The Polar Express

 Okay, first things first, when watching this classic christmas movie with Thorin, I noticed Tom Hanks seemingly had a blast in voicing the Conductor.

But that said, it was time to watch this 2004 CGI movie as I said with the little guy back on Christmas eve, and he enjoyed it, so it must be a fun children movie tout court, based on the book of the same name from halfway the 80s.

 

On Christmas Eve in the 1950s, a passenger train known as the Polar Express stops at the Grand Rapids, Michigan house of a boy who is growing skeptical about the existence of Santa Claus. The conductor says the train is traveling to the North Pole, and the boy, although reluctant at first, climbs aboard and meets a spirited girl and a know-it-all boy. 

 

 

The train then stops to pick up a boy named Billy, who initially declines to board, but changes his mind as the train is leaving. The boy applies the emergency brake and Billy is allowed on, but opts to sit alone in the observation car. The children are then served hot chocolate by a platoon of dancing waiters, and the girl saves a cup for Billy.

When the conductor and the girl go to give Billy his cup, the boy notices that the girl's ticket has not yet been validated and tries to return it to her. In doing so, the wind blows the ticket out into the wilderness, but it soon finds its way back to the train. After the girl discovers that her ticket is missing, the conductor leaves with her. Assuming that she will be thrown off the train, the boys finds the ticket and traverses the rooftops to find for the girl. There, he encounters a mysterious ghostly hobo that helps him reach the engine. The boy finds that the girl has been put in charge while the engineer and fireman are replacing the engine's headlight. As the train continues, it moves at an extreme speed due to the cotter pin shearing off. Once they reach a frozen lake, the cotter pin is replaced and the driver narrowly gets the train back onto the tracks as the ice breaks. 

 

 

The conductor takes the boy and girl back to their seats and they join Billy in the observation car. The train arrives at the North Pole, where the conductor announces that one of the children will be chosen to receive the first gift of Christmas from Santa himself. While the girl and boy attempt to convince Billy to join them, the boy accidentally uncouples the car, sending it hurtling along a route towards a railway turntable inside Santa's workshop. 

The children make their way through an elf command center and a gift-sorting office facility, where Billy finds a present in his name. They are dumped into a giant sack of presents, where they also find the know-it-all boy. After the sack is loaded onto Santa's sleigh, the elves escort them out before Santa and his reindeer arrive. 

 

 

A bell flies loose from the galloping reindeer's reins; the boy initially cannot hear it ring, until he finds it within himself to believe. He returns the bell to Santa, who selects him to receive the first gift of Christmas. Santa agrees to let him keep the bell. As the children board to go home, the boy discovers that he lost the bell through a hole in his pocket. The boy arrives home, and the conductor wishes him a Merry Christmas. He awakens on Christmas morning to find a present containing his lost bell with a note from Santa. He and his younger sister Sarah joyfully ring the bell, but their parents do not hear it because they do not believe in Santa. The boy reflects on his friends and sister eventually growing deaf to the bell over the years as their belief faded. However, despite the fact he is now an adult, the bell still rings for him, as it does "for all who truly believe." 

 

A truly fun film, and (for it's time) it was revolutionary in CGI techniques, winning various accolades as a result.  So grab those little kahooters, plonk them in the couch and step aboard The Polar Express!