The Polar Express – Journey beyond your imagination
Based on the popular book ‘The Polar Express,’ written by Chris Van Allsburg, this is a classic children tale. The story is about a doubtful young boy, who takes a Christmas Eve ride on the Polar Express, in order to convince himself that Santa Claus is real.
Late on Christmas Eve night, our Hero Boy lies in bed thinking about Santa Claus. He has a doubt, whether Santa exists or not? To his surprise, a magical train appears from nowhere and the conductor invites him to take a journey to the North Pole to meet Santa Claus. In the same train, he meets the fellow passengers: a spirited Hero girl, a foolish ‘Know-It-All’ and a poor ‘Lonely Boy.’ Surpassing the hurdles like chasing wolves, the kids go through a fantastic roller-coaster ride in the 'Polar Express.' Finally, the train reaches a magnificently illuminated North Pole City, where Santa Claus is staying with his countless elves. Will these handpicked little ones ever meet Santa and get the gifts of their choice?
{Tom Hanks – Hero Boy/Father/Conductor/Hobo/Scrooge/Santa Claus}
Besides producing the movie, Tom Hanks gave voice to six different characters!
The locomotive in the movie is based on the Pere Marquette 1225. In fact, many of the sound effects of the train are recordings of the actual train.
Whether it is toe-tapping ‘Hot Chocolate’ or deeply touching ‘When Christmas comes to town’ - the songs are captivatingly visualized.
In order to blend the obvious animation with a live action shots, Zemeckis solicited the help of multi-Academy Award Winner for Visual Effects, Ken Ralston.
With its over-the-top digital animation techniques, this film introduced us a new kind of filmmaking style called ‘performance capture,’ where the movements expressions, gestures and voice – the whole acting of the real-life character has been regenerated into digital characters via skin-tight motion sensors.
The movie inevitably carries the message about believe in ourselves, helping others and facing the obstacles with courage.
Robert Zemeckis takes the children on a magical journey not only to discover the truth about Santa, but also to reveal what Christmas is all about.
Voice Talents
TOM HANKS - Multiple Characters, including Hero Boy
NONA GAYE – Hero Girl
PETER SCOLARI – Lonely Boy
EDDIE DEEZEN – Know-It-All
Written by
Srini