When you are growing, it’s not only your body features changes, school bag getting bigger, but its time for something very sweet thing you loose - innocence. As you grow, you become more mature and you start paying price for your maturity. You ask for all kind of reasons behind everything. Why we are going to see this obnoxious aunt and staying over to her place? Why I have to go to school? Why I have to go to temple? This is time when most of us suspected whether God exists or not. For most of all Christian kids, this is time they suspected whether Santa exists or not. Only way to make sure Santa exists is that they believe by seeing Santa themselves.
Robert Zemeckis's Polar Express is the story about a boy struggling with his beliefs about Christmas and his questions regarding Santa’s existence. It’s a dream that makes boy realize that “Sometimes seeing is believing and sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can’t see”.
Story
One snowy Christmas Eve, a young boy staying awake in his bed because he want to listen a sound he is afraid that he might never hear - the ringing bells of Santa's sleigh. He wants to believe in Santa Claus, but his growing sense of logic tells him that it’s impossible. Around midnight, instead of hearing the prancing and pawing of little hoofs, an enormous black passenger train rumbles to a stop right in front of his house with sounds of hissing steam and squeaking metal. Train is the Polar Express, a train that makes an annual run to the North Pole every year on Christmas Eve. The boy runs outside in his pajamas and slippers and the conductor invites him to get onboard.
On board the train, he meets three of the other passengers along with compartment full of kids wearing night dresses: a know-it-all boy who is obnoxious, a shy lonely boy who always seems sad, and African American girl who doubts herself. What unfolds is an adventure that follows a young boy, who takes an extraordinary train ride to the North Pole. He embarks on a journey of self-discovery and finds the answer to his questions before he wakes up in his own bed on Christmas morning.
Analysis
The Polar Express is haunting, chilly, creepy, yet magical movie. It’s a message-driven high adventurous rollercoaster ride. Even though Polar Express is mainly for kids, it can be enjoyed by viewers of all ages. For children, it’s a non-stop action adventure with lots of excitement. For adults, it’s a thought- provoking and time to gaze back at blessing of innocence turned into curse of maturity.
All four companions in the movie are seeking for something and finally understand its meanings – Hero boy - faith, lonely boy - confidence, hero girl - courage, and know-it-all - modesty. One of the sequences in the movies is what conductor punches on the tickets when they are traveling back to their home. Their tickets contains message they should learn to cope their problems. For e.g. Hero boy’s ticket says BELIEVE for his quest of faith and hero girl’s ticket says LEAD for her quest of courage. Another sequence is at the climax - Our hero boy and his sister can hear Santa’s bell because they believe and their parents can’t hear anything because they are mature enough to understand Santa’s existence.
The Polar Express is motion picture based on award winning illustrated children’s book by Chris Van Allsburg set during the dreamy wee hours of Chrismas. Book itself is very small but movie makes it up its running time with a glorious adventure with full of edge-of-seat thrilling moments. Once young boy embarks on train, you will witness never ending visual majesties and heart throbbing moments until movie ends.
=> A screaming train stops in front of hero boy’s house and he embarks on train.
=> A hot chocolate dinner served to kids on train.
=> Lonely boy doesn't want to embark on train, later he changes his mind, runs behind train, our hero boy notices that, and pulls emergency break to stop train.
=> Lost ticket's roundtrip journey – This is a breathtaking sequence in nature’s paradise you might ever see - Hero boy looses hero girl's ticket, and we follow lost ticket journey over icy polar region just like floating feather – ticket swept out of the train compartment along the trail of blistering high winds through snowy trees to wolves to eagles to waterfalls to snowballs to tunnels to underneath train to back into train compartment.
=> Hero boy's alpine ski adventure on roof of train while train racing through almost vertical upside down tracks mimicking a roller coaster ride.
=> Train stops because of massive herd of caribou roaming on track in dark.
=> Train breaks fails, runs manically on the 179 degree vertically deep suspension tracks, and skids across collapsing frozen lake mimicking a roller coaster ride.
=> Northern lights, Train passes through high suspension bridge to reach North Pole, and Arial view of North Pole – village of snowcapped red brick houses, and North Pole’s town square filled with huge Christmas tree and crowd of thousands of elves.
=> Kids follow one of the presents on toy transporting conveyer belt, slides through giant snake like tubes, and falls over huge pile of gifts.
=> Elves hitch up the reindeers to sleigh and Santa's sleigh flying over North Pole’s town square.
Most of the roles are outstandingly played by Tom Hanks - the conductor, the boy, the father, the mysterious hobo, and the Santa Claus. Among them, only conductor resembles him closely. The Polar Express is the first movies to use performance capture technology for its entire length. It is same technology used for Gollum in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the rings, which is based on filming the actors in live action and then capturing their performances in computer animation. Ultimate result is characters don't look real, but they don't look unreal either – It’s a crossover between live action and animation - hyper real with ghostly and dreamy image, which is perfect for haunting movies like Polar Express.
The Polar Express is strikingly similar to The Wizard of Oz – Both movies are message driven kids quest movies with weak companions, characters are on a journey to either a North Pole or Oz, characters follow to either train tracks or yellow brick road. In The Wizard of Oz girl’s uncles resemble scarecrow, lion, or tin man in the dream and In Polar Express boy’s father resembles conductor, hobo, or Santa in the dream.
Conclusion
My 3-year old daughter is little menace. Sometime she doesn't listen to anyone. As we know, kids are hungry for gifts and toys. Whenever she turns into troublemaker, my wife tells her during this charismas time - ''Be good. Santa gives gift to good kids. If you won't be good kid, Santa won't come here to give you gifts.'' After that, she is like one of the cutest, quiet, and shy kid you ever see. She believes that Santa will come and give her gift. That's the magic of innocence and believing in something.
Even though this movie is made for Christmas, it’s more like universal. It’s all about value of childhood innocence. It’s all about your belief. Things are exists if you believe, otherwise not. If you believe God exists, he is there. If you don't believe in God then he isn't anywhere. It’s a visual masterpiece, Christmas classic, and I would urge you to hop on the Polar Express, it will not disappoint you.
