All Aboard:
My Delayed Love for The Polar Express
Alright. Time for some honesty.
When The Polar Express first hit theaters back in 2004, I was in no hurry to watch it. I was aware of the book, but it wasn’t something that remained engrained in my memory. It wasn’t in my regular rotation of reading books. When I first saw the trailer, I didn’t really get excited for it. I understood and respected the highly advanced form of animation they were using for this film, but it wasn’t something that made me want to run out and see it opening day.
I know. Being the movie fanatic that I am, you’d expect me to be all over this film. After all, it’s another team up between visionary director Robert Zemeckis and legendary actor Tom Hanks. These two together made us cheer for a football player from Alabama in love with a girl named Jenny and made us emotionally invested in a guy who talks to a volleyball while stuck alone on an island. Those two films alone should be enough to prove to me that this film was worth my attention. Yet, I never saw it, and it would be another ten years before this film entered my life.
Fast forward to December 2014. My wife and I are now first time parents. Our first son, Jackson, is now just over one year old and when it comes to sleeping in on our days off, he’s hit or miss. This was one of those “miss” days. In hopes of having my wife gain a few more hours of sleep, I get up out of bed, pick Jackson up out of his crib and head out to the living room. The sun is in the early stages of rising, so it’s still pretty dark. Being the Clark Griswold that I tend to be during this time, I plug in the lights on our tree as well as the lights wrapped around the garland that rests on our fireplace mantel, just below our flat screen television that hangs on the wall. I lay on the couch with Jackson resting against my chest and cover ourselves with one of our large, warm blankets.
As I look at the black television screen, I think to myself: what can we watch together?
Fatherhood is still new to me, so I’m still working on the whole “he can’t watch everything I watch” parameters. As a film fanatic who will literally watch ANY and ALL movies, this is difficult for me because, to be perfectly honest, many of my favorite films are not child appropriate. So, I turn on the television and start running through the list of holiday films in our On Demand queue. Nothing really stands out to me until I reach that certain title. That one holiday film I have yet to see. The one I avoided a decade ago now sits in this list, looking right at me: The Polar Express. Maybe it was curiosity. Maybe I was still sleepy and got tired of searching. In either case, I decided to click on it and see what it was all about.
I had no clue that doing so would create something special for our family.
From the start, Jackson is hooked. He is too young to fully grasp the story, but he’s responding to everything he sees. The enormous train parked outside the young boy’s house. The conductor punching the tickets. The dancing cooks and waiters. The North Pole. Santa. The bell. Jackson reacts to it all. Sure, he’s not saying full sentences or pronouncing words correctly. Mostly it’s “ooh”, “ahh” and “wow”. However, he’s fully immersed in this story. His eyes never turn from the screen. From the opening shot to the fade out on the bell, my son is all-in on The Polar Express… and so am I.
I could sit here and tell you about the incredible accomplishment this film made in revolutionizing the fully-animated motion capture trend. I could point out the amazing direction Zemeckis gave with certain scenes in the film, especially the angles used in the thrilling sequence where the train makes its way over thin ice. I could commend Hanks for his portrayal of six different characters and the vocal changes he made for each. However, what will always stick out to me are those quiet moments in this film. Those solemn moments in Alan Silvestri’s score flowing from the television speakers throughout our silent home. Hearing the conductor’s low tone over the train’s intercom as Jackson lays clinging to my chest, the two of us covered by a warm blanket and surrounded by the glowing lights.
As time has passed, our family has grown to four now. Jackson is just over four years old and has a little brother named Thomas, just a few months shy of two years. The two of them will sit together on the couch, one large blanket wrapping around them both, enjoying the holiday movies we have for them, such as Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas and A Charlie Brown Christmas. One such movie has become one of their favorites. One that has become a tradition in our home, especially for a father who once avoided such film. A film that made me believe, having seen it through the eyes of our children. A film that made my wife and I understand its magic by seeing the magic it placed in the hearts of our boys.
As the conductor put it, “Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can’t see.”
All aboard! This is The Polar Express!
— “The Azorean One” Anthony Esteves.
