This CG movie follows a little boy (played by Tom Hanks) who has stopped believing in Santa and has lost the Christmas Spirit. That is, until he is awoken in the middle of Christmas Eve by the sound of a steam engine. When he goes outside, he finds a train marked "Polar Express" and a conductor (also played by Hanks) inviting him on to go to the North Pole.
Despite his initial skepticisms, the boy (simply credited as "Hero Boy") hops on the train and finds it filled with about a dozen children, all invited on this once-in-a-lifetime journey to see the big man himself. The other kids on the train are a know-it-all kid (Eddie Deezen), the main female protagonist (also simply credited as "Hero Girl"), and a loner of a boy played by Peter Scolari who obviously comes from a poor family. While there are others on the train, this is the main cast.
While on the train, Hero Boy ends up getting into a bit of trouble when he stops the train to pick up Lonely Boy, and again when he takes to the roof of the train trying to return Hero Girl's ticket to her when he thinks the conductor is going to throw her off for losing her ticket. While making his way on top of the train, he runs into a strange Hobo (yes, he's played by Tom Hanks as well), who definitely knows more than he's letting on.
The movie doesn't end when the Polar Express makes it to the North Pole. In fact, that's where Hero Boy, Hero Girl and Lonely Boy's adventure begins as they get separated from the group and have to work their way through the strange city in order to make it back to the center in time for Santa (yes - another Tom Hanks character) to give out Christmas' First Gift to one of the kids. As you would expect from a holiday film like this, Hero Boy's Christmas Spirit is rejuvenated by the end and all is well.
I hadn't had a chance to see Polar Express before this release, and I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. Although, I have to say that the animation (particularly that of the conductor) was rather stiff at times. And there were plenty of times that the CG just looked like it was on par with some videogames and not your standard, modern CG movie. I do have to say, Polar Express definitely falls squarely in the creepy area of the Uncanny Valley.
So in the end, Polar Express is a pretty good holiday film that a lot of people will probably enjoy. However, this particular package seems to leave a lot to be desired, especially since I found the 3D aspect of that particular disc to be pretty lackluster. Not only does it use the older blue/red glasses (included) style of 3D illusion (which gives you that weird after-image issue), but the effect doesn't even come through all that well. If you need to pick up a copy of The Polar Express, then see if you can pick up one of the other releases. This one just doesn't seem worth it.
