I can't fathom who the audience is for this.

Rating: 4/10 (30 November 2007)

This movie would scare young children and be viewed as lame and boring to older ones. So, I have to assume the audience for this is adults. It's a rather dark Christmas film which, as others have pointed out, seems to emphasize the belief in getting gifts as the main point of Christmas. All the characters never come across as happy (maybe they're tired after being awakened for a late night train ride), except the main character's sister the next (Christmas) morning. The best developed characters (and best animated ones), the hobo and the conductor, seem to play little role in the main plot line of the film ... particularly the conclusion. The main child characters are poorly animated and uninspired.
So, what's left? The scenery is gorgeous, the train ride is exciting, the North Pole is clever, the conductor and hobo characters are well developed and engaging ... unfortunately that leaves us with great background scenery in a movie with a weak plot line and uninspired main characters. I doubt the book suffers from these same issues, and maybe if you've read the book, the weak main characters would not be as obvious. With so many good, fun Christmas films out there, I can't recommend this one.