My wife took me to see it yesterday. My first real outing since bypass surgery. Was a great Christmas movie. I now see that Halmark has really gotten the advertising going about the things they offer in Polar Express [at the movie and on TV]. I feel badly that Lionel did not do the same. This was a great opportunity for them to get little kids to have “an electric train” under their tree like us “baby boomers” did years ago. Movie is great.
If you can see a Baldwin steam locomotive in so much detail and power in Imax 3D,
don’t pass it up. The heart of steam engines appeal is nostalgia BIGTIME. 3D is a
timey thing as well. This movie’s 3D is the best ever! Two great experiences from our
earlier lives are presented here for our grandkids to experience…The glory of steamers,
and the 3D movies that thrilled us when we were 7, or 8, or 11! This is a great
combination of both! See it with the kids!
If you have a chance to see a Baldwin steamer in a 3D movie, centered on the train,
locomotive and the overall flavor of railroading don’t settle for 2D. The love of trains
is the quintessential old timey attraction, but 3D movies are also part of our experience
as mid 20th century kids. Don’t pass up the chance to knock 2 balls out of the park
with this one…Drive 50 miles if you have to, but take the grandkids to The Polar Express
in IMAX 3D. Everyone that has seen it will swear that the 3d is the best ever!
Yes I saw it with my son; I had to drag him away from his Mod’ed X-Box.
The animation was excellant, a little too much showing how well they could do reflections in metal ( complex rendering in an animation).
However the clearly Lionel train at the end was nice showing the three-rail track around the tree. The focus at the end was more on the bell than the train. Here the kid has a $400 Polar express running around the tree and he is more interested in the tiny ringing bell!
Alan
The family, all 12 of us went to see the movie in Bethlehem, PA. The teacher’s in the family gave the movie a 4 star rating and many of the scenes are right out of the book. The computer geeks in the family gave the animation a definite thumbs up, in fact at the start of the movie in the darkness of the room it is difficult to tell the movie is animated.
Yes, the Polar Express is seen under the tree running on three rail track, but if you had read the book, the bell is just as important to the story as the train. When the boy says that he believes in Santa, then he can hear the Christmas Bells.
I agree, if you need to drive 50 miles to see the movie with your children, it is worth the trip.
My wife and I went to see it today and we both thought it was an excellent movie! I loved the story (although I have not read the book) and the characters. Of course, to me the train was the star of the show! The Berkshire was extremely well done, particularly the cab - I was even able to overlook the rather extreme grades and the power-sliding across the ice! (I know, I know - it’s just a story.) The toy train version under the tree looked like either a pre-war O or Standard Guage tinplate train. Wouldn’t it be something if Lionel produced one like that?
Haven’t seen the movie yet, but my daughter and I did buy the Polar Express set (back when it was first announced) and it makes a very nice starter set. The pity is that Lionel, in it’s haste to get rid of it’s top management after the court verdict, once again shot itself in the foot - Bill Bracy wasn’t around during the Korean fiasco, but the man had some of the best ideas for promoting this set and the company that I’d heard in years. It’s a shame. But then again, Lionel dropped the ball some years back with the first Large Scale “Thomas the Tank Engine”, too ( no advertising then,either). The industry needs another Arthur Raphael to promote trains.
My family tried to see the movie the Friday after Thanksgiving at an early showing, but was sold out for the evening. We plan on going this weekend with advanced purchase tickets.
The wife & I took the kids to see it in IMAX 3D on Sunday. It was even better. It was really cool when the hero boy pulled the emergency brake & the cow catcher stops about 6" from your face.
Tony
There is a dirty little secret about that "Baldwin steamer… It’s really a Lima!
Please, don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re wrong. And it doesn’t really matter where the thing was made.
The locomotive pulling the Polar Express in the movie may be based upon a Lima, but it’s a movie. It’s not real, and so the one in the story could hae been made anywhere the author wanted it to be made.
Tony
You’re right. It can also descend a 179% grade.
I liked Know-It-All Boy’s ability to rattle off the specs of the engine, then a girl turns around and says, “No, it’s a magic train!” 
And a great movie, too! Hot chocolate!
The movie is good. The competion with the Incredibles is hard. Lionel’s confussion and lack of product is a lost opportunity. Very sad really. Toy Trains are healthier than the video games that most kids get hooked on. However, Toy Trains are very expensive and not very available and not promoted enough - the industry is more oriented towards older hobbyist, rather than kids… this was a lost opportunity to rejuvenate the Toy Train market.
As of the weekend of Nov.24-28, Entertainment Weekly’s movie gross list shows the Polar Express will probably turn a profit before the Christmas season is over… After its third weekend it has grossed $82 million… It appears the Polar Express movie has legs despite its poor first weekends gross of only $27 million…
When I saw the trailer for “The Polar Express,” I thought it would be a cheesy, kiddy flick best left collecting dust at Blockbuster. Well, I saw the film yesterday in 3-D and loved it! There were a few small problems, such as the previously noted fact that for some scenes the train got 20 cars longer, the terrible songs “Hot Chocolate” and “Polar Express,” and Steven Tyler as an elf (CREEPY[:0]). But for the most part, “Express” is superb, especially the story, animation, most of the music, and getting run down by a steam locomotive in 3-D![:D] I give it 9 out of 10 stars.
I finally saw the movie in 3D IMAX on Sunday. I loved the train. Was not impressed with the music, {" Hot Chocolate?"Plagerized from an old “Pointer Sister” tune in my opinion and the whole scene left me cold!) A few of the 3D effects were a little cheesy, but others gave me goose bumbs! In all, it was worth seeing. Especially if your under 10 years old! My 3 year old great nephew loved it and my 57 YO brother, who claims to be 4 1/2, did too! It’s the kids that matter. May they all ask for trains from Santa for year’s to come!