that you'll find a pile of presents under that tree come Christmas morning. That kind of Christmas can easily be stolen by any Grinch. -
Doylenf22 November 2004On the one hand there are many delightful moments in THE POLAR EXPRESS, not the least of which is the entire look of the film--appealing in a way that great illustrations of children's books always are to young and old. Tom Hanks and the others enter into the spirit of the whole thing with gusto--and all the performances are right on target.
On the other hand, much of the film is an excuse to dazzle with roller-coaster-like rides on the express train that roars across various landscapes making wild leaps and turns, all the while thrilling us with a sense of adventure and excitement. For the very young, the ride might be a scary one, especially when the daring young hero rides atop the train during a blustery snowstorm.
Things barely quiet down once the destination is reached at the North Pole. Still there are dangers lurking and the thrills continue with some amazing photographic tricks that can only be done in this new process of computer generated animation.
And to add a cozier touch to the proceedings, certain famous Christmas songs are interjected at intervals to give the North Pole--and the film--a warmer glow.
All in all, quite an imaginative and innovative achievement--impressive enough to assure its place among future Christmas favorites with unlimited appeal for the young in heart. The message of Christmas is lightly hinted at but when Tom Hanks as the train conductor tells the little boy, "The true meaning of Christmas is in your heart," we can be assured that children everywhere will definitely "get it".
Visually, it's a stunner. I didn't see it on the IMAX screen where I imagine it really knocks your socks off, but at a multiplex where picture and sound were impressive enough to convey just how advanced special effects technology has become. There is much artistry involved here, especially when the night scenes of the train's fast-moving travel through a blustery snowstorm capture some rich winter landscapes, including a frozen lake that threatens to demolish train and passengers before danger has passed. The camera-work is continually fascinating as is the artwork involved.
A pity there couldn't have been more of a story in the children's book which is the source--but the artistic visuals are the main source of entertainment here and they are superb. The busy background score by Alan Silvestri is reminiscent of works by John Williams. Although none of the sprightly song tunes are particularly memorable, there is a wistful quality to one of the new Christmas ballads sung by the children.
P.S. - I have just watched it on DVD, a year after writing the above review--and it's definitely a keeper--just as wonderful as you could want, an amazing technological achievement that should delight all ages who can still hear that bell! Tom Hanks, as the conductor, is my favorite character--brilliant job. -
TheLittleSongbird15 November 2009Don't get me wrong, I liked this movie very much. It is nice to watch around Christmas time. The film respects the book of the same name, which I think is a great one. Actually it was one of my favourites, a timeless Christmas story about the power of belief, faith and hope. Back to the film, one thing that was a definite plus was the visuals. They were phenomenal, colourful and looked as though the animators had gone to extreme lengths to make it neat. The character animation was just as impressive. The music is very good, with sparkling motifs and haunting secondary themes. The end credits song is truly beautiful. Another plus was the voice cast, Tom Hanks stands out obviously. He voices five or six characters here, and he was great as always. However, the film does take a while to get going, and the script is rather simplistic. And while the visuals were outstanding, the story while respectfully true to the book(while adding characters and changing existing ones) just isn't compelling enough, and is made up of disconnected,unexplained and sometimes rushed scenes in terms of story telling. All in all, a nice Christmas film that is well worth watching chiefly for the visuals. 7/10 Bethany Cox
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Danusha_Goska21 December 2004I'm a huge fan of Chris Van Allsburg, and especially his book, "Polar Express." I love Tom Hanks.
I really wanted to like this movie ...
Reviewers said that the motion capture technique resulted in freakishly animatronic looking characters. At first that aspect of the film did bug me, but I did get used to it.
But ... I really didn't like this movie. It was too dark, and it wasn't dark because it had a few scary moments; there's more to it than that.
First, what's good. "Polar Express" contains some stunningly lovely and/or remarkable scenes. The words on a page are seen from below the page, as if the page were transparent; wolves and eagles follow a slip of paper as it is blown about by the wind; Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby Christmas hits play in a North Pole toy factory.
All very worth seeing, worth, perhaps, the price of admission for hardcore film fans.
But the movie was simply too dark and too PC for me. And it reaches too far.
The PC aspect of the movie is an insertion that doesn't exist in the book. The main character is provided with a companion, an African American girl.
The animatronic look of the motion capture character is unpleasantly emphasized by the animatronic characterization of this girl. The script bends over backward to make her purely good, cool, and admirable, with no negative qualities, and that effort is obvious and alienating.
American audiences are grown up enough that we can accept a flawed -- i.e., human -- African American character. We don't really need a cartoon version of the character Sidney Poitier played in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner." There is a Poor White Boy character added, as well. Whoever wrote this character has no idea what it is to be poor, and treats this character with zero respect, and a great deal of condescension. The "lesson" this poor boy is meant to learn at the end will have self respecting poor people gagging.
Finally, the movie was just too dark, with none of the redemption richer movies have been able to offer. There are scenes of perilous efforts to walk atop a moving train during a snow storm, and scenes of vulnerable children trying to cross a dangerous bridge.
"Wizard of Oz" and other classics contain similarly scary scenes, but those films also offer deep and moving scenes of genuine empowerment and redemption. I missed such redemptive, powerful scenes in "Polar Express." This film will have its audience for whom it works perfectly. It does offer scenes as stark and striking as anything from German Expressionism.
What I missed were the warmth, the depth, the heart of the best of "Wizard of Oz" or "The Little Princess" ... or the Chris Van Allsburg book, "The Polar Express." -
mcreynolds7811 December 2004The Polar Express delivered me all the way back to childhood and my own faith in Santa Claus at the age of five. I could not only hear the bells, I could see his sleigh in the night sky. Chris Van Allsburg is to be commended for writing an excellent fantasy and Tom Hanks for conducting the wonder tour to beat them all. The special effects are just outstanding, the story line credible and heartwarming. The characters are believable and utterly charming. The children depicted are our own. I would recommend this film to any and all who love Christmas and remember what it is to believe. The experience of watching makes you a participant, breathless to see what comes next. I can hardly wait to view it on IMAX and am taking my entire family, including seven grandchildren to the Tulsa Cinemark this season. Let's hope we see more of this quality venue in months and years to come.
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jmforsyth-3329126 December 2019The animation may not hold up quite as well 15 years later, but this one still has a lot of heart and magic behind it to make it stay in the Christmas rotation.
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grantss24 December 2022It's Christmas Eve and a young boy is having doubts that Santa Claus exists. Then a magical train, the Polar Express, appears outside his house. It's destination? The North Pole. Its young passengers are going to meet Santa, but not before having some adventures along the way.
An animated Christmas movie that doesn't go anywhere particularly new nor profound but is still great entertainment. Wonderfully sweet and warm in tone and filled with some great adventures, it's quite difficult to dislike.
Can't fault the graphics: great and quite novel for the time. Casting is also spot-on, with Tom Hanks in several roles. -
donbrandonminecraft12 December 2020This is really an amazing movie, taking place on christmas eve. Those people who are like "its not realistic" it's a christmas movie for gosh sake. Enjoy it. It gives me flashbacks of how I always used to have christmas. It's very amazing. We watch it every year!
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lemon_magic27 November 2005For the first 10 minutes this film is a delight. The filmmakers and animators must have worked themselves into a frazzle to get this amount of detail and style into the film - the human characters look as if they were both rotoscoped AND computer animated, and all the inanimate or inorganic elements of the film - the landscapes, the houses, the trees, the Polar Express itself - are dazzling. If the movie had been a 22 minute 'short' (a la "Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown"), it would have been one of the all time classics of Christmas animation. Unfortunately, Zemeckis and company felt they needed to expand "Polar Express" into a feature length movie, and the source material can't hold up to the extended length.
Face it, one of the great strengths of the children's book this movie adapts is the brevity and economy of its literary style - supplemented by evocative fantasy visuals that augment, not replace, the poetic resonance of the carefully chosen words. But here, the writers have to add extra plot elements, characters and dialog to the basic 'text' to extend it to feature length, and they just don't have the ability to triple the content while maintaining the magic of the original source. It's as if the Hallmark Card composers tried to expand on the works of Robert Frost - they can ape the style, but they can't get the resonance or the heart. It's well meant and agreeable, but it somehow misses the point.
It's also got Eddie Deezen doing one of the voices, which is always a minus for me. Deezen is still doing voice work after 20+ years in the business, so someone must like him, but all I can say for him is that he must be dependable and reliable...because he turns in his usual sinkhole of nasal suck. Sorry Eddie, I know you need the work, and it's nothing personal, but I hate you as an actor.
Tom Hanks, on the other hand, is his usual splendid self, and it's largely due to his efforts that I can enjoy the thinned out content of the various over-extended sequences. He puts so much warmth and dry humor into the various characters he voices that it almost gets this film over...if not for him, I would rate this film much lower.
Another problem: after a while, it is apparent that the animators are running out of ideas. For instance, they use a reverse 'zoom' pull back crane shot shot - that pulls back from a crowd to show the spectacle of hundreds of figures from an eagle eye view - way too much. It was sensational when it was used for the first time in "Gone With The Wind", and it's great here the first time they use it, but after a while, you can tell they're doing it again and again because they don't know what else to do. And there are a lot of musical numbers and dance scenes (a la "Shrek") that work fine at first, but really don't add anything to the story or the atmosphere. My favorite - the "Hot Chocolate" scene - is typical; it's light hearted and kind of clever, but Disney and Pixar do this kind of thing much better, and they integrate the musical numbers into the plot better.
And I hate to say it, but sometimes the art direction slips a bit and the gloriously life-like faces of the children and the train crew alarmingly devolve into the death-masks of soulless zombies. (This happens all the time in the cut-scenes for video-games). This is the peril of making computer animation as 'realistic' as possible - if every aspect of the production is not dead on, humans will look like the walking dead. This may be inevitable when you're doing a feature length animation , even when you are budgeted for 'state of the art', but it really detracts from the charm and sentimentality the movie is trying to instill.
I only rate this as a "6", but it's a STRONG "6", and there is enough to enjoy about this movie (especially the railway travel and boarding sequences of the Express itself) that I will gladly watch it again with any 8 year olds in the TV room who insist on seeing it during Christmas vacation. And there are times when the visuals are gorgeous enough to make an adult 'BELIEVE' again, if only for a second. -
sak0073 January 2005A simple story . . . beautifully told . . . magnificently visualized.
The IMAX experience was stunning.
I did not expect to enjoy the story as much as I did. Simple but quite heartwarming.
Although it started a bit slow, it continued to gain momentum (no train analogy intended) through its conclusion. I was not a great lover of the animation of the human characters, but the other animation, whether it be the train, the scenery, the reindeer, or the elves (are elves human?) was quite well done.
Perhaps the best review I can provide is that after I watched the Polar Express, I just felt happier. -
andrewchristianjr25 December 2020It's imaginative. The characters have some personalities and interests. An unique take on Christmas with groundbreaking motion capture animation and an emotional story, but the animation on the humans hasn't aged well and the script is uninspired.
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movesukkaz4 December 2004What an abysmal piece of trash. This is nothing but a lame attempt to use Hanks as a vehicle to cash in on some new 'technology'. The film is a total dud. Dumb, boring, annoying, irritating...I mean everyone looks like a freakin' mannequin, but oh wait, they MOVE realistically. So amazing. Too bad the novelty wears off in what, the first minute?
The train is filled with the most annoying bunch of kids you'll ever hear. There is absolutely NO PLOT whatsoever, just a train riding around with some stupid obstacle getting in the way every 5 minutes so they can show off more of that amazing new technology. Pad this out to 90 minutes and you have TPE. The movie is so beyond hurting, I mean we're forced to sit through singing and dancing waiters for what? So things can move on screen really fast and we can be even more stunned by those amazing visuals? Its like they just threw anything and everything out there to get this to feature length.
Tom Hanks is as awful as ever. I mean the guy has zero range. Every movie he's the exact same no matter how hard he tries, even his voice as a conductor is unbelievable. I'm so glad this is flopping because its not a movie, its a pathetic attempt by Hanks and some computer geeks to milk people. Next time give us a movie instead of a showcase of your computer coding. One of the worst of the year. -
alanbourbeau2421 October 2021I've read the book, the Polar Express and later on, saw the movie. I myself have always visited Santa Claus when I was a lad and so did my nephew. I did in fact did a search on the real Santa Claus. He was originally known as Saint Nicholas of Myra. A Eastern Greek Orthodox Bishop. My nephew knows very little about the origins of Santa Claus. But eventually he'll learn the truth and know the true meaning of Christmas.
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nancyldraper10 December 2019When this first came out in 2004, it was considered to be cutting edge, innovative technology but to a modern audience it looks rather plastic and artificial. What we now know as motion capture animation was then called performance capture. I remember seeing this for the first time and it was a wild ride of animation. Perhaps, because of Tom Hanks performance in multiple roles or the story of a young boy's restoration of belief in the magic of Christmas, it is still a perennial favourite, POLAR EXPRESS is still delighting audiences of all ages. I give this film a 7 (good) out of 10. {Seasonal Family Animation}
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jnfz24 November 2007I just watched this with my kids last night. I'm sorry, but I just can't square this Santa and North Pole with a standard like that of "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer." In "Rudolph" it was full of love and humor, forgiveness and humility. This Polar Express version is dark, authoritarian, and punitive. I also can't believe it earned a "G" rating with so much excessive danger and stressful suspense (train on the ice, Christmas star nearly killing an elf, etc) - my three-year old got scared and had to turn her head six times! How awful! (She kept coming back because her 6-year old brother was still watching.)
In "Polar Express" the conductor, Santa and the elves are humorless and of a "law and order" mentality that is prim and schoolmarmish - this is Christmas Eve, guys! Loosen up! And what is with Santa, anyway? He clearly has a messianic complex that is fed by the uniformed cheers of thousands of sycophantic elves at the Nazi rally - er, midnight takeoff of the sleigh - when he makes his appearance. And when Santa confronts the kid who picks up the lost reindeer bell, why so impolite? The boy picks up the bell and then Santa appears out of nowhere and towers over him, and the kid turns around and is obviously scared - c'mon, it's SANTA, people! - and what does Santa do? No introductions, or "Hello, I'm Santa, what's your name?" Instead, he says, "What did you say?" in a very accusatory manner. What a jerk! But then, he runs a Bushian North Pole that has secret video monitors on every kid alive, conveniently priming tomorrow's kids for a future with no privacy. From saintly divine judgment to a petty spy: that's this Santa. Imagine Soup Nazi mates with Santa (woah), and you have this guy.
So I give this 2 stars because there IS some lip service to the real message of Christmas (what, it's not about just getting stuff?) and the graphics of the train (especially the hot chocolate sequence - that is actually excellent) are good in a Fritz Lang sort of way. But if you want the spirit of Christmas, this is NOT the movie.