"Sometimes the most real things in this world are the things we can't see."

Rating: 7/10 (30 November 2005)

The Polar Express is a beautiful movie based on the children's picture book of the same name. As wonderful as the paintings that occupy the book are, the movie looks just as good. The movie follows a young boy who finds out on Christmas Eve that he will be going to the North Pole to watch Santa take off on his worldwide trip to gift giving. He had doubts that he will see Santa at all, but goes on the trip and meets up with a know-it-all kid with a terribly annoying voice (voiced by Eddie Deezen) and a girl who has a song in her heart (voiced by Nona Gaye) on a train that goes directly to the North Pole. The Arctic Outback provides the backdrop for the train ride, as we see quiet forests, howling wolves, and interesting terrain that supplies most of the suspense in this movie. The most daring part of the movie comes when the train goes through a roller coaster of tracks, ending by skating across a glacier. This scene is a wonder to watch, expertly crafted by director Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future movies), though may scare a few of the young ones out there. Tom Hanks supplies the voices to six characters, including the train conductor, Santa Claus, a hobo riding on the train, and the young boy in which the story revolves. The movie was made by capturing the movements of the actors and running those movements into computers that animated the movie action. The final scenes of the movie take place in the North Pole, where the viewer will see more elves than they may ever want to admit to. The story of the movie is as simple as the book that it is based on, but is still fun to watch. Adults will like the simple story with a positive message, and kids will like the pretty scenes and the subject matter, though some of the perilous situations could scare a few kids. A holiday classic for years to come.