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List Price: $26.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 2583
Released: November 22, 2005 |
| Our Price: Too low to display |
| Used Price: $3.95 |
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MPAA Rating: G (General Audience)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
DVD Features:
Challenges:2 menu challenges that kids can play.
Deleted Scenes:Additional Song: The never-before-heard "Smokey and Steamer" song.
Featurette:You Look Familiar: Hear about Tom Hanks' 5 unique roles, how each character was different, and what it took for him to bring each one to life.
Interviews:True Inspiration An Author's Adventure: Chris Van Allsburg discusses his artistic background and how he conceived the idea for The Polar Express book.
Music Video:Josh Groban Music Video: Josh Groban at the Greek performing the Academy Award nominated original song Believe. Also go behind-the-scenes!
Other:A Genuine Ticket to Ride: Behind-the-scenes secrets on Performance Capture, Virtual Cameras, Hair and Wardrobe, Creating the North Pole, and Music
Description of The Polar Express (Two-Disc Widescreen Edition):
Destined to become a holiday perennial, The Polar Express also heralded a brave new world of all-digital filmmaking. Critics and audiences were divided between those who hailed it as an instant classic that captures the visual splendor and evocative innocence of Chris Van Allsburg's popular children's book, and those who felt that the innovative use of "performance capture"--to accurately translate live performances into all-digital characters--was an eerie and not-quite-lifelike distraction from the story's epic-scale North Pole adventure. In any case it's a benign, kind-hearted celebration of the yuletide spirit, especially for kids who have almost grown out of their need to believe in Santa Claus. Tom Hanks is the nominal "star" who performs five different computer-generated characters, but it's the visuals that steal this show, as director Robert Zemeckis indulges his tireless pursuit of technological innovation. No matter how you respond to the many wonders on display, it's clear that The Polar Express represents a significant milestone in the digital revolution of cinema. If it also fills you with the joy of Christmas (in spite of its Nuremberg-like rally of frantic elves), so much the better. --Jeff Shannon
DVD features
The most intriguing feature on the two-disc DVD is probably the six-minute sequence featuring a new song performed by the two engine-room characters, Smokey and Steamer. The animation is crude and the song is nothing special, but it does preserve the dual performances of Michael Jeter (he played both characters), who passed away during filming. One of the striking aspects of The Polar Express is its use of motion-capture technology to turn real actors into animated characters, and that is examined in a significant portion of the five-part 11-minute featurette, in the "look at" Tom Hanks's multiple performances, and in an Easter egg that offers a side-by-side comparison of the actors in their motion-capture suits with the finished film in the "Hot Chocolate" number. There's also a live performance of Josh Groban singing "Believe" followed by an interview segment with him and composer Alan Silvestri, author Chris Van Allsburg providing a five-minute capsulization of his career, a PC game demo, and a kids' set-top game. The version of the film on DVD is the standard theatrical version, not the 3-D version seen in IMAX theaters. --David Horiuchi
The World of The Polar Express
The book by Chris Van Allsburg | 
The Soundtrack | 
The Magic Journey (Polar Express the Movie) (book) |
Stills from Polar Express (click for larger image)
The Polar Express (Two-Disc Widescreen Edition) Reviews:
great holiday movie 
2009-12-04 - this is a great holiday movie, beautiful animation, color and detail. the 3D feautre is not that great, when you put the 3D glasses on, that are supplied with the dvd, the perception of images is not good at all, you can see red and green glow around the images, even with the curtains closed and lights dimmed in the room. I think it looks more 3D and realistic while watching the 2D version. Over all great movie, but do not bother with the 3D.
Christmas & all time movie 
2009-12-03 - Polar Express is a great movie for the Christmas season and all year long. We love it and my granddaughter really enjoys it. Our area even has an old train station which has "The Polar Express" event each year with riding the Christmas decorated train down the track to "the North Pole" and meeting Santa & Mrs. Santa. Each person recieves the "bell", an ornament, and milk and cookies, of course.
Mixed bag 
2009-12-02 - The book is a lovely story with exquisite illustrations.I bought the book and the Tom Hanks DVD for my 3 yr old grandson not knowing the story. It is too old for him but he enjoyed the book anyway because he loves trains. This is his first year having a clue about Santa Claus so he was hooked by the story.
The movie, however was way too scarey for him starting with the very loud noise of the train when it came into the yard.
I thought it was dark and heavy not the uplifting story I expected. It was not the warm and fuzzy Christmas entertainment I was looking for.
cannot see in 3D 
2009-12-02 - This movie suppose be 3 D movie but only thing I see is blur pictures... cannot feel any 3D feeling.
Great movie! POOR 3-D Version! 
2009-12-01 - This movie is a hit and will become a classic to future generations. Well done to those that teamed-up to make it. HOWEVER: the 3-D version does not work. We waited for days after purchasing this version to see it on thanksgiving day as a family. What a disappointment! My husband and I got an instant headache just by watching it for a few minutes with the 3-D glasses on. We tried the blue ray dvd player and even real 3-D glasses from the theater... nothing worked. To their credit, a few scenes were OK, (we skipped the movie to the most visually stimulating scenes), but generally speaking is not worth to hurt your family's eyes when the original version is almost 3-D by itself! I very rarely review an item online, but once cd's or dvd's are opened they are not exchangeable (unless is the same item),or allowed for returns. I hope this info is useful.
