A would-be Christmas Classic

Rating: 10/10 (18 August 2005)

Polar Express would soon be among the list of Christmas classics like "Its a Wonderful Life", "A Christmas Story", "Scrooge",etc. The reason why it is so poorly rated in IMDb is because, a lot of people have not seen the movie. This was a sleeper hit because of the family crowd. (opening weekend made 30 million, but went on to make 160$, making it one of the biggest hits of 2004). Apart from the technical brilliance, the movie is a heartwarming. The movie maintains an eerie feeling which makes it special than other Christmas movies. Just like how "Its a Wonderful Life" is made special by the dark feeling (Jimmy committing suicide, depression, etc), Polar Express' selling point is its eeriness (which a lot of critics didn't expect in a Christmas movie meant for kids)
The movie does not get too saccharine or too sappy. It is just presented. It even works better than "Miracle on 34th street" which shares a common main theme with Polar express, that is, BELIEF. Both is based on the theory that Santa exists, and how a kid who doesn't believe in Santa gets to believe in it.
The movie starts with "On Christmas Eve, many years ago, I lay quietly in my bed. ..." and so it goes on maintaining the tone of the bedtime story which your mom read it to you. The ending line is more powerful when narrated on screen, so I wont give you the line (as good as the ending line in STAND BY ME). All I can tell you is you would walk out of the theater with a new hope.
A lot of movies spend a big budget and make better explosions, better spacecrafts, better action scenes. But no one cares about starting something new, like the trend-setting T2 or Star Wars or Jurassic Park. Nor does studios utilize the big budget to make something that would cherish your eyes, like the cinematography of Crouching tiger or HERO. Polar Express has done both. SOme scenes are very creative. Some notable ones are the Santa's factory, the Balloon with the elves, wolves following the train, the train crash and the final scene where the coach is disconnected and goes all the way back.
After 50 years maybe the animation effects would be 1000 times better than 2004, but still this movie would hold its roots, just like the way Indiana Jones series in better than a technically superior Mummy/ Van Helsing or Star Wars Original Trilogy is better than the new trilogy. The movie is a very good human drama that is disguised as an animated movie.
NOTE FOR PARENTS:
The Movie does not contain fart jokes (Shrek), double meaning jokes (Madagaskar), references to pop-culture (Shark Tale) or Violence or Scary moments (Incredibles). It is a movie for your whole family.