MOVIE: Polar Express

On December 26, we watched Polar Express, an animated film starring (in 5 roles actually) as well as produced by Tom Hanks. This film is a computer animated marvel & the end result was superb and so amazingly life-like. This animated treasure is based the 29-page, children's Christmas classic by a Chris Van Allsburg, of the same title Polar Express. This appears to a be a much-loved holiday classic with young minds from many years past, making it the ideal book to recreate onto the big screen.

This is a magical story about a little boy who is woken by a powerful rumble sound in his front yard. When he goes outside, he discovers a train and after some careful consideration, he climbs on board, thanks to the gentle persuation from conductor, Tom Hanks. Once on board, he takes his seat amongst a number of other children, who just like him, are bound for the journey of a lifetime, the North Pole to meet Santa. All these childen have one thing in common: they are starting to have doubts about the existence of Santa and are on the edge of losing their "belief". Onboard and at their final destination, friendships grow, lessons are learned and truths are understood. The story focuses on 3 particular children, a brave girl with the biggest, kindest heart EVER, a poor boy who is sadly, much younger than everyone else, who comes from the "other side of the tracks" & our main character who has a powerful lesson to learn. The youngest boy Billy (the only character in this story with an actual name) just broke my heart because he was far too young to be on this train of "non-believers". I cried (like the giant baby that I am) when I heard him sing about not understanding why Santa forgot about him, year after year, after year. Click here for a sneak preview into the magical world of the Polar Express.

This is a fantastic fantasy for children and adults alike, that is guaranteed to put you in the RIGHT mood. Who knows ... it might just make you "believe" in the spirit of Christmas, just as you did as a child. We were very touched by this simple theme behind this story: "The sound of belief." & "Faith is the evidence of things not yet seen." It's sure to become a classic and I truly hope that it will help me to ALWAYS hear the sleigh bells throughout my life - you have to watch the movie to find out what that means (wink).

In case you haven't figured it out yet, Christmas is my absoluuuuute favourite time of year (halloween a close second) so with movies like this, the jolly time had by all, just gets better with these precious reminders of what the holidays are about.