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Polar Express, The
Warner Bros.

Polar Express, The reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 61 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
7.4 out of 10
based on 36 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 72 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: G for General Audiences

Starring Tom Hanks, Leslie Harter Zemeckis, Eddie Deezen, Nona M. Gaye, Peter Scolari, Brendan King, Mark Mendonca, and Gregory Gast

When a doubting young boy takes an extraordinary train ride to the North Pole, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery that shows him that the wonder of life never fades for those who believe. (Warner Bros.)


GENRE(S): Animation  |  Family/Kids  |  Fantasy  
WRITTEN BY: Robert Zemeckis
William Broyles Jr.
Chris Van Allsburg (book)
 
DIRECTED BY: Robert Zemeckis  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: November 22, 2005 
Video: November 22, 2005 
Theatrical: November 10, 2004 
RUNNING TIME: 100 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
The Hollywood Reporter Duane Byrge
A story that soars with breakneck pace but slows in all the tender moments. Visually, this train ride is both majestic and edge-of-your-seat.
Read Full Review
100
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
An enchanting, beautiful and brilliantly imagined film.
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100
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
A movie for more than one season; it will become a perennial, shared by the generations. It has a haunting, magical quality because it has imagined its world freshly and played true to it,
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90
Washington Post Jennifer Frey
Every detail of the beloved children's classic is meticulously reconstructed in the film, with visuals that can only be described as wondrous.
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90
Washington Post Desson Thomson
A truly satisfying holiday picture, the kind everyone can enjoy.
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90
Film Threat Rory L. Aronsky
Just like “It’s A Wonderful Life” is shown on TV every year, The Polar Express should appear in IMAX theaters that traditionally.
Read Full Review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
So delightful it should come with a parental advisory: "Jaded adults, beware. Viewing this may pierce your shell of cynicism and spark a renewed belief in the magic of movie-making."
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88
Miami Herald Peter Debruge
It's a good, old-fashioned North Pole adventure.
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88
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
It's a sensation - both a milestone in computer-animation and a likely Christmas classic.
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88
New York Post Megan Lehmann
Devoid of 21st-century irony, this visually stunning, action-packed yuletide treat is sweet and, yes, magical in a way that will enchant kids and give older viewers a twinge of nostalgia.
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88
Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
Like the coolest train set a kid ever had. It's not real and the faces on the toy people don't look human, but it has bells and whistles galore and will take you as far as your imagination allows.
Read Full Review
88
ReelViews James Berardinelli
Cinematic magic.
Read Full Review
80
Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson
If you have a chance to see the 3-D IMAX version of the movie ignore any objections. But if your only choice is a regular 2-D screen, The Polar Express is still three-fourths of a great movie.
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80
Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall
The story offers lessons in faith and self-esteem; the darker passages of the child's journey are countered by shimmering, cascading beacons of light; and fine period detail adds to the nostalgic glow.
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75
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
This movie, which aspires to be a Christmas movie classic on the "It's a Wonderful Life" level, is overwhelming, enjoyable and impressive, without being really entrancing.
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75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
For most of the way, it's indeed quite a ride: a cumulatively exhilarating, visually mouth-dropping, somberly stylish odyssey crammed full of virtuoso animation sequences.
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70
Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
It's hard not to wish this film were more of a piece and less like loud music at the wrong party.
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70
Time Richard Schickel
Tom Hanks doesn't turn Polar Express into much of a thrill ride. For that you need 3-D goggles.
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67
Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
A genuinely handsome film, and it tells a story that is well worth knowing. It's a kind, gentle and sweet holiday confection. But my Christmas wish is that the DVD comes packaged with the book.
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63
Premiere Jessica Letkemann
The Hanks overload feels like The Polar Express is "Being John Malkovich" transmuted into a computer-generated 21st-century children's Christmas film.
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63
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Visually, taking its cues (mostly) from Van Allsburg's Hopperesque art, The Polar Express is eye-popping. Storywise, however, it can be eyelid-drooping.
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63
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
While the 29 pages of his (Van Allsburg's) mini-classic would have made a superb half-hour TV special, Zemeckis and writer William Broyles Jr. have created a steroidal monster with a heart about one size too small.
Read Full Review
63
USA Today Claudia Puig
Simple and evocative, yet teeming with intriguing visual effects.
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58
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
The screenplay, by Zemeckis and William Broyles Jr., plumps Van Allsburg's simple fable about the purity of childhood faith in what can't be seen with all sorts of wholly invented characters, complications, and declarations.
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50
Boston Globe Ty Burr
Zemeckis and Hanks really seem to think they’re giving us a Christmas movie for the ages and a technology that will change cinema forever. They’re wrong on both counts. The Polar Express is merely a marvelous toy that has somehow become convinced it has a soul.
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50
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
The film's characters, computer-animated over motion-caputure footage of flesh-and-blood performers, are as blank-eyed and rubbery-looking as moving mannequins -- the stuff of nightmares, not dreams.
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50
Variety David Rooney
This visually impressive yet emotional frigid fable could perhaps more accurately be tagged "The Bipolar Express."
Read Full Review
50
The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
As a spectacle, The Polar Express looks remarkable. As a film, however, it's the equivalent of an elaborately wrapped Christmas present containing a nice new pair of socks.
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50
Village Voice Ed Park
When it comes to the "humans," the atmosphere collapses. Unnervingly smooth, mouths moving in strange, even frightening formations, the Polar people are the least convincing things on-screen, glaring impostors amid the otherwise painstakingly rendered scenery.
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50
LA Weekly Ella Taylor
The result is another powerful children's story dulled into mediocrity by the worship of technology.
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50
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Many moviegoers may find its colors and effects delightful enough to make the experience a thrill. Look beyond the tinsel, though, and you may be disappointed.
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40
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
In a word, it’s soulless.
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30
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
A train wreck of mind-numbing proportions.
30
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Actually, the wonder The Polar Express induces feels something like a coma.
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30
The New York Times Manohla Dargis
A grave and disappointing failure, as much of imagination as of technology.
Read Full Review
25
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
The result is a failed and lifeless experiment in which everything goes wrong.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 7.4 (out of 10) based on 72 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

[Anonymous] gave it an8:
It is my favorite Christmas film next to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. This is an amazing film. Yes it does have some overreacting when it comes to the girl's love for Christmas. Yes their eyes make them look like zombies. But it was great and it is for you

Ena B. gave it a10:
Wonderful. Magical. A Holidays classic.

Matt gave it a1:
I couldn't even watch the first 20 minutes. It was so bad. I quit watching after the part with the train over the frozen lake sliding part/finding the ticket. When were those parts ever in the book? The book was awesome. This movie is nothing like the book. Not even close. I had a great childhood and I remember growing up as a kid I used to read the book with my parents. After watching this garbage movie it made me want to throw up. If you want to see a good film with excellent animation go and see the Incredibles or Monsters inc.

J of The Melting North gave it a1:
Boring and strangely lifeless. What a bunch of poor techno-geeks imagine will blow people TOTALLY away ....kind of like a bunch of NASA scientists going into a collective swoon and near cardiac arrest because their Mars Land Rover has just fondled a chunk of Mars debris...sad! They could at least had a few drowning polar bears that Hanks scoops up at the last minute. Basically this film is little more than a "sampler" of special effects for Dreamworks (or whoever) to send around to potential clients as a catalogue of their Neat Special Effects. It's a Marketing tool about Marketing for the Market market. What could be more timely !!

Adam L. gave it a9:
Perfect in every way, except for the "cameo" appearance by Steve Tyler of Aerosmith. What was Zemeckis thinking?? That horrible misjudgment aside, this film is pure movie magic.

Jessica W. gave it a2:
This movie has wonderful graphics, but that's about the only enjoyable part. When I went to see this, I was extremely dissapointed and it was torture sitting through the later half. The producers spent way to much time and money on the graphics and didn't focus on any other parts, The story-line--for me--was scattered and hard to follow, though you may find it otherwise. The characters were hard to relate to and emotionless. Some parts were even scary and not appropriate for small children. Pretty much the only happenings in this movie was that the little boy got on a train, went to the North Pole and came back. And that's the whole movie.

Billy B. gave it an8:
This movie is great for the whole family to watch with all aspects covered like laughter, heart-warming moments and even some action here and there.

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