Review of The Polar Express (2004) by Gavin C — 19 Dec 2011

Let's just say I feel in love with The Polar Express book from Chris Van Allsburg along with his other precious titles like Jumanji, Zathura, Ben's Dream and more with colorful pictures, perfect writing and wonderful characters, they've become so popular that only three of them were made into films and this wonderful gem is one of them. I was amazed that this was being directed by Robert Zemeckis who made such great classics like the Back To The Future trilogy, Forrest Gump, and Cast Away and since he was chosen to direct such a timeless tale, he did a great job at capturing the spirit and imagination of the book in his first motion-capture animated film.

I'm gonna get to the weakest points first before I could give some praise. Although, there were some great visual details to the characters faces just like the book, there was a lack of expression on them like most other motion-capture films including Simon Wells' "Mars Needs Moms" (which we all know bombed at the box office and caused the ImageMovers Digital company to shut down). The story, while capturing the essence and spirit of the book, was vastly expanded into an 100 minute film, but I think it was appropriate since it gave us a moral lesson about believing in what your heart is saying.

With those out of the way, let's get to the strongest points. The scenery is wonderful it was exactly like the book with the lovely sight of the Hero Boy's town, the train, the mountains, the roller coaster scenes (packed with amazing danger), and the beautiful look of the north pole. The voice acting is terrific. Daryl Sabara did a great job as the Hero Boy, Tom Hanks did surprisingly fantastic as the Conductor along with the Hobo, Santa Clause and Hero Boy's father. The rest of the actors did well at their performances with a wonderful script that is faithful to the story. Since most children's films have great songs, this movies does the same thing too. "Hot Chocolate", "The Polar Express", "When Christmas Comes To Town", and the pop song "Believe" by the wonderful Josh Groban in the ending credits were such amazing songs to listen to.

Although, not a masterpiece, Robert Zemeckis succeeded in making sure this Christmas gem stayed faithful to the story (with a wonderful music score from the great Alan Silvestri) as one of the best Christmas films ever made.