The Polar Express

Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Produced by Robert Zemeckis
Gary Goetzman
Steve Starkey
William Teitler
Screenplay by Robert Zemeckis
William Broyles Jr.
Based on The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
Narrated by Tom Hanks
Starring Tom Hanks
Josh Hutcherson
Daryl Sabara
Nona Gaye
Peter Scolari
Eddie Deezen
Charles Fleischer
Steven Tyler
Michael Jeter
Music by Alan Silvestri
Cinematography Don Burgess
Robert Presley
Editing by R. Orlando Duenas
Jeremiah O'Driscoll
Studio Castle Rock Entertainment
Shangri-La Entertainment
ImageMovers
Playtone
Golden Mean
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) October 21, 2004 (2004-10-21) (Chicago)
November 10, 2004 (2004-11-10) (United States)

Running time 100 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $165 million[1][2]
Box office $306,845,028

The Polar Express is a 2004 motion capture computer-animated fantasy film based on the children's book of the same title by Chris Van Allsburg. Written, produced, and directed by Robert Zemeckis, the human characters in the film were animated using live action performance capture technique, with the exception of the waiters who dispense hot chocolate on the train, because their feats were impossible for live actors to achieve. Performance capture technology incorporates the movements of live actors into animated characters. 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 female protagonist. The film was produced by Castle Rock Entertainment in association with Shangri-La Entertainment, ImageMovers, Playtone and Golden Mean, for Warner Bros. The visual effects and performance capture were done at Sony Pictures Imageworks. The studio first released the $165 million film in both conventional and IMAX 3D theaters on Wednesday, November 10, 2004.

On Christmas Eve, in the 1950s, a young boy who lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is hoping for belief in the true spirit of Christmas. He looks through magazines and encyclopedias for confirmation of Santa Claus and the North Pole, but to no avail. About an hour later, the boy goes outside to find a magical train called the "Polar Express." The conductor tells him that the train is headed to the North Pole to go to Santa, and that this is the year that he should board the train. The train route goes north, first through boreal pine forest, then across tundra, then across the frozen Arctic Ocean, to Polar City on an island, everywhere snowbound. In the tundra, the train had a difficult crossing of an area where flood submerged the track and then froze.

On the train, the boy encounters a group of other children who are on their way to see Santa Claus, including a young girl, a know-it-all, and a lonely little boy, also from Grand Rapids whose name is Billy. When the conductor asks for tickets from everyone so he can punch them, the boy discovers his ticket is miraculously in his left pocket. The conductor punches two letters into each child's ticket ("BE" for the protagonist and "LE" for the know-it-all). However, he forgets to punch the girl's ticket. The protagonist finds the girl's ticket lying on her seat and, realizing that it wasn't punched, tries to give it to her. However, he loses the ticket in the wind, but unknown to him, the ticket miraculously ends up in a vent in the same car that the boy was in. However, the boy does not realize this, and he tells the conductor that he lost the girl's ticket. The conductor then takes the girl up to the roof, and the know-it-all says that she will be thrown off the train. The boy suddenly sees the ticket in the vent, and grabs it just before it slips away. When the boy then climbs on the roof to try and stop the conductor, he meets a hobo (the self-proclaimed owner of the train as well as the "King of the North Pole") on the roof, who helps him to get towards the conductor and the girl by skiing as the train goes downhill. The hobo warns the boy that Flattop Tunnel is approaching, and that it only has 1 inch of clearance between the roof of the train and the tunnel itself. They do make it in time, and the boy jumps and lands in the tender. The hobo had disappeared after the boy jumped.

The boy finds the girl driving the train. She explains that the two people who are supposed to be controlling the train, Smokey the engineer and Steamer the fireman, are trying to fix the light on the train and the conductor let her control it. Just when they fix it they are forced to stop the train when a large herd of 1000 caribou block the tracks. After somehow managing to convince the caribou to walk off they restart their trip but unfortunately when the conductor, boy and girl are stuck in the front of the engine the cotter pin holding the throttle to the train mechanics suddenly slips out causing the train at a high speed to go down the steepest downhill grade in the world Glacier Gulch. After going down sharp hills at their high speed the train lands on a giant frozen lake that freezes over the railroad. The pin slips off the train and pierces the ice causing the ice to crack apart just behind the train. Smokey and Steamer replace the lost pin with a back-up one and slow down the train but when the conductor sees the cracking ice just behind them he orders them to full-speed and guides them to a trench on the other side of the lake where the tracks come out of the lake. They make it back on the railroad just before the lake cracks apart completely into water and the train is put back to normal speed.

The boy later safely hands the girl her ticket for the conductor to punch. They soon reach the North Pole and find out that Billy is riding alone in the observation car, because he does not want to see Santa, as he comes from a broken home on the bad side of his hometown due to a dissolved marriage from his parents' cultural differences. He says that Christmas never turns out well for him. The boy and girl run back to try to get him to come along with them, but the protagonist accidentally steps on the uncoupling lever and the observation car speeds backwards. The three of them travel from section to section of the North Pole's industrial area with guidance from the girl, who claims she hears the sound of bells that will show them the way if they follow the sound. They first visit the Control Center, then the Wrapping Hall, and finally a warehouse, before they are airlifted back to the center of the city via airship. As the sleigh is being prepared, one of the bells fall off. The boy picks it up and shakes it, remembering that the girl and Billy could hear a bell earlier when he could not. As before, he cannot hear it. The boy then says he believes in Santa and the spirit of Christmas. The boy is handpicked by Santa Claus to receive "The First Gift Of Christmas." Realizing that he could choose anything in the world, the boy asks for the beautiful-sounding silver bell (that only believers in Santa can hear), which had fallen from Santa's sleigh. The boy places the bell in the right pocket of his robe, and all the children watch as Santa takes off for his yearly deliveries.

As the children leave the North Pole, the protagonist discovers one of the pockets of his robe is torn and the bell is missing. His friends suggest they go back outside to find it, but it is too late. He is saddened by the loss of his bell, but is happy when he sees Billy holding up his present at his doorway, indicating that Santa has already visited him.

On Christmas morning, his sister Sarah finds a small present hidden behind the tree after all the others have been unwrapped. The Hero Boy opens the present and discovers that it is the bell, which Santa had found on the seat of his sleigh. When the Hero Boy rings the bell, both he and Sarah marvel at the beautiful sound; but because their parents neither believe in Santa Claus nor Christmas, they do not hear it and remark it to be broken. The last line in the movie repeats the same last line from the book:

"At one time, most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I've grown old, the bell still rings for me, as it does for all who truly believe."

Tom Hanks as Hero Boy (motion-capture only), Hero Boy's father, the Conductor, the Hobo, Santa Claus, and the Narrator
Josh Hutcherson as Hero Boy (voice)
Leslie Zemeckis as Sister Sarah (motion-capture only) and the protagonist's mother
Eddie Deezen as the Know-It-All Kid
Nona Gaye as Protagonist Girl (voice)
Tinashe as Protagonist Girl (motion-capture only)
Meagan Moore as Protagonist Girl (singing voice)
Peter Scolari as Billy (motion capture)
Jimmy Bennett as Billy (voice)
Matthew Hall as Billy (singing voice)
Andy Pellick as the Pastry Chef
Josh Eli, Rolandas Hendricks, Jon Scott, Sean Scott, Mark Mendonca, Mark Goodman, Gregory Gast and Gordon Hart as the Waiters
Michael Jeter (in his final film role) as Smokey and Steamer (motion-capture only)
André Sogliuzzo as Smokey and Steamer (voice)
Chris Coppola as Gus and an Elf
Julene Renee as the Red Head Girl and an Elf
Charles Fleischer as the Elf General
Steven Tyler as the Elf Lieutenant and the Elf Singer
Dante Pastula as the Little Boy

Architecture
Administration building of the Pullman Palace Car CompanyThe buildings at the North Pole reference a number of buildings related to American railroading history. The buildings in the square at the center of the city are loosely based on the Pullman Factory in the Pullman neighborhood of Chicago, and the Control Center is based on the old Penn Station in New York City.

[edit] The IMAX 3D versionIn addition to standard theatrical 35mm format, a 3D version for IMAX was also released, generated from the same 3-D digital models used for the standard version. It was the first motion picture not specially made for IMAX to be presented in this format, and the first to open in IMAX 3D at the same time as main flat release. The 3-D version out-performed the 2-D version by about 14 to 1. The 3-D IMAX version was released again for the 2005 Holiday season in 66 IMAX theaters and made another $7.5 million prior to Christmas. Due to its financial success, the IMAX version was re-released in 2006, 2007, and 2008, and has become an annual Christmas movie. The anaglyph 3-D version was released to DVD and Blu-ray Disc on October 28, 2008. Both formats include both the 2-D and 3-D versions of the film.[citation needed] It was then re-released on Blu-ray 3D (stereoscopic) on November 16, 2010 with new cover art.

[edit] The "Polar Express Experience"In November 2007, SeaWorld Orlando debuted the Polar Express Experience, a Motion Simulator ride based around the movie. The attraction is a temporary replacement for the Wild Arctic attraction. The building housing the attraction was also temporarily re-themed to a railroad station and ride vehicles painted to resemble Polar Express passenger cars. The plot for the ride revolves around a trip to the North Pole on Christmas Eve. Guests feel the motion of the locomotive as well as the swinging of the train on ice and feeling of ice crumbling beneath them. The attraction was available until January 1, 2008,[3] and is now open annually during the Christmas season. The Polar Express Experience is also now available at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden as a permanent attraction and at Dollywood during the annual Smoky Mountain Christmas event.

From November 27, 2009 until January 3, 2010, Polar Express 4D Experience was also available in Vancouver Aquarium.[4]

Movie World Australia during White Christmas event features The "Polar Express Experience" open annually during the Christmas season

The steam locomotive that pulls the Polar Express is modeled after an actual locomotive at the Steam Railroading Institute in Owosso, Michigan. The Pere Marquette 1225 Berkshire-type (2-8-4), built in 1941 at the Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, OH, was part of the Pere Marquette Railway system before being decommissioned in 1951. Slated for scrapping, it was acquired by Michigan State University (MSU) in 1957 and exhibited on campus. In 1971, MSU steam enthusiasts commenced the formidable task of restoring the mighty locomotive to operating condition. Restoration was substantially completed in 1985, and in 1988, number 1225 started pulling excursion trains in the Owosso area and around Michigan. The locomotive has been listed on the United States National Register of Historical Places. In the film, artistic liberty is taken with the appearance of the locomotive and its tender, both being made to seem even more massive than the 794,500 pound (361,136 kilogram) original. Many of the train's sound effects, such as the whistle blowing and steam exhausting, were created from live sampling of number 1225 while in operation. The 1225 even had the words "Polar Express" replacing the "Pere Marquette" on its tender while under a short promotional contract. However, the right to keep the Polar Express license agreement was lost soon after because of the licensing fees that would have been required to use the name. The Michigan State Trust for Railway Preservation, also known as the Steam Railroading Institute, received no money or other compensation for the use of the engine's image and sounds in the movie and relies upon trip revenue and donations to operate.

[edit] ReceptionThe film received mixed reviews on its release, but it has since received a cult following.[5] It earned a rare grade of an "A+" from Cinemascore, a 61 out of 100 critic rating on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews" and a "B" from users at Box Office Mojo. It also has a score of 6.7/10 at the Internet Movie Database. However, the film has a "Rotten" rating of 56% from selected critics with an average rating of 6.4/10, a lower rating of 54% when narrowed down to professional critics, also certifying it as "Rotten", with an average rating of 6.2/10 on Rotten Tomatoes. On the positive side, Roger Ebert gave the film 4 out of 4 stars, saying "There's a deeper, shivery tone, instead of the mindless jolliness of the usual Christmas movie." Similarly, Ebert's At the Movies co-host Richard Roeper also gave a positive review to the film, saying that it "remains true to the book, right down to the bittersweet final image". James Berardinelli gave it a good review as well (a 3.5/4), stating that it was "A delightful tale guaranteed to enthrall viewers of all ages." He ranked it as the 10th best film of 2004.

However, many other critics said it was "a failed experiment", and some even said that it "gave them the creeps". The film was generally praised for its stunning visuals; however, it was largely criticized for its fake-looking and "mannequin-like" human characters, which some critics compared to zombies. Peter Travers went so far as to say that the film was "A failed and lifeless experiment in which everything goes wrong", and Geoff Pevere stated that "If I were a child, I'd have nightmares. Come to think of it, I did anyway." Paul Clinton from CNN.com said "Those human characters in the film come across as downright... well, creepy. So The Polar Express is at best disconcerting, and at worst, a wee bit horrifying."

It opened at #2, being outgrossed 2-to-1 by Disney/Pixar's The Incredibles, and brought in $23,323,463 from approximately 7,000 screens at 3,650 theaters, for a per-theater average of $6,390 and a per-screen average of $3,332 in its opening weekend. It also brought in a total of $30,629,146 since its Wednesday launch. The weekend total also included $2,100,000 from 59 IMAX theaters, for an IMAX theater average of $35,593, and had a $3,000,000 take since Wednesday. Initially, the movie seemed to be headed towards becoming a box office failure after its first week, due to it opening just five days after The Incredibles and 9 days before Disney's National Treasure and Paramount/Nickelodeon's The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, and facing even more competition in the coming weeks with Sony's Christmas with the Kranks and Paramount/DreamWorks/Nickelodeon's Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. However, despite the crowded family audience marketplace, it was one of the few films to improve its gross in the weeks after its premiere. It dropped by only 32.82% in its second weekend, grossing $15,668,101, averaging $4,293 from 3,650 venues and boosting the 12-day cumulative to $51,463,282; and, due to the winter theme, saw its gross rise by 23.75% over Thanksgiving weekend, making another $19,389,927, averaging $5,312 from 3,650 venues and raising the 19-day cumulative to $81,479,861. By New Year's Day 2005, The Polar Express ended up grossing nearly $160 million in the United States alone. 25% of the world gross came from just 82 IMAX 3D theaters, shocking many nonbelievers and film critics. It has been widely noted, however, that much of this latent revenue was due to its status as the only major motion picture available in the IMAX 3D format. The film has made $182,704,446 domestically, and $124,140,582 overseas for a total worldwide gross of $306,845,028.[1] The film was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Sound (Randy Thom, Tom Johnson, Dennis S. Sands and William B. Kaplan), Best Sound Editing, and Best Original Song for "Believe".[6]

The film had its network TV premiere on ABC on Friday December 1, 2006. The airing brought in 13.2 million viewers, winning its timeslot and ranking 20th in the Nielsen ratings that week, according to TVTango.com.

The American Film Institute nominated The Polar Express for its Top 10 Animated Films list.[7]

[edit] See alsoList of 3D films
The Polar Express (soundtrack)
[edit] References1.^ a b c d Box Office Mojo: The Polar Express (Retrieved on October 28, 2009)
2.^ BusinessWeek. Polar Express:Rating the cost. retrieved on October 28, 2009
3.^ Bevil, Dewayne (November 24, 2007). "SeaWorld visitors take inaugural ride aboard the Polar Express". Orlando Sentinel. [link]. Retrieved November 25, 2007.
4.^ "Polar Express 4-D Experience". November 30, 2009. [link].
5.^ The 175m flop so bad it could end the 3D boom – The Independent
6.^ "The 77th Academy Awards (2005) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. [link]. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
7.^ AFI's 10 Top 10 Ballot
[edit] External links Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Polar Express (film)

Official website
The Polar Express at the Internet Movie Database
The Polar Express at Rotten Tomatoes
The Polar Express at Box Office Mojo
[hide]v ·t ·eFilms directed by Robert Zemeckis

1970s I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978)

1980s Used Cars (1980) ·Romancing the Stone (1984) ·Back to the Future (1985) ·Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) ·Back to the Future Part II (1989)

1990s Back to the Future Part III (1990) ·Death Becomes Her (1992) ·Forrest Gump (1994) ·Contact (1997)

2000s What Lies Beneath (2000) ·Cast Away (2000) ·The Polar Express (2004) ·Beowulf (2007) ·A Christmas Carol (2009)

2010s Flight (2012)

The Polar Express is a Trademark of Warner Bros Pictures Used with Permission Licesned by WB Entertainment Inc All Rights Resevred.