The Polar Express | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

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Why did Polar get such bad reviews? ›

Critics Reviews

Polar is an astonishingly flaccid film, a movie that prioritizes blood splatter and bouncing butts over literally all else, including plot and character development. Content collapsed. If it has any redeeming qualities, it chooses to keep them a secret. Content collapsed.

The animation in The Polar Express has been criticized as creepy, with the characters feeling unsettling and off-putting to many viewers. The movie evokes a nostalgic feeling of Christmas, with its focus on the importance of belief and the magic of the holiday season.

Unlike in the film, where the children are only served hot chocolate, there are also cakes, muffins, and cookies. Most dining cars in real life have kitchens in them, but not the dining car in The Polar Express. Instead, there is a separate kitchen car which is seen in "The Lost Ticket" and "Toys! Toys!" levels.

Well, it's because of the animation. The graphics are so life-like, but at the same time, not quite realistic enough, which has given many the creeps. Well this is because of uncanny valley – the notion that the more human-like a non-human character becomes, the more we like it, until it becomes too unsettling.

The most common complaint is that the animation makes the people look uncanny, and I get it. However, I don't think that's enough to dismiss all the great things about the movie.

The movie is trying to convey to the audience that it's not about what you see and how things work, it's about choosing to believe in the magic of the world. The power that choice to believe has is where the magic of childlike wonder comes from and is something people seem to forget when they grow into adulthood.

The conductor and hobo are two of the paths the hero can take depending on what he chooses to believe after this night. The Polar Express is dark because when one stops believing in childhood imagination, they become older and older until one day, they pass away.

Hanks plays five roles in the film including that of a small child (whose voice would later be dubbed in by Daryl Sabara). Initially Zemeckis considered having him play every role, but after trying this, Hanks grew exhausted, and they whittled down the number.

But it's also an adventure, with lots of roller-coaster thrills and some scary characters that might be too intense and frightening for the youngest kids.

The hobo's identity is never revealed in the movie, leaving it open to interpretation as to who he is and what his true purpose is. Some fans have speculated that he is a representation of Santa Claus, while others think he may be a guardian angel sent to look after the children on their journey.

What are the 6 rolls in Polar Express? ›

The Polar Express (2004) - Tom Hanks as Hero Boy, Father, Conductor, Hobo, Scrooge, Santa Claus - IMDb.

Hot, Hot, Hot, Hot Chocolate (The Polar Express)

But because the figures in the Polar Express look so much like real humans you realize even slight divergence from human behaviour much more. So the more realistic and human-like a figure looks, the more you expect it to behave exactly like a real human, and if it then doesn't, it feels kind of creepy to you.

Plus another boy explains obliquely that Christmas has 'never worked out' for him. The clear inference is, he's a poor kid with parents who couldn't afford to buy him presents. So he never got any from Santa. Then at the end, they more or less say, obliquely, that Santa doesn't exist.

5 The Hobo is A Ghost Killed By Flat-Top Tunnel

The Hobo is perhaps the most interesting character aboard the Polar Express, the self-proclaimed king of the North Pole. He's fun, but also mysterious and cryptic in his ways.

Future. In May 2022, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed Åkerlund will direct another film adaptation with the title of The Black Kaiser. This film will be a new take of the comics and will be neither be "a sequel or a prequel".

Does the dog die? Around 16.50, Duncan wakes up from a nightmare and shoots Rusty, who is licking his boots. We hear a thump as Rusty's body falls on the ground, but the body is never shown and there's no additional aggression.

Vivian then sends her men to kill Visla but Visla kills them all and critically injures Vivian with some advanced turrets he received from Jazmin. Vivian's fate is not seen afterward but it is highly possible that she succumbs to her lethal wounds as the bullet was shot through her heart and lung.

Despite the bloodshed, Polar sets itself up for an unexpectedly happy ending: Camille had been involuntarily drugged up during her capture, but she's on the mend; Duncan's isolated cabin was technically the scene of a crime, but its quiet getaway status is settling back in; and Duncan has finally wiped his hands of the ...