Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Animation, Family, Christmas, Fantasy
Tagline: Journey Beyond Your Imagination
Plot: A young boy lies awake in his room one snowy Christmas Eve, excited and alert. Breathing silently. Hardly moving. Waiting.He’s listening for a sound he’s afraid that he might never hear – the ringing bells of Santa’s sleigh. The time is five minutes to midnight. Suddenly, the boy is startled by a thunderous roar. Clearing the mist from his window he sees the most amazing sight – a gleaming black train rumbles to a stop right in front of his house, the steam from its powerful engine hissing through the night sky and the softly falling snowflakes. The boy rushes outside, clad only in his pajamas and slippers, and is met by the train’s conductor who seems to be waiting just for him. “Well, are you coming?” the conductor asks. “Where?” “Why, to the North Pole, of course. This is the Polar
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 The Polar Express is cinematic magic - a delightful tale guaranteed to enthrall viewers of all ages. Does that sound like advertising hype, or the words of a publicist? Perhaps, but it's a reflection of how strongly this film pulled me under its spell.  --James Berardinelli (ReelViews)
This creepy animated holiday feature based on the popular children's book -- featuring Tom Hanks as the voice of no less than six characters -- has more padding than a junkie's Santa suit.--Stephanie Zacharek (Salon)
The most realistic looking attempt to combine humanity with animation. ... The Polar Express is the first fully animated film from director Robert Zemeckis, so it should come as no surprise that it is one of the most technically ingenious ones ever assembled. B--Craig Younkin (Lee's Movie Info)
Bridging the film’s beautiful opening and closing, though, are 77 minutes of exhaustive, roller coaster-worthy action sequences, death-defying skids across frozen lakes and approximately 15 harrowing occasions where the beloved Polar Express is inches away from jumping its tracks and killing everybody on board.  --Sean O'Connell (FilmCritic.com)
It works tremendously well, functioning as one of the purest and liveliest efforts in cinema in the past decade. There have been better films released over the course of the past year, yes, but when it comes to enjoyableness, The Polar Express closes in on the top of my list. --Danny Baldwin (BucketReviews.com)
The Polar Express is a timeless classic in the best sense. It stands up under repeated viewings and best of all, it provides the budding skeptics out there, and not so budding ones, perfectly logical explanations for how Santa takes care of all the children in the world in just one night, and it does it without taking away any of the magic.  --Andrea Chase (Killer Movie Reviews)
Little kids might enjoy because it is bright and colorful, but I sense that they might enjoy a reading of the book a lot more. For older viewers, there really isn’t that much to keep them interested and I suspect that if they wind up putting it on year after year, it will be with more of a sense of resignation than genuine excitement.  --Peter Sobczynski (eFilmCritic.com)
This is not the first time Zemeckis has made a movie with no plot... “The Polar Express” makes its audience feel like children again, a feeling all too rare in this moviegoing climate. It’s a film that goes down nicely, like having “Twas the Night BeforeChristmas” read before bedtime.  --Collin Souter (eFilmCritic.com)
Forgive me for sounding somewhat hypocritical, but The Polar Express IS all right, a noteworthy achievement that is impossible to scoff at on a technical level and Scrooge-like to humbug at it’s fairy-tale enchantment of hope and wonder. ... Do not miss the opportunity to begin a new family tradition, because with The Polar Express seeing truly is believing. --Erik Childress (eFilmCritic.com)
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| Cast |
Tom Hanks
Saving Private Ryan, Forrest Gump, The Green Mile |
 | Nona M. Gaye
The Matrix Reloaded, Crash, The Matrix Revolutions |
 | Michael Jeter
The Green Mile, Jurassic Park III, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas |
 | Steven Tyler
Be Cool, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years |
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| Which is another reason "The Polar Express" doesn't quite work: The stilted animation can't keep up with Hanks' effervescence. The Pixar folks managed it in the "Toy Story" films, but here the medium is too weighty to match the buoyancy in Hanks' performances. Besides, all the vivacity in the world can't help a movie that has no story. C- --Eric D. Snider (EricDSnider.com)
But "The Polar Express" is about more than eye candy. The train ride is full of thrills, the musical numbers are great and Tom Hanks is a lot of fun, playing five very different characters: the "hero boy", his father, the bald and moustachioed train conductor, a hobo and even Santa himself!  --Kevin N. Laforest (Montreal Film Journal)
It's a sensation - both a milestone in computer-animation and a likely Christmas classic. --Jack Mathews (New York Daily News)
Devoid of 21st-century irony, this visually stunning, action-packed yuletide treat is sweet and, yes, magical in a way that will enchant kids and give older viewers a twinge of nostalgia. --Megan Lehmann (New York Post)
At first blush, the special effects are jaw dropping and drool-worthy. For die-hard gamers, the film is like an extended version of those cool video game introduction movies, with the fringe benefit of being stretched across the big screen. Sweeeeet.  --Lynda Lin (The Movie Insider)
Chris Van Allsburg’s magical tale of the Christmas Eve re-education of a Santa-doubting adolescent teetering on the brink of disbelief gets a multimillion-dollar makeover via CGI and a revolutionary new filming process that allows Hanks to "act" five different roles. --Marc Savlov (Austin Chronicle)
This season's biggest holiday extravaganza, "The Polar Express," should be subtitled "The Night of the Living Dead." The characters are that frightening.--Paul Clinton (CNN Showbiz)
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