The Polar Express

Tom Hanks, Nona Gaye, Eddie Deezen

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

Rating: 4 stars

A cute movie for children, this movie revives the belief in you that Santa Claus is real. The story takes place on Christmas Eve. A young boy who is nameless throughout the movie (Tom Hanks), finds out that Santa Claus does not exist. However, he hears a train outside of his house and the conductor (Tom Hanks) tells him the train is headed to the North Pole. At first, the boy does not want to go but as the train starts to leave, he climbs aboard. He meets other kids who believe and are excited to go meet Santa. When they finally reach the North Pole, one event leads to another and the main characters (Hero Boy as the main boy is called, Hero Girl, and Know-It-All) end up away from the main group and have to find their way back to the main plaza where Santa will be. As you might have guessed, the Hero Boy ends up believing in Santa Claus.

This movie was actually pretty good, albeit, a little cheesy at some times. For example, when Hero Boy, Hero Girl, and Lonely Boy start singing on the train. I thought this wasn't necessary. Then again, I personally dislike movies that have that kind of random singing in it. There are some exceptions (this movie wasn't one of them). Aside from the fact that these children don't have real names (i.e. "Hero Boy" "Know-It-All"?) this movie was based on the book. So I guess you couldn't really add a name. Also, I assume Tom Hanks got a pretty good pay check for being the voice for most of the characters. I watched this with friends and this was pretty laughable.

But hey, let's look at the positives as to why this movie deserves four stars. It wasn't that bad. It's not a must-see movie, so I wouldn't go and brag that you HAVE to watch this when you have the chance. However, when Christmastime roles around and there are kids in your household, maybe you should pop this in the DVD player and watch with them. If you don't want your kids suspicious that there is no Santa, then maybe you might not want them to see it since the topic of the movie is the doubt of Santa's existence. This might be more of a movie for twelve-year-olds. I liked it though and would recommend it to those who liked the book, Christmas movies, and want a heart-warming story about a boy who finds his belief in Santa again.