Polarizing

Rating: 8/10 (12 April 2007)

Many years ago we opened a Christmas present for my daughter (now out on her own) sent from my brother and sister-in-law who lived 1500 miles away. The box contained a book, The Polar Express, and a sleigh bell. I'd never heard the story, and I remember looking at the book and the bell and wondering what they were about. I probably got more out of reading The Polar Express than my daughter did at the time. When the movie came out I made the mistake of reading reviews and put off seeing it. When I did get around to a view I was pleasantly surprised. The dark aspect critics panned to me reflected magical nights in decades past, looking out my bedroom window at snow falling in the street lamplight with that sense of awe, appreciation of beauty and security that only a child can have. While The Polar Express isn't what I would have made of the book it does have for me that dreamy sense of glory and anticipation that is the mark of childhood and what I most miss of those days. Well worth seeing, in my opinion.