Review of The Polar Express (2004) by Torion O — 16 Oct 2015

My favorite Christmas movie. Odd and quirky at times, meaningful and heartfelt in others makes it unique and not grossly boring/annoying like most other Christmas movies. I'll get more into why it's my favorite.

Not the main reason why it's my favorite, but isn't it impressive how nice this looks still? It is a really great style, and I like it a lot.

The depth of which the messages you take out of it go. I didn't realize this on my first viewing, but Tom Hanks voices the boy, his father, the conductor, the hobo, and Santa Claus. This is something taken to a whole other degree in Cloud Atlas with him playing multiple characters, but the reason is more or less the same. It's a representation of all the traits of the main protagonist's personality; his doubt, his disbelief, his fear, and his desire to believe. That's a pretty ingenious indication, and I dig it a lot.

To me, this movie doesn't fall into the typical Christmas movie because it tackles themes way more deeper than the rest. The typical Christmas movies go into the 'spirit of Christmas', which is usually only believed to be about giving and being selfless. That is a good lesson to learn, but it is such a prevalent and in-your-face theme most Christmas movies use that it gets ridiculously annoying and tired. This movie has that same theme, though only thrown in by that annoying 'smart' kid wearing yellow pajamas, which is an admirable detail that is self-evident. As said in the last paragraph, all the main protagonist's personality traits are brought into view, which is a whole lot more than just "CHRISTMAS MEANS BEING SELFLESS".

On a lesser note, my favorite character is the hobo/ghost. He brings the darker and more real elements to the movie. Of course I wonder why he is there on the train, which gets me thinking why there are people even on the train and why there is a train, which leads to the fact none of it is real. HOW AWESOME IS THAT? Throughout the movie it is alluded that the ride to the north pole is a dream, and that just gives me chills. Back on topic, the hobo/ghost. When I tried to think of how he got there, I can only think that he died. Tragic, but a fascinating idea for a Christmas movie. Going by what I previously said about him not being real and neither is any of it is a little contradictory, but at the same time it is real. It is what the main protagonist is dreaming, so he imagined it, therefore it is real because it exists in his mind. That is pretty much key point of this movie. In addition to that, the hobo/ghost questions the main protagonist's belief of ghosts. This brings up the topic of belief and magic. Before, the kids said the train was magic. But what is magic? This is all made up in the protagonist's mind, which I take the meaning as all of it is magic. Believing is magic.

Okay, I had to rant about why I like this movie because it is rated so poorly and I don't know why. Perhaps for the same reason the ghost said. "Seeing is believing.".