12 Reviews of Christmas - The Polar Express (2004)
Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, we're getting close to Christmas, which means that I'm down to the last four reviews for the 12 Reviews of Christmas. So, let's start off the final stretch of the 12 Reviews of Christmas with The Polar Express.
Based on the children's book of the same name by Chris Van Allsburg, the story focuses on a child listed in the credits as Hero Boy, who is starting to become skeptical about the existence of Santa Claus. On Christmas Eve night, a massive steam engine shows up in the middle of his street, and the Conductor asks if his climbing on board. This train is none other than the Polar Express. The boy climbs aboard the train, where he meets several other kids, including a very spirited young girl, credited as Hero Girl, and a know-it-all kid, voiced by Eddie Deezen (the voice of Mandark from Dexter's Laboratory), and a boy named Billy, who sits alone in the observation car. After a scene where the train staff provides the children with hot chocolate, the boy loses the girl's un-punched ticket. The ticket travels around, and we get incredible visuals of thing like arctic wolves, a hawk, and so forth. The ticket returns to the train, but the girl is taken to the rear car. The know-it-all kid claims that she'll be thrown off, but the hero boy spots her ticket in the vent, and goes to return it to her. On his journey along the top of the train, the boy meets a hobo camping on the roof, who talks with the boy about the existence of Santa and ghosts. The two ski along the roof of the train towards the coal tender, with the boy jumping through the coal into the locomotive's cab, just as the train reaches Flat Top Tunnel. It turns out that the girl was supervising running the train while the engineers were replacing the headlight. After being forced to stop because of a herd of caribou blocking the tracks, the conductor arrives and finds a way to clear the caribou from the tracks. After a sequence where the train barrels out of control on top of an icy lake, everything is back to normal, and the boy gives the girl her ticket back. The conductor punches her ticket and takes them both back to the passenger car.
The train finally reaches the North Pole, where the conductor reveals that Santa will choose one of the children on the train to receive the first gift of Christmas. The boy and girl head into the observation car to talk Billy into joining them in meeting Santa, but the car was accidentally de-coupled by the boy, and ends up at a railway turntable in Santa's workshop. The three then travel around through an elf command center, and into a gift sorting office where they spot a present for Billy. They end up in Santa's bag of presents, where the know-it-all kid was as well. The elves escort the kids from the bag after it lands on Santa's sleigh in the middle of the square, and Santa arrives on the scene. A Christmas bell flies off of the reindeer's reins, and the boy picks it up, but is unable to hear its sound. Finally finding it within himself to believe, he finally hears the bell's beautiful sound, and he hands the bell back to Santa, who chooses him to receive the first gift of Christmas, and the boy chooses the bell that fell before.
The rear car is returned and the children are taken back home. The boy lost his bell through the hole in his robe pocket. The next morning, he finds a present with the bell inside, and while he and his sister, Sarah, are able to hear the bell, their parents cannot. The boy reflects on his friends and sister growing deaf to the bell as their belief faded. However, the bell still rings for him, as it will “for all who truly believe,” and the movie ends.
The Polar Express is yet another example of the filmmakers working to make the film a Christmas classic, and even uses a lot of the typical things found in a Christmas classic. However, where this movie really shines is in the visuals and the environments. The motion capture work can be a bit hit-or-miss at times, but I'm fine with it. Tom Hanks really shines here as the train conductor, as well as in the role of the hobo. The tone is fine for a Christmas movie, and I find it fascinating that they make out the hero boy questioning his belief in Santa like a question of faith, which is a different way of doing a story like this. Now, while I didn't get to see this movie in theaters, I have watched it on TV, and I currently own the film on Blu-ray. It's definitely one I like to watch this time of year. I'm going to go ahead and give The Polar Express a rating of 4.25/5. By the way, I have to agree with the Nostalgia Critic on one thing about this movie: what the hell was up with the Steven Tyler elf? That just felt like it came out of nowhere. This is Chuck signing off. See you guys next time as the 12 Reviews of Christmas continues.
Based on the children's book of the same name by Chris Van Allsburg, the story focuses on a child listed in the credits as Hero Boy, who is starting to become skeptical about the existence of Santa Claus. On Christmas Eve night, a massive steam engine shows up in the middle of his street, and the Conductor asks if his climbing on board. This train is none other than the Polar Express. The boy climbs aboard the train, where he meets several other kids, including a very spirited young girl, credited as Hero Girl, and a know-it-all kid, voiced by Eddie Deezen (the voice of Mandark from Dexter's Laboratory), and a boy named Billy, who sits alone in the observation car. After a scene where the train staff provides the children with hot chocolate, the boy loses the girl's un-punched ticket. The ticket travels around, and we get incredible visuals of thing like arctic wolves, a hawk, and so forth. The ticket returns to the train, but the girl is taken to the rear car. The know-it-all kid claims that she'll be thrown off, but the hero boy spots her ticket in the vent, and goes to return it to her. On his journey along the top of the train, the boy meets a hobo camping on the roof, who talks with the boy about the existence of Santa and ghosts. The two ski along the roof of the train towards the coal tender, with the boy jumping through the coal into the locomotive's cab, just as the train reaches Flat Top Tunnel. It turns out that the girl was supervising running the train while the engineers were replacing the headlight. After being forced to stop because of a herd of caribou blocking the tracks, the conductor arrives and finds a way to clear the caribou from the tracks. After a sequence where the train barrels out of control on top of an icy lake, everything is back to normal, and the boy gives the girl her ticket back. The conductor punches her ticket and takes them both back to the passenger car.
The train finally reaches the North Pole, where the conductor reveals that Santa will choose one of the children on the train to receive the first gift of Christmas. The boy and girl head into the observation car to talk Billy into joining them in meeting Santa, but the car was accidentally de-coupled by the boy, and ends up at a railway turntable in Santa's workshop. The three then travel around through an elf command center, and into a gift sorting office where they spot a present for Billy. They end up in Santa's bag of presents, where the know-it-all kid was as well. The elves escort the kids from the bag after it lands on Santa's sleigh in the middle of the square, and Santa arrives on the scene. A Christmas bell flies off of the reindeer's reins, and the boy picks it up, but is unable to hear its sound. Finally finding it within himself to believe, he finally hears the bell's beautiful sound, and he hands the bell back to Santa, who chooses him to receive the first gift of Christmas, and the boy chooses the bell that fell before.
The rear car is returned and the children are taken back home. The boy lost his bell through the hole in his robe pocket. The next morning, he finds a present with the bell inside, and while he and his sister, Sarah, are able to hear the bell, their parents cannot. The boy reflects on his friends and sister growing deaf to the bell as their belief faded. However, the bell still rings for him, as it will “for all who truly believe,” and the movie ends.
The Polar Express is yet another example of the filmmakers working to make the film a Christmas classic, and even uses a lot of the typical things found in a Christmas classic. However, where this movie really shines is in the visuals and the environments. The motion capture work can be a bit hit-or-miss at times, but I'm fine with it. Tom Hanks really shines here as the train conductor, as well as in the role of the hobo. The tone is fine for a Christmas movie, and I find it fascinating that they make out the hero boy questioning his belief in Santa like a question of faith, which is a different way of doing a story like this. Now, while I didn't get to see this movie in theaters, I have watched it on TV, and I currently own the film on Blu-ray. It's definitely one I like to watch this time of year. I'm going to go ahead and give The Polar Express a rating of 4.25/5. By the way, I have to agree with the Nostalgia Critic on one thing about this movie: what the hell was up with the Steven Tyler elf? That just felt like it came out of nowhere. This is Chuck signing off. See you guys next time as the 12 Reviews of Christmas continues.
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