for children

Hey look, it's Tom Hanks.

One of the best kids movie, good story.

I don't think I've ever hated every single character in a film before.

"Performance Capture" digital animation renders all the characters slightly unreal -- the kids look like they're wearing dentures -- but aside from enabling Tom Hanks to play five roles it doesn't seem to have been worth all the bother. Still an entertaining-enough adventure for children. Nice songs by Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri mix with vintage holiday favorites. Hanks also coexecutive-produced.

Pretty decent actually

You can almost feel the magic from this movie.

Mistakes - 1) When the boy runs out of his house, as the train is arriving, they make a point of showing his footprints in the snow along with his sliding leaving long marks. However, when they pan back it is his footprints that are gone. 2) During the scene when the Polar Express slides across the ice and the conductor is telling the train controllers to head for the tracks, the distance between the train and the tracks keeps changing.

Fun winter film