The Polar Express

The final movie on the list for this season of never-before-seen-by-me Christmas movies is The Polar Express which was released in 2004.

I don’t remember exactly why I never saw this movie when it was released, but I have a pretty solid guess that it has a lot to do with me being stubborn. You see, I was raised reading the book version of The Polar Express, published in 1985, one year before I myself was published. I don’t remember the first time my sister and I were read this book. In my mind it is a story that has been present in my head since forever. I was and am still completely in love with the story and the book. The illustrations are beautiful and inviting; they draw you in and make you wish that you were also taking a trip on the Polar Express.

As I said, I cannot remember why I never saw the movie initially, but I can almost guarantee that my argument was something like, “it will never be as good as the book”. In all honesty, the book is almost always better than the movie. I cannot think of a movie that is better than its book version. At the time that the movie The Polar Express came out, I am sure that I didn’t want it to ruin the story that lives in my mind, as movie versions have been known to do.

I am pleased to report that this particular movie version did not ruin the story of The Polar Express. Sure, there are obviously things that are different; they had to add things to the story to turn a 32 page book into a 1 hour and forty minute movie. Some of the added material is really cool, like the train traveling over roller coaster-like tracks, a feature that is only really exciting on film. Some of it is kind of goofy, such as the random hobo ghost character. This does not take away from the story, but it also doesn’t really add anything except for time.

One thing that I always wanted in the book version was further exploration of the North Pole. The movie delivers on this quite nicely. The children in the movie get separated from the rest of the group and get lost in the North Pole, finding their way back to Santa through various workshops. We see elves working on final preparations, noting that the final gift has been wrapped. When a report comes in that a child misbehaved last minute (a child in Maplewood, New Jersey of all places!), we see the elves choose to let him slide just this once. (There is also an elf that says “meshuggeneh” which amuses me to no end as I was not expecting a Christmas elf to know any Yiddish.)

The main thing that I was worried about watching this movie was it ruining the feeling of magic the story instills. There is the boy meeting Santa and receiving the first gift of Christmas, the magic of being able to hear the sleigh bell, the fact that the bell turns up again under the Christmas tree when the boy loses it through a hole in his pocket. All of those elements are there, all just as heartwarming as they are in the book. All in all I enjoyed the movie; at the end of it I felt as happy and Christmas-y as I feel when I read the book.

I highly recommend reading the book; it is probably my favorite children’s book. But I also highly recommend watching The Polar Express. To get the full experience my suggestion is to watch the movie in the light of a Christmas tree, under a blanket, with a mug of hot chocolate. See if that doesn’t warm your heart.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!