All About the Polar Express: Book, Film, and More!

Thinking about Christmas means  thinking about The Polar Express, Chris Van Allsburg's magical story about finding - and keeping - our belief in Christmas.  Whether it's part of a childhood memory or a story you first heard as an adult, it really does bring happy tears to your eyes.  What a wonderful book!

The book can be read aloud in about four minutes, but the movie The Polar Express is a 90-minute extravaganza.  A single sentence in the book became an entire sequence in the film, like the "Hot Chocolate" number.  Characters like the Hero Girl, the Hobo, and the Lonely Boy were new for the film, as were the rooftop scenes and the runaway observation car sequence.  In 2004, The Polar Express was the hit film of the season. 

Part of the film's appeal is its unusual animation.  It is entirely computer animated, but its use of "performance capture" technology gave the characters amazingly natural movement.  This technique, used for the first time for a feature-length film, is based on real performances by living actors.  Tom Hanks played six different roles, including the Hero Boy and the Conductor.

The IMAX version of the film was also released in 2004, and it made history in two ways.  It was the first animated IMAX feature not especially made in 3D format - but it is spectacular!  It was also the first IMAX film to be released at the same time as the regular movie.  That was a bit of a gamble for the makers, but the a chance paid off handsomely.  The IMAX version earned about 14 times as much as the regular version.  It was released again in 2005 and earned another 7.5 million dollars before Christmas.  It will return for the third time in 2006.  The Polar Express has become a Christmas Classic.