An Instant Holiday Classic

Rating: 10/10 (24 December 2007)

Ever since I was a small child, I've made it a point to watch the stop animation shows like "A Year Without Santa Claus", "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", "Rudolph's Shiny New Year", etc. To me, Christmas just isn't Christmas if I haven't watched these classics from the late 60s and 70s. I used to believe they'd stop making shows like those. Well now, a new movie has been added to my list of must-see holiday animation films. "The Polar Express" is an instant classic! I just watched it for the very first time today and was totally overwhelmed with emotion and Christmas spirit. I didn't know what I was getting myself into when I decided to watch it on TV, but I didn't want it to end. I cannot believe that this movie got such bad reviews when it first came out in the theaters. I'm guessing that many of the critics are just traditionalists who don't want to accept new concepts.
I found the characters to be believable, with depth, and sometimes they seemed to be real people. Sometimes the facial expressions of Hero Boy were not as good as the others, but that's the only thing I saw wrong (and this was a very minor issue). The moral of this story was worthwhile and the movie was worth every minute put into it. And the North Pole as shown here....what a glorious place! I feel like a child again and I wish I could ride the Polar Express one Christmas Eve. What a great movie! I was moved to tears by the end.