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The Polar Express is a 2004 American Christmas 3D animated musicalfantasy film based on the 1985 children's book of the same name by Chris Van Allsburg, who served as one of the executive producers on the film. Written, produced, and directed by Robert Zemeckis, the film features human characters animated using the live action performance capture technique.
The film stars Daryl Sabara, Nona Gaye, Jimmy Bennett, and Eddie Deezen, with Tom Hanks in six distinct roles. The film also included a performance by Tinashe at age 9, who later gained exposure as a pop singer in 2010, as the CGI-model for the female protagonist. Castle Rock Entertainment produced the film in association with Shangri-La Entertainment, ImageMovers, Playtoneand Golden Mean, for Warner Bros. Pictures. The visual effects and performance capture were done at Sony Pictures Imageworks. The film was made with a budget of $165 million, a record-breaking sum for an animated feature at the time. The studio first released the film in both conventional and IMAX 3D theaters November 10, 2004. It grossed $309 million worldwide.
The Polar Express is listed in the Guinness World Book of Records in 2006 as the first all-digital capture film. This is Castle Rock Entertainment's first animated film. The film also marks Michael Jeter's last acting role before his death, and the film was dedicated to his memory.
On Christmas Eve in the mid-1950s, a boy who is doubting the existence of Santa Claus witnesses a train called the Polar Express that is about to depart for the North Pole. When the boy examines the engine, the conductor lets him board the train. The boy meets other children, including a girl and a know-it-all kid who has a hyperactive personality. When the train picks up another boy, whose name is later revealed to be Billy, the hero boy applies the emergency brakes. Billy initially declines to board but changes his mind. The conductor summons a waiter team, who give the children hot chocolate, and the girl stows away one cup under her seat to give to Billy, who is alone in the observation car. The girl and conductor go to deliver the hot chocolate cup to Billy, but the hero boy discovers the girl’s ticket is unpunched. He loses it before he can return it. After the ticket is abused by the wind and animals, it slips back in the train. The girl explains her lost ticket, and the conductor considers ejecting her before taking her for a walk on the top of the train instead. The hero boy locates the lost ticket and pursues them.
Losing the girl and conductor, the boy meets a hobo, who claims he is the owner of the train and King of North Pole. Desperate to find the girl, the hobo helps the boy by skiing down the rooftops as the Polar Express goes down a steep slope. Before reaching Flat Top Tunnel, the boy jumps into the engine's coal tender and finds the girl is controlling the train. After the driver, Steamer, and his aide, Smokey, replace the light, Steamer witnesses something unusual ahead and orders the train to be stopped. The hero boy applies the brakes and the engine on the train screeches to a halt. When the conductor witnesses a caribou crossing, he pulls Smokey’s beard, causing him to let out animal-like sound effects, and the caribou horde clear out. The train continues on but as it starts to speed up, the cotter pin of the throttle sheers off causing the train to run out of control. Moving at dangerous speeds, the train becomes a roller coaster as it crosses Glacier Gulch and enters a frozen lake. The lost cotter pin pierces the ice, causing it to crack. Smokey uses his hairpin to repair the throttle. As the ice cracks, the conductor sends Steamer to the cab to drive and "steer" the train to the other side of the tracks before the icy lake shatters completely. The hero boy returns the girl’s lost ticket for the conductor to punch. The conductor takes the two kids to a train car with abandoned toys. The hobo scares the hero boy with an Ebenezer Scroogepuppet, and the boy retreats to the observation car where the girl and Billy are singing. The trio sees auroras, and the train finally reaches the North Pole.
Upon arrival, kids form lines while the hero boy and girl see Billy depressed and alone in the observation car. They encourage Billy to go, but the carriage is uncoupled after the hero boy accidentally stepped on the car's coupler cut lever, rolls downhill backward, and stops on a turntable. The trio explores the city's industrial area until falling on a pile of presents, which are transported in Santa's giant bag, which is then airlifted by Santa's zeppelin. Meanwhile, the kids discover that the know-it-all kid is also in the sack, having followed in an attempt to find out what he is getting for Christmas. The gargantuan bag is placed on Santa’s sleigh, and elves remove the kids. As the reindeer are prepared, Santa arrives. One bell breaks loose from a harness, and the hero boy retrieves it. He first hears nothing, but when he believes, he hears the bell ring. Santa entrusts the boy with the bell as "The first gift of Christmas". Santa leaves with his reindeer, and a band plays in celebration.
The elves re-attach the lost observation car back to the train, and the kids prepare to head home. The kids request the hero boy show the bell, but when he is devastated to learn that he has lost it; he regains his spirit after Billy is taken home. The hero boy is taken home and everyone else bids him farewell. The next day on Christmas morning, the boy's sister wakes him up to open presents, including the bell he lost, which comes with a note from Santa saying that he found it on the seat of his sleigh, and should mend the hole in his dressing gown pocket. The parents hear nothing, and the boy leaves it on the table. The narrator ends the story by saying the bell only rings for those who truly believe and that it still rings for him because he never stopped believing from his time on his journey aboard the magical Polar Express.
| The Polar Express | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Robert Zemeckis |
| Produced by |
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| Screenplay by |
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| Based on | The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Alan Silvestri |
| Cinematography |
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| Edited by |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release dates
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Running time
| 100 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $165 million[1][2] |
| Box office | $309.7 million[1] |
