Polar Express

Back in 2004, I used to write movie reviews for the USM student newspaper, the "Student Printz". Because I occasionally feel lazy, and it seems a shame that all of five people ever read these, I've decided to repost them here, in the original versions that I emailed to my editor, Noel, all those years ago.

Truly, the unappreciated art in the world of filmmaking is the process of adapting a book to make the big screen. Some books are easy: “Lord of the Rings” had an enormous amount of source material, and with each installment running 3 hours plus, they still had to leave some stuff out. Our most recent arrival “The Polar Express” was much more difficult: try expanding a 32 page children’s book into a whole 96 minutes of holiday entertainment. “Polar Express” does an admirable job, but if you don’t have a tinge of the Christmas spirit, you’ll undoubtedly hate it, from the engine to the caboose.
“Polar Express” is all about renewing the holiday spirit in children who can see through the fake beard the department store Santa is sporting. It follows the story of Hero Boy, a young boy who is losing his faith in Old Saint Nick. On Christmas Eve, a train pulls up outside his house offering him a trip to the North Pole to meet the big man and get a taste of the Christmas spirit.
Tom Hanks definitely earns his paycheck in this movie: he not only does the voice of the main character and the conductor, but also Santa Claus, Hero Boy’s father, the Scrooge, and a friendly train Hobo. He and director Robert Zemeckis obviously put the most energy into the movie, and really try to harvest as much Christmas spirit as is humanly possible a week and a half before Thanksgiving. Surprisingly, they manage to generate a pretty entertaining movie, though its obvious that a lot of sequences were included to just make the minimum length.
Zemeckis’ vision in the movie has strangely dark undertones though, almost like there is some sliver of something sinister hiding behind the warm glow of the Christmas. His vision of Santa Clause is vaguely reminiscent of Big Brother, and worst of all, the only music in the North Pole is the same Christmas songs being played over the loudspeakers down at the mall.
Nonetheless, “Polar Express” is a fun film, just dripping with the joys of Christmas spirit.

Happy Holidays everyone!