wrong message

Rating: 5/10 (4 December 2005)

The movie has excellent computer animation, but it is all kind of cold. I found problems with the story. I haven't read the book, so I don't know how faithful the movie is to it, but expect that since the author co-produced the movie, it is faithful to his book. It's a secular take on Christmas aimed at kids, so it wants us to believe that the true meaning of Christmas is believing in Santa Claus, and that means giving and getting. But the kids in the movie mainly want to get. Presents. Even the short bit from the black girl giving friendship is kind of lost, and that also, while a very good thing, is not the true meaning of Christmas. That was conveyed a lot better in another secular take on Christmas, the 1938 Reginald Owen version of Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol." Sure a 3-year-old kid would love POLAR EXPRESS. It makes him believe Christmas is Santa Claus and getting presents. This movie does an excellent job of perpetuating the commercialism of Christmas, which is not the right direction for the Polar Express to go.