Media With A Message: ‘The Polar Express’

MEGAN SENNETT, Georgia Bulletin Youth Board

Published: December 23, 2004

Megan’s Rating: 4 stars out of 5

“The Polar Express,” adapted from the classic children’s picture book by Chris Van Allsburg, is at times a slightly eerie movie while still keeping a traditional Christmas spirit.

Director Robert Zameckis’ tone is much deeper than the film’s sugary-sweet predecessors in the Christmas movie department. However, those familiar with Van Allsburg’s holiday story will immediately recognize the magic of the film that appeals to both children and adults alike.

Beginning with a quote from the book, “On Christmas Eve, many years ago, I lay quietly in my bed….” we are introduced to an unnamed child, known as Hero Boy, who has lately lost the Christmas spirit. He is of the age where he is starting to doubt the existence of Santa Claus, especially when he fails in his attempt to hear sleigh bells and overhears his parents expressing uncertainties about whether their son still believes in the magic. Therefore, on Christmas Eve, a giant old-fashioned locomotive containing an assortment of children that also have reservations about the existence of Santa stops in front of his house. The slightly impatient conductor (one of five characters, including Hero Boy, a hobo, and Santa himself, voiced by executive producer Tom Hanks) urges Hero Boy to come aboard. Although he expresses misgivings at first, he agrees to join the others for a wild ride aboard the grand Polar Express.

On the train, he befriends several of the other children, including Know-It-All (the name explains everything) and Hero Girl, who is feisty, outgoing, and still doubts herself at times. The child most easily empathized with is Lonely Boy, who lives on the other side of the tracks and seems perpetually shy and melancholy. All of the children in the movie are purposefully not given names to show the universality of the story.

“The Polar Express” is the first film to utilize a groundbreaking new technology in digital filmmaking called performance capture. According to this process, the film was shot with actors wearing special sensors all over their bodies to capture real human movements, which were later adapted for animation. This creates a breathtaking visual masterpiece. When the train hurtles up and down roller coaster-like hills, careens through tunnels, and skids across icy ponds, nearly killing everyone on board, it feels incredibly real. The journey of the Polar Express to the North Pole is full of rapid-paced adventures and surprises that combine with its emotional power to compose a movie that is truly a memorable experience.

One of the best scenes in the movie is when Hero Girl’s lost ticket floats freely, á la the feather at the beginning of “Forrest Gump,” another Zameckis and Hanks classic, past wolves, eagles, waterfalls, and the landscape before finally returning to the train. Another impressive scene pays homage to another classic, “Beauty and the Beast.” Identical singing and dancing waiters materialize out of nowhere to serve hot chocolate to the delighted children aboard the train in a fun and fast-paced scene reminiscent of the “Be My Guest” sequence.

Along with the numerous artistic joys, the movie delivers an essential message for everyone who thinks he or she is too old to believe in Santa. It perfectly, and slightly wistfully, captures the essence of a young child’s moment in life when his or her fantasy and innocence are about to be lost forever. Instead, Hero Boy’s transformative journey makes him realize the necessity of faith and that believing does not require seeing.

Just as in real life, not everything in this movie is cheery and perfect like in most Christmas clichés. The journey itself is slightly harrowing, especially for younger children. When the group arrives at the North Pole, the star is knocked off the Christmas tree, Santa’s giant bag of presents almost crushes an elf, and Santa Claus himself is portrayed as being more professional and serious than jolly. However, these tiny imperfections only contribute to the movie’s magic. It is appropriate because the end of Hero Boy’s journey on the Polar Express commences his ride on another, metaphorical train from childhood to imperfect adult maturity. Just like Hero Boy, we are all on a journey of faith, riding our own trains. It is important to stay on the tracks and keep believing in our own precious Catholic faith.

As Josh Groban sings in the theme song “Believe,” “We were dreamers not so long ago. But one by one we all had to grow up. When it seems the magic’s slipped away, we find it all again on Christmas day.” That magic is found in this movie and is enough to make a believer out of anyone.

Megan Sennett is a junior at Chattahoochee High School and a parishioner at St. Brigid Church, both in Alpharetta.