The Polar Express: Two-Disc Widescreen Edition DVD Set Review

Buy This DVD Set Now By Clicking On The Icon Below!

Title: The Polar Express: Two-Disc Widescreen Edition

Region: One

Genre: Animated Christmas Fantasy

Stars: Tom Hanks, Michael Jeter, and Steven Tyler

Writers: Robert Zemeckis and Robert Broyles, Jr.

Based On The Book By: Chris Van Alsburg

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Feature length: 100 minutes

Extras: Theatrical Trailer, Never-Before-Seen Smokey and Steamer Song, You Look Familiar: The Many “Polar Faces” Of Tom Hanks, A Genuine Ticket To Ride Featurette, True Inspirations: An Author’s Adventure: Profiling Chris Van Alsburg, Believe: Josh Groban Performs At The Greek Theater, Behind The Scenes Of Believe: Bringing A Hit Song To Magical Life In The Recording Studio, Polar Express Challenge, Meet The Snow Angels: The Moviemakers’ Christmas Memories, THQ Game Demo, With Two Playable Levels, DVD-ROM Weblink To The Online World Of The Polar Express

Languages: English, French (Dubbed In Quebec), and Spanish Language Dubbed Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Subtitles: English Closed Captions and English, French, and Spanish Language Subtitles

Packaging: Two-Disc Keep Case

Chapter Stops: 24

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Year of Theatrical Release: 2004/DVD Release: 2005

Theatrical Distributor: Warner Brothers

Home Video Distributor: Warner Home Video

MPAA Rating: G

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

“The Polar Express” is a storybook come to life on the big screen with computer animation and motion capture to create a virtual world that captures as close as possible the images from Chris Van Alsburg’s book, which the film was adapted from. Despite being an Oscar® Award winning filmmaker, Robert Zemeckis as a genre filmmaker somehow seems to fly under the radar when one things of filmmakers associated with big budget and groundbreaking genre films from Producers like George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, and Peter Jackson. Since this is a holiday film, it is difficult to imagine anyone over ten years old wanting to view this motion picture again and again outside of the holiday season, which is a shame because the excellent multiple character work Tom Hanks delivers in the film as the boy protagonist, his father, a ghostly hobo, Santa Claus, and the Train Conductor could easily be missed by adults and if there is one thing I can say about Robert Zemeckis as a filmmaker is that he has helped pioneer great digital effects in feature films like “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, “The Back To The Future Trilogy”, “Death Becomes Her”, and “Forrest Gump” and it is quite easy to take the breakthroughs he has helped bring to fruition in digital technology to express a cinematic narrative for granted.

This is compounded by the near one-year wait between the theatrical release and DVD release of the film for the holidays. At least he has an Oscar ® under his belt since of the above mentioned titans of genre cinema, the only filmmaker not to be honored with an Oscar® win for Best Picture and or Best Director is George Lucas and as much as I loved “Revenge Of The Sith,” I doubt he will get nominations in those categories for that film. In Lucas’ defense though, he does have an Irving Thalberg Award as well as an AFI Life Achievement Award and the original “Star Wars” was nominated for Best Picture® of 1977 by the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences.

The Polar Express is a magical train that picks up children on Christmas Eve and gives them the chance to see Santa Claus at the North Pole. For each child there is a lesson gained from the experience whether it is to learn, lead, or believe. As a condition Tom Hanks brought to the project was the guarantee that he would get the assignment to play the Conductor, but through his acting talents and the technological wizards at Sony Imageworks, he plays the five characters mentioned above and it’s easy to not necessarily recognize him in those roles. As visually stunning as “The Polar Express” can be, not everyone will be comfortable with the manner in which the computer animation makes over the characters. Still there is a reason for the look of the film and it is another step forward in the virtual back lot that is changing the way we interact today in many industries outside of filmmaking. There is one creepy aspect to “The Polar Express” though that struck me and has had me debate over whether or not I should even make mention of it at all simply because it is quite outlandish. In spite of what some might think, I am going to say it straight. Maybe I’ve reviewed one too many genre films over the years, but at times I felt “The Polar Express” as a film was a metaphor for alien abduction. Yes I know that sounds nuts, but if you think about the alleged stories or abductees and have seen films like “Communion” or the miniseries “Steven Spielberg Presents Taken,” I hope you will at least understand why I felt that there was a creepy undercurrent to the story. I mean think about it, a train magically shows up and takes kids to the North Pole where they see a huge magical city with “elves” and one large leader that greets the kids one by one and then they are returned and gradually forget their experience except for a select one or so who somehow are able to maintain their belief despite the extraordinary circumstances. At the very least, there is a lot of Freudian imagery in “The Polar Express” that I will not even go into since it would take too long to get into it and ultimately my feelings regarding the subtext of the film are not necessary the correct ones. As an aside, what was the deal with the Hobo anyway? Appearing and disappearing into a puff of snow from time to time, he makes the film even more surreal rather than charming. See it for yourself regardless of what you read here though because it is still a wonderful animated holiday film taken at face value.

Available in a featureless single disc edition as well as a two-disc widescreen edition “The Polar Express” looks magnificent with an anamorphic widescreen (2.40:1) aspect ratio coupled with a very well mixed English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack. A French Language (Dubbed In Quebec) as well as a Spanish Language Dubbed Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack are also encoded onto the first disc alone with English Closed Captions for hearing impaired and English, French, and Spanish Language Subtitles made available as options. French Language Subtitles are also available for users on disc two. The theatrical trailer (1:02) is included on disc one. The interactive menus begin with lengthy animated segments from the film while the subsequent menus are all standard interactive still frame menus that are easy to navigate.

Bonus features on disc two include a bonus song cut out of the film entitled “Smokey And The Steamer” featuring the later Michael Jeter, who the film was dedicated to. The animation was never completed since the segment was cut out of the production schedule early on in the process. Then there is a short featurette with Tom Hanks (4:11) and behind the scenes video of his playing the various characters wearing a motion capture suit and little rod like things that capture his facial mannerisms and so forth for the computer rendering. Next is a four-part documentary short focusing on the behind-the-scenes secrets that made bringing “The Polar Express” to the big screen a reality. These parts can viewed individually or as a whole using a “Play All” feature and are made up of the following subtopics labeled as “Performance Capture”, “Virtual Camera”, “Hair And Wardrobe”, “Creating The North Pole”, and “Music” (11:27).

There is also a short profile on Author Chris Van Allsburg (5:29) as well as a performance clip of Josh Groban singing “Believe” (4:33) as well as a featurette about the recording of the song (4:24). Kids can enjoy two set top “Polar Express” games and DVD-ROM users have access to a website that takes them into the world of “The Polar Express” online. There is also a video game demo (: 32) and Easter eggs that will enable viewers to toggle between short scenes from the film in various video sequences and stages that are labeled as “All Aboard”, “Hot Chocolate”, “Hobo On The Top Of The Train”, “I Believe”, and “Good Bye.”

“The Polar Express: Two-Disc Widescreen Edition” is available on DVD-Video now at retailers on and offline courtesy of Warner Home Video.

Return To The Previous Page

Buy This DVD Set Now By Clicking On The Icon Below!