This film was much too violent and frightening for young children

Rating: 3/10 (14 January 2005)

I attended the movie with my 6 year old twin daughters. One sat mesmerized, albeit with her hands over her ears at times. The other became horrified as the movie progressed into a series of terrifying scenes of near-miss train wrecks, with frightening, ghoulish and decidedly hard-hearted characters who seemed even scarier because they more closely resembled real people than cartoon characters. I was torn because one of my girls was panic-stricken and wanted desperately to leave the theater, but the other was too young to leave alone by herself. I kept hoping the ghoulish scenarios would soon end, but they seemed to continue and continue until I wondered if this was really the warm-hearted magical movie I had expected or some sort of strange, twisted joke. FINALLY, after the climax of horror when a (very real-looking) man with a very long beard was literally tortured into whinnying an unearthly shriek over and over again as his beard was cruelly pulled, the negativity stopped and the "magic" I had hoped to bring my children to see and experience began. Thank goodness my daughter was thus able to take something positive from this experience. Had I known beforehand, however, I never would have brought her in the first place. The ugliness and cruelty went on for far too long. I would not take a child under the age of 9 to this film. There is so much callousness in the world, why harden children like this with these type of experiences? It was all so unnecessary. Why take a beautiful book like the Polar Express and sabotage it in this way?