The Polar Express on Blu-ray

Every child hits that point in his life at which he begins to doubt the existence of Santa Claus.

In The Polar Express, our protagonist has hit that very point. He’s lying awake in bed as his parents whisper to each other about Santa coming to town. Santa can’t be real, the boy thinks, because he’d have to travel at the speed of light on a sleigh larger than an ocean liner in order to do what he does. And if he can do that, why would he need people to play him at every local shopping mall?

So our hero is slightly alarmed when he hears some noises. It’s not the noises you would expect: sleigh bells, reindeer, and a perpetual “ho ho ho.” No, it’s the sounds of a steam locomotive, for some reason stopping directly in front of the house. He steps outside, and sure enough, a train sits on a previously unnoticed set of tracks in the middle of his street, with a man resembling Tom Hanks standing just to the side.

“This is The Polar Express” the conductor exclaims, and mentions that it’s headed for the North Pole. In such a case, it’s difficult to imagine anyone’s curiosity not outweighing his cynicism. The boy gets on, and meets several other children in the same boat (or on the same train, if you will).

But The “PoleEx” is not an ordinary train. This is a magical train and it brings a series of adventures to the children, including the steepest downhill run in the world, and a lake of ice frozen over sections of the tracks. This may just be the most exciting trip to the North Pole ever. And who knows, maybe some of these children will have their yuletide faith rekindled.

The Polar Express was filmed in 3D IMAX with “motion capture technology,” the latter of which basically makes an entire film out of what Peter Jackson and Andy Serkis did for Gollum in The Lord of the Rings. All of the actors, and everything else for that matter, is done over by some wonderful computer animation. It’s a breathtaking spectacle that's opening up a whole new way of making movies - as Zemeckis' Beowulf continues to show.

And what a Christmas movie this is! More kid-than-adult-friendly, the film is chock full of Christmas lessons and messages as simple as simply believing. But it doesn’t punch you in the face with moral ideals about always having to be with your family or loving everything. It simply states that as long as you believe, the magic of the season will do the rest.

It ignores the religious aspects of Christmas completely, concentrating on the secular Santa legend - and that's okay.

Robert Zemeckis has crafted a wonderful holiday tale that can be enjoyed by the whole family. The song-and-dance numbers seem a little too formulaic for our tastes, but when you spend $160 million on a film, you want it to reach as many demographics as possible.

The animation in The Polar Express is truly breathtaking. There are certain shots that you’d swear were real, but most of the time it’s a perfect blend of real-life and animation, giving a greater feeling of fantasy.

This is the kind of film that will go down in history as a classic Christmas tale. Like The Grinch, A Christmas Carol, It's a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street, The Polar Express will be run in syndication every year from now until Christmas becomes unpopular. It’s no Grinch (the animated version, which is sone of our all time Christmas favorites), but it’s a pretty darn good little holiday movie that gives your eyes and your imagination a little jump.

The Blu-ray presentation is pretty darn good as well. This is the closest to watching in 3D IMAX you can get at home, at least for now. The picture is presented in 2.4:1 anamorphic widescreen and it looks positively stunning. The slightest imperfection would be visible in front of the animation and bright colors, but we noticed not a single flaw. Everything looks glorious down to the finest detail. And, at 1080p, there's plenty of detail.

The audio, alas, isn't as good. It's in Dolby Digital 5.1, and it’s the disc's weakest link. Okay, the dialog is clear, the surrounds are used quite well and frequently, and the volume doesn’t fluctuate too much (which seems to be an increasing problem these days), but there's no uncompressed PCM or true HD choice and that leaves the audio sounding a tad thin compared with how it could be.

Extras include "Smokey and Steamer Song," You Look Familiar: the Many Polar Faces of Tom Hanks," 5 short featurettes on the film's remarkable gestation, and a profile of Chris Van Allburg, the author of the book on which the film is based. You also get Josh Groban performing the end title song at LA's Greek Theatre, and a behind-the-scenes featurette for the song. And there's more, including the trailer.

The Polar Express, from Warner Home Entertainment
100 minutes, anamorphic widescreen (2.4:1), Dolby Digital 5.1
Starring Tom Hanks
Produced by Steve Starkey, Robert Zemeckis, Gary Goetzman, William Teitler
Screenplay by Robert Zemeckis & William Broyles, Jr., Directed by Robert Zemeckis