The Polar Express
User Score
7.2 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 115 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 91 out of 115
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 115
  3. Negative: 16 out of 115

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  1. John
    Dec 26, 2008
    2
    Horrible movie that looks great. It was soleless and boring. Why so dark? Why so random?What was the point. To literally believe in something that is not true? UUUggghhh!!!!
  2. RachelB.
    Dec 20, 2004
    0
    DO NOT TAKE CHILDREN TO THIS!! They could be emotionally traumatized. It is not a happy film, nor full of spirit. It was vacant and full of technology and no love. It hurt me to watch it. I could not wait to leave.
  3. JofTheMeltingNorth
    Sep 18, 2007
    1
    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 !!… Expand
  4. JimL.
    Nov 12, 2004
    4
    Good lord, you people are sheep. This has about as much heart as a digitally animated frozen chicken. It's soulless and animatronic all the way through. Read the book if you want some Christmas spirit; this is just a loud, tacky sideshow. Or maybe that's what people want?
  5. ANdrew
    Dec 23, 2005
    3
    I don't know what the point of the movie was. Where is the story line, plot. I think story telling is a lost art.
  6. MichaelG.
    Nov 14, 2004
    4
    Pretty darn bad. The worst Christmas film since 1985 trainwreck with elves, SANTA CLAUS, starring Dudley Moore.
  7. Mark
    Nov 23, 2004
    1
    Not for kids ! Period. Left them confused and baffled. Adults will like it but PLEASE RE RATE this thing so no more kids are scared! M-a-n-y left crying.
  8. NancyB.
    Jan 11, 2005
    1
    I give this three "C" for creepy, cold, and charmless. It's all about belief, but not belief in Jesus, or even something like love or friendship. It's about belief in Santa and the promise that you'll find mucho goodies under the tree on Christmas morning. The "poor boy" says Christmas has never meant much to him -- presumably because he's never gotten much on Christmas. At the end of the movie he ecstatically embraces Christmas in the form of a giant present. That's the kind of Christmas any Grinch can steal.… Expand
  9. nickb.
    Dec 24, 2005
    0
    It made me cry cuz it didn't make any sense.
  10. JessicaW.
    Dec 8, 2006
    2
    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.… Expand
  11. Matt
    Dec 17, 2007
    1
    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.… Expand
  12. D.B.Cooper
    Nov 14, 2004
    1
    Bah Humbug.
  13. KevinR.
    Nov 24, 2004
    3
    Okay I admit I haven't read the book. I went to the theater expecting a sweet holiday story and some great animation. The animation was quite good, although I'd rate The Incredibles better on that front. What disappointed me was the endless stream of "hair-raising action" as the Polar Express swerves, spins and narrowly avoids disaster after disaster, including a bridge that looks ridiculously like a really bad roller coaster. It gave me a headache after a while (something else it shares with The Incredibles). All this in service of a tale with a gaping hole in it. It's supposed to be a story about a boy struggling to hold onto childhood beliefs. The boy gets picked up by a magical train, taken to the North Pole, loaded onto Santa's sleigh and in conversation with Santa Claus himself and somehow he still isn't sure if he believes! Shouldn't it be about the struggle to believe even when you have no direct evidence? This kid is confronted with so much evidence that believing is easy as pie, and not believing just seems stupid.… Expand
  14. Whatwasthat?
    Dec 26, 2008
    1
    Bad, Bad, Bad! I agree with those that say, don't take kids. It was mean, ugly and hearltless, with a sicko message that hope is found in believing that a made up person will give you the material objects that your family can't. I agree with Nancy. The cruel joke that the movie plays on the poor boy who is finally learning that his life is not a fairy tale and that he is poor and that that is OK as long as he accepts it. But no! the movie says he is wrong to be realistic and sensible. He should "believe" more in a lie that will stunt his emotional growth for a few more years and make him resent his poor family for not giving him big presents. So santa is "god" and material objects are the reason christmas exists. This movie insults all religions and spiritual orientations equally. But it is not just the message of greed and delusion that makes it bad, it is that it is randon and mean-spirited. Like so many readers noted, there was no story. The boy gets on, the train goes north, random unrelated things happen that make no sense and do not make you care at all about the people and then the train gets there, the boy gets a present, and then he comes home. So what happens next christmas? Does he go again? Does santa have to give him a bigger gift or he will think he got dissed? What if the boy went to meet Marilyn Manson and got a gift, would we all want him to "believe" in MM for the rest of his life. So when a kid loses his "believe" in the idea that he gets free things from a fictional character, we should all be sad for that person? Good christmas movies are about human values and choices and recognizing what is important. This movie was a creapy effort to sell a sick and harmful message.… Expand
  15. csw12
    Dec 14, 2012
    3
    The Polar Express is good in the beginning, then begins to stumble and then like the train it compleltly falls off the tracks and stays there. This seemed to be the unhappiest Christmas movie i have ever seen.

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
61 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 36 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 36
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 36
  3. Negative: 4 out of 36
  1. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Duane Byrge
    100
    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.
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  2. Variety
    Reviewed by: David Rooney
    50
    This visually impressive yet emotional frigid fable could perhaps more accurately be tagged "The Bipolar Express."
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  3. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Manohla Dargis
    30
    A grave and disappointing failure, as much of imagination as of technology.
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