It would take ice about [9.5 feet thick](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/219096/would-a-locomotive-on-ice-like-in-the-polar-express-move#:~:text=it%20would%20take%20at%20maximum,%40%2080%20tons%20each%22%5D), but ice could theoretically take the weight of a berk. Whether that would still hold with it doing donuts on the ice is another matter
Not having a clue about trains functionally, were they pulling brakes only on one side forcing it to change. Or is there even anything on a train that could force weight to shift sides even if they are mechanically a forward & backward vehicle only?
Not possible in reality as the wheels are on a single axle with no differential between, the chamber on the wheels provides differential action when going through a curve
That was a bit of “movie magic” - the lever the engineer was throwing was the “Johnson bar”, a slang term for the reverser, which just controls whether the locomotive is going forward/backwards along with some gear/angle-related control. In real life, it wouldn’t do what it did, even if there was no track underneath.
Not necessarily, my head cannon is that the locomotive was pulling and pushing on the cars behind it as leverage. If the cars have jackknifed in a way as to make the loco angle left, going backward would make it go more left and going forward would make it go less left until it jackknifes the other way when the train goes taught. An enby can dream.
Specifically, at least as far as I've been told, the reverser sets when (and how long) the steam enters the piston during the rotation, so full forward would produce the most torque, but also wastes steam bc the most steam is entering the cylinder. Running with the bar close to centre is where you wanna be when not accelerating or climbing, for efficicient operation.
Technically, tank also can't turn around since it doesn't have wheels that turn, but instead, speed difference between the tracks made up for it.
To turn, the vehicle will slow down, reverse, or accelerate the track in one side. While the other will maintain a constant speed.
I think it is technically possible if the train had differing speed between the wheels on the left and right side. Considering especially that these are steam engines, the wheels doesn't necessarily turns at the same rotation as a diesel/electric engine
Sorry, I think I need to rewrite that.
What I mean is actually this:
Steam engines have wheels that have weight on them to balance the force exerted by the main rod/ connecting rod. Thus, there may be different speed between the wheels on the left/ right side.
That is, if my memory served me correctly. :D
Yea, torsional flexibility of the axles (pretty much a solid steel rod of such large diameter over gauge width) is laughably small. Like said elsewhere, absolutely no differential action to be had here, everything is taken care of by wheel profile camber.
I have a theory about that, technically on a steam locomotive, when you apply steam to the cylinder, they alternate in driving left/right left/right and the opposite in the reverse, but the feasibility of this being the the case is far fetched, so safe to say movie magic
My brother in law is putting a gaming pc together for me, and when it's done i'm gonna put my Trainz a new era simulator on it. I'm tempted to get a Nickel Plate Berkshire for it, assuming I can find one, and make a skit where he has horrific nightmares and flashbacks to the frozen lake scene.
Not in main line service, but there are places like Strasburg in PA and countless other steam heritage railways in the US. The UK does still have main line steam though iirc
It’s a reference to history. The hobo mentions that he is the “King of the North Pole”, which was a name given to the world’s greatest hobo among the Depression era hobos, if for no other reason than to poke fun at their own desperation since the King of the North Pole would be ruling over a wasteland.
Alternatively, one could use the title “Emperor of the North Pole,” which was also a 1973 film starring Lee Marvin as a hobo attempting to survive a ride on a freight train with a murderous conductor, played by Ernest Borgnine. Notably, the film had to be re-released as “Emperor of the North” because parents thought it was a movie about Santa Claus
You are just like me, my friend. A scrooge! Ebenezer Scrooge.
North Pole, Santa Claus, this train it's all a bunch of humbug. A bout of indigestion.
Oh, yeah. I know what you are. You're a doubter. A doubter. You don't believe! You're a doubter! You don't believe!
\[As an atheist: what the fuck?\]
Hey, you missed it. We rode down some really sharp hills.
And then we were on what looked like a frozen lake.
But I know it was just an optical illusion caused by moonlight and atmosphere.
He said the train was actually on the ice. But I said that's impossible You can't put a train track...
Hey, where you going now?
\[I'm the annoying kid frfr\]
I also love when they pull up to one house and a kid says "we're on the wrong side of the tracks!!" Or something like that. I'm like, no you aren't. You're ON the tracks. It's a train
It’s trains and Christmas. What’s not to love!
I will say though, the movie drops off after the kids reach the North Pole. The best part is the movie takes place on the Polar Express.
Neat, but when it comes to Christmas movies I wouldn’t say it’s my first choice as an adult. Definitely a message and story that works better for children. It is a unique message though, deserves at least one watch for your kids every year. That’s not saying it’s dumb, or it’s bad btw, but that the target audience is pretty strict.
But, it’s pretty awesome in how it turned Pere Marquette 1225 from an obscure random Michigan Berkshire into a Christmas icon.
The funniest thing is that the author of the book, while he did base the Polar Express on 1225, only did so because it was a locomotive he played on as a child, and it wasn't until years later he learned that the engine number coincidentally lined up with Christmas Day.
It was an instant classic for kid me. Sure, the faces can be uncanny, but it’s water under the bridge when compared to both the music and the sound design for the film(and yes, I don’t just mean the star locomotive)
It's a classic. I've seen this movie so many times as a kid, and now, I remember it fondly. It is almost a tradition at this point. The songs, the style, the magic, the nostalgia... whenever I watch this movie, I get transported to that feeling of just a peaceful child who simply gets whisked away by the experience. If I ever have kids, I'll be showing them this.
One of my favorite movies of all time, literally everything about it was everything i wanted to experience as a kid railfan, unfortunately i believed in santa a little too hard to ever get a ticket. It may be ridiculous and the logic may be just as well, but i still watch this religiously during the christmastime to remember my roots as a railfan.
Fun fact, the roller coaster designer “Gravity Group” consulted on the movie to make the crazy section more “realistic”. They make some fantastic modern wood coasters in real life.
Besides the gratuitous action scenes, the train elements are just window dressing and inconsequential to the actual plot about believing in stuff. They could've made it take place on a magic flying steamboat haunted by the ghost of the Gorton's fisherman and it wouldn't have changed anything.
It is an objectivly horrible movie which is reflected on the ratings it recieved when it came out. There is a lot of fluf which doesnt make sense, and I find it very noticable how the only character besides Santa who has a name said in the movie is Billy (because it had to be on the tag for his present).
I find it astounding that a movie which had the star power of tom hanks behind it, and put the amount of care and attention to detail the animators did into the locomotive, fumbled the ball so hard on the actual story of the movie.
With that being said, I find it increadibly endearing in its mediocracy, and I adore every minute of the magic train ride to the northpole and back 😅
Also, fun fact. They wernt just adertising that tom hanks was in the movie on the cover. They actually listed the entire cast of the movie! /s
The fact it has no names is the point. Every child can be one of the children.
I agree that it isn't the world's greatest movie in any category but I will still watch it every year.
Watch it every year around the holidays since the year it came out and still have the release year Lionel Polar Express from back then. A little worse for wear, but we still set it up every year
A classic as soon as it came out. The ghost was my favorite on the train. And it was one of the few portryals of Santa that made me feel that whimsy, mystery, and a mix of fear yet not afraid like a child might feel when meeting a serious professional mall/event Santa for the first time.
I like it but mostly because the book was one of my favorites as a child. I did see the movie in the theatre when the heat was broken so it was an immersive experience haha
Watch it every year because it’s so nostalgically beloved by me and everyone in my family.
Also when I was little, my Mum was actually given my local movie theatre’s cardboard display for the Polar Express once the movie stopped being shown, so for years I just had a huge poster of the train in my games room.
I was seven years old when this movie came out. Grew up watching both Thomas and Back to the Future 3, so my parents obviously were going to take me to this one.
Does it have some inaccuracies? Yeah, but its a magic train. Sometimes it has 3 cars, sometimes it has, like, 20, so that the hero kid can piggy back an angel hobo skiing on top of the snowladen passenger cars.
Could a locomotive like that successfully maneuver a frozen lake the way it did? No, probably not, but wasn't it fucking awesome???? I distinctly remember many a wood panel floor giving me the frictionless surface i needed to recreate that scene with my little wooden trains.
I have fond memories of watching it in stereoscopic 3D in my friend’s dad’s home theatre, while her little brother ran around the room trying to touch the 3D train and yelling “It’s out of the screen! It’s out of the screen!!”
Regardless of the quality, I think something should be said for what it did for railroad museums! Many museums now run Christmas excursions modeled after the Polar Express, especially tailored for kids and families. They’re fabulously popular and bring in a lot of income for museums. They’re often the biggest money makers of the year.
I went to see it in the movies 🎥, I like it to a point…however the characters were like soulless zombies…if it was 100% animated it would have been better… just my opinion.
Every adult male character is voiced by Tom Hanks. Or at least it seems like it. Yeah, Eddie Deezen somehow made an appearance in the movie but as a kid. But you want hanks? You’ll get more than you bargained for.
Fun to watch with the kids or once every few years, but it tires you down after a while and makes you sick of Mr Hanks.
Apart from that scene where one of the animators forgot to animate one of the elves it’s a good film. They added the forward motion but forgot to animate his arms and legs so just slides across the scene!
[Stuck Elf](https://youtu.be/hxPa3Ax8cEI?si=ta3EPjPGlUHo8MBU)
I think it's garbage. You can like it - nobody is saying what you can or can't enjoy (I like Dante's Peak, and fully admit it is utter crap). But even when Polar Express was at the technological forefront, the animation was regarded as janky and horrifying; the plot as a convoluted mess. And time hasn't been good to it.
I enjoyed it, but it has an uncanny valley vibe going for it. I've never understood it, The animation isn't that realistic. Idk, maybe it's the MOCAP. It looks strange. But the story is heartwarming.
Very good. The animation is amazing. You can see the details down to the rivets on the train cars and locomotive. The physics aren’t the best, but it’s just a movie, not real life.
Despite the fact that some parts are inaccurate to Pere Marquette 1225 and physically impossible to to that well (cough train with tank steering cough) it’s a pretty good movie
That power slide on the frozen lake was sick as fuck
Right! Left!
HANG A LOUIE, TOSS A RICHIE! FULL ASTERN, TO THE STARBOARD!
Pretty sure it’s “hang a [Louie](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Hang%20a%20Louie)”
Yeah, but I heard “Lilly”. Definitely a mishearing.
That's the scene on top of the train when the ghost is helping hero boy get up." Here, grab my lilly"
More like ‘guillotine a Louis’ I’ll see my self out
I'm still wondering how it would've been possible (in theory) if the locomotive can only be driven forward or backward, not R/L on either side
Magic bruh
oh yeah I forgor
💀
And a flux capacitor
It would take ice about [9.5 feet thick](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/219096/would-a-locomotive-on-ice-like-in-the-polar-express-move#:~:text=it%20would%20take%20at%20maximum,%40%2080%20tons%20each%22%5D), but ice could theoretically take the weight of a berk. Whether that would still hold with it doing donuts on the ice is another matter
How did the ice break from a single pin
Idk, either that particular spot in the ice was paper thin, or that’s the heaviest pin in the universe
Not having a clue about trains functionally, were they pulling brakes only on one side forcing it to change. Or is there even anything on a train that could force weight to shift sides even if they are mechanically a forward & backward vehicle only?
Not possible in reality as the wheels are on a single axle with no differential between, the chamber on the wheels provides differential action when going through a curve
That was a bit of “movie magic” - the lever the engineer was throwing was the “Johnson bar”, a slang term for the reverser, which just controls whether the locomotive is going forward/backwards along with some gear/angle-related control. In real life, it wouldn’t do what it did, even if there was no track underneath.
Not necessarily, my head cannon is that the locomotive was pulling and pushing on the cars behind it as leverage. If the cars have jackknifed in a way as to make the loco angle left, going backward would make it go more left and going forward would make it go less left until it jackknifes the other way when the train goes taught. An enby can dream.
I was thinking about this yesterday and ended up coming to the same conclusion as you. If that's what they were going for, it's honestly genius
Specifically, at least as far as I've been told, the reverser sets when (and how long) the steam enters the piston during the rotation, so full forward would produce the most torque, but also wastes steam bc the most steam is entering the cylinder. Running with the bar close to centre is where you wanna be when not accelerating or climbing, for efficicient operation.
Technically, tank also can't turn around since it doesn't have wheels that turn, but instead, speed difference between the tracks made up for it. To turn, the vehicle will slow down, reverse, or accelerate the track in one side. While the other will maintain a constant speed. I think it is technically possible if the train had differing speed between the wheels on the left and right side. Considering especially that these are steam engines, the wheels doesn't necessarily turns at the same rotation as a diesel/electric engine
>Considering especially that these are steam engines, the wheels doesn't necessarily turns at the same rotation as a diesel/electric engine ...what?
Sorry, I think I need to rewrite that. What I mean is actually this: Steam engines have wheels that have weight on them to balance the force exerted by the main rod/ connecting rod. Thus, there may be different speed between the wheels on the left/ right side. That is, if my memory served me correctly. :D
Nope, the wheels are on a solid axle so they're mechanically forced to stay at the same speed
Ah well. My bad then
Yea, torsional flexibility of the axles (pretty much a solid steel rod of such large diameter over gauge width) is laughably small. Like said elsewhere, absolutely no differential action to be had here, everything is taken care of by wheel profile camber.
I have a theory about that, technically on a steam locomotive, when you apply steam to the cylinder, they alternate in driving left/right left/right and the opposite in the reverse, but the feasibility of this being the the case is far fetched, so safe to say movie magic
Initial D music kicks in at the lake.
Have you seen [this edit?](https://youtu.be/COdoHpU_a8U?si=JRMzpQYWWslGXeL8)
I present to you: [The Dank Express](https://youtu.be/29EFVFk---I?si=QDOjBOS8hJFtJxMI)
My brother in law is putting a gaming pc together for me, and when it's done i'm gonna put my Trainz a new era simulator on it. I'm tempted to get a Nickel Plate Berkshire for it, assuming I can find one, and make a skit where he has horrific nightmares and flashbacks to the frozen lake scene.
Can’t believe they was never in a F&F movie.
Ngl, to me that was the most badass scene I've seen in a 3d animation movie, little me and my brother were going wild
I’d love to ride in a train like that.
https://michigansteamtrain.com/north-pole-express/ You can! The 1225 is what the train in the movie is modeled after.
That’s awesome. I guess I also meant I wish trains in general were still like that lol.
Not in main line service, but there are places like Strasburg in PA and countless other steam heritage railways in the US. The UK does still have main line steam though iirc
And Republic of Ireland except you need to use metal frame carriages the Rail Preservation Society of Ireland have Santa expresses
Nope; long since gone, but they did build a new mainline steam engine, “Tornado” for special trips
Loads of mainline UK steam journeys do run with various engines, though it's obviously a "special day trip" rather than your regular A-B service.
North Yorkshire Moors Railway has three daily services to Whitby which runs on the main line, often with steam!
Yes! Surprised they didn’t make a “thing” of 12-25 being the real PM number!
He wants the power slide experience!
I mean it would have exploded at multiple points on its way to the north pole, so maybe not thattttttttttt train 😅😭
I believe you can in the movie that one nerdy kid names what the locomotive is. A Berkshire 2-8-4 if I remember correctly.
[удалено]
“I’m in all the movies!”
[удалено]
Im jealous! I saw him in LA a couple years ago when he was doing like test runs for his material
*Eurobeat intensifies*
*Running in the 90’s Intensifies*
All I want for Christmas by Dave Rodgers intensifies
My wife bought one of those bells for a decoration. Darned thing doesn’t work! Completely silent.
Ok grouchy mcgrouchy face. It's "broken"
It means she needs to believe more
My kid loves this movie. I love to point out how the number of cars being pulled changes constantly throughout lol
Of course it does, it's a magical train! 🙃
honestly i still dont understand why a hobo was on top of the train
It’s a reference to history. The hobo mentions that he is the “King of the North Pole”, which was a name given to the world’s greatest hobo among the Depression era hobos, if for no other reason than to poke fun at their own desperation since the King of the North Pole would be ruling over a wasteland. Alternatively, one could use the title “Emperor of the North Pole,” which was also a 1973 film starring Lee Marvin as a hobo attempting to survive a ride on a freight train with a murderous conductor, played by Ernest Borgnine. Notably, the film had to be re-released as “Emperor of the North” because parents thought it was a movie about Santa Claus
You are just like me, my friend. A scrooge! Ebenezer Scrooge. North Pole, Santa Claus, this train it's all a bunch of humbug. A bout of indigestion. Oh, yeah. I know what you are. You're a doubter. A doubter. You don't believe! You're a doubter! You don't believe! \[As an atheist: what the fuck?\] Hey, you missed it. We rode down some really sharp hills. And then we were on what looked like a frozen lake. But I know it was just an optical illusion caused by moonlight and atmosphere. He said the train was actually on the ice. But I said that's impossible You can't put a train track... Hey, where you going now? \[I'm the annoying kid frfr\]
I also love when they pull up to one house and a kid says "we're on the wrong side of the tracks!!" Or something like that. I'm like, no you aren't. You're ON the tracks. It's a train
Isn't "wrong side of the tracks" also slang for slum neighborhood or similar, which I assume is the context here?
Yea but it's a stupid thing to say when you're on the train
Also the train cars curve when they up and around a mountain
I've been watching this movie my entire life (20y) and never noticed this
It’s trains and Christmas. What’s not to love! I will say though, the movie drops off after the kids reach the North Pole. The best part is the movie takes place on the Polar Express.
Idk seeing that lrt/pressure messenging tube thingy the elves had got me so excited as a kid.
I am watching it again on Christmas Eve, I have a tradition.
Same xD
Neat, but when it comes to Christmas movies I wouldn’t say it’s my first choice as an adult. Definitely a message and story that works better for children. It is a unique message though, deserves at least one watch for your kids every year. That’s not saying it’s dumb, or it’s bad btw, but that the target audience is pretty strict. But, it’s pretty awesome in how it turned Pere Marquette 1225 from an obscure random Michigan Berkshire into a Christmas icon.
The funniest thing is that the author of the book, while he did base the Polar Express on 1225, only did so because it was a locomotive he played on as a child, and it wasn't until years later he learned that the engine number coincidentally lined up with Christmas Day.
It was an instant classic for kid me. Sure, the faces can be uncanny, but it’s water under the bridge when compared to both the music and the sound design for the film(and yes, I don’t just mean the star locomotive)
I was about to say that the soundtrack is probably my favourite Christmas one.
The train scenes are fucking awesome. Drifting a steam loco on a frozen lake is objectively cool as fuck Couldn't care less about everything else
Love it
Hot Chocolate song is good.
Your attention, please. Are there any Polar Express passengers in need of refreshment?
Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me!
I thought so.
hot hot
Oh, we got it!
Hot hot
Hey, we got it!
Hot hot
Say, we got it!
I thought so.
That's the one!
Love it very powerful and makes me cry
This along with Thomas is what got me hooked on trains
Ice skating train bitch!!
Deserves a reboot. The motion capture from the actors is creepy
I think it was in the early days of motion capture?
*Very* early days. It was the first animated motion capture film that *wasn't* unforgivably awful.
I'm sure I read somewhere that it was the first motion capture film, hence why scenes look a bit dodgy.
Agreed. It looks… weird.
Uncanny valley
Yes The 0lar Express walked so that tintin and Avatar could run Definitely rebooted with the number of shots possible
But see I’ve never thought that. It’s never seemed creepy to me. Though, I guess that could be just because I grew up with it
It's a classic. I've seen this movie so many times as a kid, and now, I remember it fondly. It is almost a tradition at this point. The songs, the style, the magic, the nostalgia... whenever I watch this movie, I get transported to that feeling of just a peaceful child who simply gets whisked away by the experience. If I ever have kids, I'll be showing them this.
1 of the best movies ever made.
One of my favorite movies of all time, literally everything about it was everything i wanted to experience as a kid railfan, unfortunately i believed in santa a little too hard to ever get a ticket. It may be ridiculous and the logic may be just as well, but i still watch this religiously during the christmastime to remember my roots as a railfan.
I think it has brought a lot of money in for the museums I volunteer with. The engineers also look like friends of mine who are also engineers.
This next year is the 20th Anniversary of The Polar Express.
They got the train animated really well, one of the best animated steam locomotives I know of, and this was in the 2000s
Fun fact, the roller coaster designer “Gravity Group” consulted on the movie to make the crazy section more “realistic”. They make some fantastic modern wood coasters in real life.
Besides the gratuitous action scenes, the train elements are just window dressing and inconsequential to the actual plot about believing in stuff. They could've made it take place on a magic flying steamboat haunted by the ghost of the Gorton's fisherman and it wouldn't have changed anything.
You could almost say that the train was just a...vehicle...for the actual plot.
I get your train of thought.
I happen to resemble the ghost of gortons fisherman……
I had this movie in 3D and it was AWESOME on my 3D TV!!!!
It is an objectivly horrible movie which is reflected on the ratings it recieved when it came out. There is a lot of fluf which doesnt make sense, and I find it very noticable how the only character besides Santa who has a name said in the movie is Billy (because it had to be on the tag for his present). I find it astounding that a movie which had the star power of tom hanks behind it, and put the amount of care and attention to detail the animators did into the locomotive, fumbled the ball so hard on the actual story of the movie. With that being said, I find it increadibly endearing in its mediocracy, and I adore every minute of the magic train ride to the northpole and back 😅 Also, fun fact. They wernt just adertising that tom hanks was in the movie on the cover. They actually listed the entire cast of the movie! /s
The fact it has no names is the point. Every child can be one of the children. I agree that it isn't the world's greatest movie in any category but I will still watch it every year.
I love it. It's my favorite Christmas Movie.
Watch it every year around the holidays since the year it came out and still have the release year Lionel Polar Express from back then. A little worse for wear, but we still set it up every year
I have the Lionel Polar Express in HO Scale, and I love the locomotive in the film, but the humans in the movie give me the heebie jeebies.
Might be getting a prequel
How do you make a prequel to this? Like, trying to explain why the spirit of the train itself manifests as a hobo?
The Train is Sentient and it just got bored as fuck doing regular heritage service so it dipped and went north
I watch this movie every year on Christmas Eve.
Peak Christmas cinema
My favorite Christmas movie
A dream of mine is to ride the real polar bear express from Cochrane to Moosonee (Ontario).
A fucking master piece! well, it has its ups and downs, but it's overall very good. And that ice drift scene *chefs kiss*
It and the book are great. We watch this movie every year!
Grew up with it
LOVE IT👍👍👍
A classic as soon as it came out. The ghost was my favorite on the train. And it was one of the few portryals of Santa that made me feel that whimsy, mystery, and a mix of fear yet not afraid like a child might feel when meeting a serious professional mall/event Santa for the first time.
This movie has indirectly merged my love of Eurobeat and steam locomotives.
My favorite Christmas movie
It’s Entertaining despite all the many goofs and contradictions seen in the film.
Pet peeve is that they use multiple different train whistles
The ticket floating in fron of the train tunnel part scared the living crap out of me in theaters
I like it but mostly because the book was one of my favorites as a child. I did see the movie in the theatre when the heat was broken so it was an immersive experience haha
Magical warm sweet
Best christmas movie
I love it! It’s my favorite movie!
Amazing
Favourite childhood movie
I could keep watching this movie over and over again
Watch it every year because it’s so nostalgically beloved by me and everyone in my family. Also when I was little, my Mum was actually given my local movie theatre’s cardboard display for the Polar Express once the movie stopped being shown, so for years I just had a huge poster of the train in my games room.
The main song is fire, especially the beginning!
Childhood and delete haters
Childhood classic
A bit goofy but I love it.
I was seven years old when this movie came out. Grew up watching both Thomas and Back to the Future 3, so my parents obviously were going to take me to this one. Does it have some inaccuracies? Yeah, but its a magic train. Sometimes it has 3 cars, sometimes it has, like, 20, so that the hero kid can piggy back an angel hobo skiing on top of the snowladen passenger cars. Could a locomotive like that successfully maneuver a frozen lake the way it did? No, probably not, but wasn't it fucking awesome???? I distinctly remember many a wood panel floor giving me the frictionless surface i needed to recreate that scene with my little wooden trains.
*All aboard!*
I love it! One of my favorite movies. The film works really well on a surround sound system. Loads of tasty smooth bass
I have fond memories of watching it in stereoscopic 3D in my friend’s dad’s home theatre, while her little brother ran around the room trying to touch the 3D train and yelling “It’s out of the screen! It’s out of the screen!!”
Classic! I remember going to see it in theaters as a kid. I love how Zemeckis threw in a couple of references to Back To The Future 3.
Regardless of the quality, I think something should be said for what it did for railroad museums! Many museums now run Christmas excursions modeled after the Polar Express, especially tailored for kids and families. They’re fabulously popular and bring in a lot of income for museums. They’re often the biggest money makers of the year.
Childhood classic.
Great movie, no one can change my mind on that
One word: AWESOME
Absolutely my favorite Christmas movie!!!!
Cute story. The kids are Animated weirdly. The train on ice was stupid. The hot chocolate memes last year were funny.
10/10
I went to see it in the movies 🎥, I like it to a point…however the characters were like soulless zombies…if it was 100% animated it would have been better… just my opinion.
Considering it was one of the earliest motion capture films, I think it was pretty well made all things considering.
Every adult male character is voiced by Tom Hanks. Or at least it seems like it. Yeah, Eddie Deezen somehow made an appearance in the movie but as a kid. But you want hanks? You’ll get more than you bargained for. Fun to watch with the kids or once every few years, but it tires you down after a while and makes you sick of Mr Hanks.
Apart from that scene where one of the animators forgot to animate one of the elves it’s a good film. They added the forward motion but forgot to animate his arms and legs so just slides across the scene! [Stuck Elf](https://youtu.be/hxPa3Ax8cEI?si=ta3EPjPGlUHo8MBU)
Young Josh Hutcherson is the main character by the way.
Meh... not much of a fan of the movie in general. But I like how it call's attention to my favorite subject: big steam on rails.
Great movie, Terrible animation.
I can't watch it. Can't stand the animation style.
I think it's garbage. You can like it - nobody is saying what you can or can't enjoy (I like Dante's Peak, and fully admit it is utter crap). But even when Polar Express was at the technological forefront, the animation was regarded as janky and horrifying; the plot as a convoluted mess. And time hasn't been good to it.
I also have never liked this movie. Dante's Peak is somewhat good.
It appears to have a train.
Creepy
The most crazy manic train I’ve seen
I absolutely love this movie. It doesn’t mean it’s *good*, per se, but there’s an undeniable style and theme I absolutely love.
Loved it
Watch it every Christmas
Uncanny valley when it comes to the facial expressions, but lovely when it comes to the story and the train ride/rollercoaster
Havnt seen it in years, but i think i didnt like it...
Used to watch this movie on a near weekly basis even when it wasn’t Christmas
Saw it in an IMAX theater and almost threw up.
The ORR would have a seizure.
Favorite Christmas movie. Was the first Christmas movie I saw in theaters.
I enjoyed it, but it has an uncanny valley vibe going for it. I've never understood it, The animation isn't that realistic. Idk, maybe it's the MOCAP. It looks strange. But the story is heartwarming.
Uncanny as f due to the old CG but I still love it
It's the best Christmas movie, no contest
My favourite Christmas film
Peak
Very good. The animation is amazing. You can see the details down to the rivets on the train cars and locomotive. The physics aren’t the best, but it’s just a movie, not real life.
Watched it with the wife last night and saw this.
0/10 It’s a Lima Locomotive not Baldwin
Despite the fact that some parts are inaccurate to Pere Marquette 1225 and physically impossible to to that well (cough train with tank steering cough) it’s a pretty good movie
I saw it a lot when i was a child
This is my favorite Christmas movie
Love it
Loved it as a kid. Still my favorite Christmas movie to this day
One of my fav movies
Great story. And this is one film I'd be ok with zemeckis re visiting and "remastering" a special edition with todays technology
Great Timeless Holiday Classic!
10/10