Hopefully, with this review of The Polar Express (2004), I will have covered, for all intents and purposes, every classic Christmas film.  The one that I am missing is Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (1964).  Every place I have looked to view it digitally requires it to be fully purchased.  As I do not wish to own it, or at least lack the care to do so, it will remain unreviewed on The Legionnaire.  I would be fine with spending a couple bucks on a rental, but not double that for a permanent purchase.  Thus, I am contenting myself to The Polar Express, a film that is seemingly as popular as Santa Claus himself.  It is as silly, anyway, but people like it, so what can I say?

Frustratingly, the main character in The Polar Express is referred to as Hero Boy (voiced by Daryl Sabara) in the credits. It sounds pandering and unimaginative, but then again, I did not write it.  Anyway, er, Hero Boy is in bed, though his non-sleeping thoughts are being narrated by his adult self (voiced by Tom Hanks).  They are focused on hearing the sound of Santa Claus (voiced by Tom Hanks), and Hero Boy rises from his bed when he hears a sound downstairs.  The shadow he sees stretching across the living room turns out to be his father (voiced by Tom Hanks) and his sister, Sarah (voiced by Isabella Peregrina).  It seems to confirm Hero Boy’s growing doubts about the existence of Santa Claus.  Going back upstairs to his room, he opens an encyclopedia to the passage about the North Pole before scurrying back into bed before his parents catch him out, which means he is aware enough to hear them suggest that the magic of Christmas is wearing out for their son.  Almost an hour goes by and Hero Boy is awakened again by the sound of a train going by outside.  Hurriedly putting on his robe over his pajamas, along with his slippers (I am guessing this is meant to be the 1950s?), he goes outside to see this strange locomotive.  My first thought would have been to tell my mom and dad, but I guess that is just me.  When the line of cars comes to a stop, the Conductor (voiced by Tom Hanks) steps off and asks Hero Boy if the kid will be boarding.  It is not until the wheels begin turning that he decides to climb on, and the Conductor directs Hero Boy to a seat.  He is not alone.  The are other children, like the Know-it-all (voiced by Eddie Deezen), and the Hero Girl (voiced by Nona Gaye).  Sigh.  They have one more stop before they leave town, and that is to pick up Billy (voiced by Jimmy Bennett), who is from the other side of the tracks.  Billy is even more hesitant than Hero Boy, and later it is revealed that Billy has had a series of unkind Christmases.  It is Hero Boy and Hero Girl that spot Billy struggling to catch one of the passenger cars as they pull away.  Hero Girl convinces Hero Boy to put the emergency break, which allows Billy to get on.  This is the explanation that Hero Boy gives to a furious Conductor, who is concerned about keeping to the schedule.  The Conductor softens when Hero Boy gives his motivation for this breach of train etiquette, and Billy is seated in the rear car.  Later, Hero Girl saves a cup of hot cocoa for Billy, and takes it back to him.  Hero Boy notices that she leaves behind her ticket, another aspect of their travel about which the Conductor is a stickler.  Hero Boy thus decides to try and bring it to her, but finds that she and the Conductor have vanished.  Hero Boy believes he sees them on top of the cars, which is a totally logical place for them to go, and decides to follow.  Instead of catching up to the Conductor and Hero Girl, Hero Boy encounters the Hobo (voiced by Tom Hanks).  He assists Hero Boy at random moments and claims to be the “King of the North Pole,” before disappearing in a snow flurry.  At any rate, after a series of unlikely mishaps along the way, they finally arrive at their destination, a North Pole that looks a lot like London to this observer.  As the train comes to a stop, the children are put into orderly lines with the Conductor, and they are about to be ushered into the main courtyard with its giant Christmas tree, excited about which of them will be picked to receive the first gift of the holiday.  Before they get far, Hero Girl motions to Hero Boy to indicate that Billy had remained in the rear car.  As Hero Boy climbs aboard, he inadvertently uncouples the caboose, which careens backwards before coming to a rest inside wheelhouse.  There are another series of zany hijinks as they make their way through Santa’s workshop in order to rejoin the others.  They end up coming to a rest on top of the mountain of wrapped presents that Santa is set to deliver that night.  This becomes how they are spotted by the elves and brought back to the others.  This just so happens to also be the moment that Jolly Ol’ St. Nick emerges to take to his sleigh and guide his reindeer.  Partly due to his obstructed view, Hero Boy still does not believe what he is seeing, which is added to when he cannot hear the ring of the sleigh bells.  One of those metal balls manages to detach itself from the reins and comes to rest at his feet.  Holding it in his hand, he fervently whispers that he believes, and that is when its chime finally comes to his ears.  This is also when Santa steps up behind Hero Boy, choosing our protagonist (ugh) to be the one to receive the first gift of Christmas.  He asks to keep the sleigh bell, though it immediately falls out of the hole in his robe pocket.  With his return ticket punched with the word “believe,” he is sad to discover the lost bell after they have gotten underway home.  Luckily, Santa delivers it as a gift, which he opens the next morning, saying that it kept his belief in Santa for the rest of his life.

If you are a Christian like me, seeing the word “believe” in The Polar Express is something.  I am being diplomatic.  The word is directed at belief in Santa rather than the birth of Our Savior, without which there would be no Christmas, much less this blog.  As an aside, I am looking forward to filling my quota of these movies for the season so I can stop complaining about the same thing in every review.  Still, there are some uniquely good ways in which this concept is addressed.  Much of the wisdom comes from the Conductor, who, of course, can sense Hero Boy’s doubts.  In speaking to these feelings, the Conductor says that sometimes the most real things in the world are things that we cannot see.  He is talking about Santa, but this also applies to God.  It is tough for so many Christians as they grow up, not unlike what Hero Boy’s parents observe with their son, to not experience God in some tangible way.  Sadly, this often leads next to apostasy.  Even when you have had an encounter with Jesus, it is still hard because the enemy is always trying to lead us away from the love of our Creator, born on Christmas Day.  This is also alluded to in the movie, though again for the wrong reasons.  At the end, the grown-up Hero Boy mentions how over time his friends eventually stopped being able to hear the chime of the sleigh bell.  Faith is not something you do one way as a child and expect it to remain the same for the rest of your life.  It is something that should grew with you, leading you into a deeper relationship with Jesus, that is also different from where it started.  This can also be equated with how the Catholic Church has different liturgical seasons throughout the year.  Ultimately, this makes the movie a sad one because it suggests a childlike wonder being the only manner in which one can keep the unseen close to your heart.  While we are all children of God, and should adopt this demeaner when dealing with our Father in Heaven, we also need to see how we can mature and thus strengthen our ties with a God who is more often than not unseen, but always present.

One of the things that struck me about The Polar Express while watching it is that it would make a great amusement park ride.  I am not much for the movie, although there is nothing objectionable about it.  I got caught up in some of the impossibilities of it, not to mention the absurdity of Santa himself.  I prefer to celebrate Christmas differently.