Quickly becoming a Christmas staple

Rating: 8/10 (26 October 2009)

Along the same lines of "It's A Wonderful Life", "Miracle on 34th Street", "A Christmas Story", and "Home Alone", Robert Zemekis' "Polar Express" is quickly gaining ground as a Christmas staple film. I must admit to being less than overwhelmed the first time I saw it. Although the animation was unbelievably realistic, I found the pacing to be slow and drawn out and I felt the movie ran out of gas long before the kids made it to The North Pole. then something happened...
...I watched it again with my kids one frosty December night a couple of Christmas's ago and I started to like it. I guess it is just one of those films that have to grow on you. Suddenly I began to ask the kids if they wanted to watch it again and again as the holiday drew nearer. Then last Christmas, we watched it on the first Sunday in December and we are going to watch it again on the first Sunday in December.
It is simply a warm, embracing family film full of joy and life that truly captures the mind of a child when they think about Christmas and what the holiday means to them.