Robert Zemeckis' computer-animated feature, based on the 1986 Caldecott Award-winning book by Chris Van Allsburg, is an extraordinary achievement, which isn't the same as being an extraordinary film. Van Allsburg's slim tale of a boy whose doubts about Santa, flying reindeer and the whole holly-jolly holiday ball of wax are banished by a trip on the magical Polar Express — a steam engine of such seductive grace and beauty that it seems more alive than the human characters — is long on atmosphere and short on plot. The screenplay, by Zemeckis and William Broyles Jr., overlays his delicate conceit with irrelevant songs and frantic but meaningless action. Alan Silvestr...
Released:
2004
Rated:
G
Length:
100 mins