The Polar Express – Blu-ray movie review

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.

The characters were well-fleshed-out and very easy to "know". The animation was amazingly detailed and very life-like. The musical numbers and side pieces (especially on the train roof) brought some very effective morality and life lessons to the superb computer animation, giving it that "touch" of humanity.

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.

Tom Hanks, who's worked with Zemeckis in the past, gets to play six different characters. The boy (but voiced by someone else), the conductor, a ghostly hobo who lives on top of the train, Father Christmas, a Scrooge puppet, and the boy's Dad.

I don't think it was really that necessary for Hanks to play so many parts. In fact of the six, I only liked two. The conductor, where Hanks seems the most comfortable, and the hobo where Hanks adopts a gruffer voice.

The conductor is a likable character who is so insistent the train reaches it's destination. The only bad scene for this character was a really awful music number involving break dancing espresso waiters. It's a scene not helped by Hanks' dreadful singing voice. The hobo is an interesting character because he's such a mystery. He helps to restore the boy's faith in the spirit of Christmas. He also reminds me of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, vanishing into thin air, but leaving certain body parts behind.

I found the characters to be believable, with depth, and sometimes they seemed to be real people. Sometimes the facial expressions of Hero Boy were not as good as the others, but that's the only thing I saw wrong (and this was a very minor issue). The moral of this story was worthwhile and the movie was worth every minute put into it. And the North Pole as shown here....what a glorious place! I feel like a child again and I wish I could ride the Polar Express one Christmas Eve.

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