Santa Conquers Creepiness!

 The Uncanny Christmas Valley

The Polar Express (2004) – A boy who with doubts about the existence of Santa goes on a magical train trip to the North Pole.

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

Starring – Tom Hanks, Eddie Deezen, Nona Gaye, Peter Scolari

Why I Liked It – A Christmas movie that understands what Christmas is about.

Let’s get the biggest issue with this movie out of the way. There is a major flaw in “The Polar Express”. From its first moment on the screen in 2004, people have pointed out the “creepiness” of the animation. This is the first feature film that used full digital capture for the cast. That’s the process where the actors work against a green screen while their images and movements are digitized. They overlay another character’s look on top of the actors. My issue (and many, many others) is that the final effect is a little disturbing. The term you will hear in discussions like this is “uncanny valley”. It describes the feeling when something is supposed to look real, but comes up short. The resulting feeling is one of, well, creepiness.

Once you put that behind you, there is a wonderful story here. Most of the characters do not have names in the movie, so I’ll follow the naming convention I’ve run into in my research. Hero Boy is a young man who has begun to doubt Santa’s reality. Worse yet, he’s teasing his younger sister about her belief. On Christmas Eve, he’s awoken by the sound of a train outside his window. The Polar Express gathers children for a trip to Santa’s village at the North Pole, where they will choose one of them to receive the first present on Christmas Day. Hero Boy has reservations about this, but the Conductor (one of seven roles played/voiced by Tom Hanks) convinces him to climb on board. There he meets Hero Girl (Gaye), and Billy (the only character with a personal name). She is a natural leader, while Billy is shy and tells everyone that Christmas never works out for him. Together, with the help of the mysterious “Hobo” (Hanks) who rides on top of the train, they will discover more about the Christmas spirit.

Visually, this is still an amazing movie. Everything around the people is glorious. The train taking some rollercoaster class hills must have been amazing on the big screen. The train itself, the snow, the beauty of the North Pole and the central square (with sky-diving elves!), are all wonderful. Watching each of the children, even the “Know-It-All” kid (Deezen), grow and find their personal goals is a great story of the season.

You can stream “The Polar Express” on

Rating – **** Recommended