The Polar Express Animated Movie Based On Chris Van Allsburg Novel

The Polar Express is an animated film released in 2004 based on the childrens book of same name by Chris Van Allsburg. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis and has live action using performance capture technology where the live actors movements are captured and interpolated on the animation characters to give a realistic effect.

The Polar Express stars Tom Hanks in five distinctive roles including that of Santa Claus. The other actors were Leslie Harter Zemeckis, Eddie Deezen, Nona Gaye and Jimmy Bennett. The music was by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard who rendered music for the songs. The cinematography was by Don Burgess and the film was nominated for three Oscars for original song, sound editing and sound mixing.

The main protagonist of The Polar Express is a young boy known as Hero Boy. He was awake when he was supposed to be asleep on the Christmas Eve. The eight-year-old boy was waiting to hear Santa Claus downstairs. He was confused with the news circulating around him that Santa Claus was a myth and scientifically it was not possible for Santa to deliver the gifts. He was wondering whether his faith in Santa was dwindling, more so after the news of fake Santas.

At this time a loud noise and bright light enters his room. He goes outside to find a huge train standing there and the conductor tells him that it is The Polar Express and its destination was the North Pole. The conductor tells him that Santa knows about his diminishing faith and this was the most crucial year in his life because he might believe in Santa for the final year if he missed the train. Hesitantly, the boy boards the train.

On the train he meets two more children called Hero Girl and Know-it-all. When the conductor comes to punch his ticket he is amazed to find a golden ticket in his left pocket and the train moves on. Then The Polar Express stops at the poor section of the town and there another hesitant boy, the Lonely Boy boards the train with the help of Hero Boy when he almost loses his chance to board the train.

The Polar Express then moves on through many adventures involving caribous, mechanical failures, a steep downhill dive, and broken lake surfaces. They arrive at the Arctic Circle and see the Aurora Borealis and reach North Pole with only five minutes to spare but accidentally get lost in the city. After some more misadventures the children end up in the huge bag of presents. When the time for Santa to appear nears and the reindeers are being decorated Hero Boy fails to hear the bells. He realises that only believing in Santa and Christmas can make him hear the bell ring. He says, I believe and hears the silver bell that fell from the reindeer ring. Santa lets him choose the first present and he chooses the bell. Wikipedia

The Polar Express Animated Movie Based On Chris Van Allsburg Novel