The Polar Express (2004) Review

All Aboard the Uncanny Valley Express 🚂👀❄️

Let’s start by showing y’all the trailers, shall we? 🎬

Today we take a look at the most infamously uncanny films to date.

—

🎥 A Quick Note on the Studio & Animation Style

The Polar Express was directed by Robert Zemeckis and produced by Warner Bros. in 2004. This was one of the earliest films to fully embrace motion-capture animation — the same tech Zemeckis would later use in Beowulf and A Christmas Carol.

The tech was groundbreaking for the time, but it landed the film smack in the middle of the Uncanny Valley — that weird zone where characters look realistic enough to unsettle you, but not stylized enough to avoid creepiness. Eyes are glassy, mouths are stiff, and everyone looks like a wax figure that might whisper to you at night.

It’s infamous for that reason, yet it’s also part of why the movie is unforgettable. The creepy aesthetic accidentally gives the story a strange, dreamlike quality — like a half-remembered Christmas fever dream.


—

📖 Non-Spoiler Plot Overview

The story follows a boy (simply called “Hero Boy”) who’s starting to doubt whether Santa is real. On Christmas Eve, a mysterious train — The Polar Express — shows up outside his house, and he hops aboard with other kids. Their destination? The North Pole.

But the journey is the real story. Along the way, the kids face danger, surreal encounters, and challenges that test their faith in Christmas spirit. The movie is about belief — not just in Santa, but in magic, friendship, and yourself.

🎭 The Hidden Creep Factor

Now, let’s address the part nobody talks about enough: this movie is secretly creepy as hell. Think about it — a massive train rolls up to your quiet suburban street in the middle of the night, the conductor beckons you aboard, and suddenly you’re hurtling across icy wilderness with dozens of other kids who were lured from their beds. Strip away the Christmas magic filter, and the setup feels more like the opening to a horror movie than a holiday classic.

Add to that the black skies, the storm sequences, and of course the hobo ghost who randomly appears and vanishes on the roof of the train, and you’ve got nightmare fuel baked right into a family film. It’s this bizarre cocktail of wonder and dread that makes The Polar Express stand out. You can’t quite relax while watching it — which, depending on your taste, is either part of its charm or what makes it linger in your head like an unsettling dream.



—

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Character Rundown

Hero Boy (voiced by Tom Hanks, via mo-cap) – Our main character, who struggles with doubt. Not much personality, but that’s on purpose — he’s kind of a blank slate for kids watching to project themselves onto.

Hero Girl (Nona Gaye) – Brave, kind, and constantly saving the boys. Basically the leader of the group.

Know-It-All Kid (Eddie Deezen) – You know him, you either want to push him off the train or mute the TV. Nails the “annoying smart kid” energy.

Billy / Lonely Boy (Peter Scolari) – The sad kid from “the other side of the tracks.” His loneliness and self-doubt are the emotional core of the story.

The Conductor (Tom Hanks again) – Stern, a little mysterious, but guiding the kids toward the North Pole and their lessons.

Santa Claus (Tom Hanks again, because why not) – Shows up at the end. Big presence, less creepy than some of the other characters.

The Hobo Ghost (yes, seriously) – The creepiest “character” in the film. A spectral figure who lives on top of the train, haunting Hero Boy.



—

👻 The Creepiest Element: The Hobo Ghost

Here’s the part that makes you wonder how this got greenlit for kids. The Hobo Ghost is a gaunt, spectral man who roams the roof of the Polar Express. He makes cryptic comments about belief, pulls weird stunts, and vanishes into thin air.

One sequence has him by a campfire on the snowy rooftop, disappearing in front of Hero Boy’s eyes. The backdrop is pitch-black sky, freezing snow, and a strange old man who looks like he wandered in from a horror film.

The effect is terrifying because it doesn’t feel like it belongs in a Christmas movie. He’s part guardian angel, part hallucination, and part nightmare fuel. Even today, adults rewatching this scene admit it freaked them out as kids. It’s one of those rare cases where a children’s holiday film dips its toe into straight-up horror imagery — and it sticks with you.


—

⏱️ Pacing / Episode Flow

The film has a dreamlike pacing. It drifts from spectacle to spectacle: train races on ice, hot chocolate dance numbers, ghostly encounters, sleigh bell moments. It’s both slow and overwhelming, like being pulled through someone else’s vivid Christmas dream.


—

✅ Pros

The music and Alan Silvestri’s score are magical.

The sense of adventure — rollercoaster train rides, North Pole wonderland — is still fun.

The themes of belief, doubt, and finding magic again hold up.

That bittersweet ending with the bell is iconic.



—

❌ Cons

The animation. Even in 2004, it was unsettling, and in 2025 it’s straight-up terrifying at times.

The “know-it-all kid” is like nails on a chalkboard.

Some sequences feel stretched too long (the hot chocolate dance goes on forever).



—

💭 Final Thoughts

The Polar Express is infamous for its animation, but beyond that uncanny weirdness, it’s actually a solid Christmas story. It’s eerie, oddly emotional, and unforgettable in a way many safe, cookie-cutter holiday movies aren’t.

It’s not just a Christmas movie — it’s a Christmas fever dream. Whether you’re unsettled or enchanted depends on how much you lean into it.


—

⭐ Rating

9/10.
I enjoy it despite (and maybe because of) its flaws.


—

⚠️ Spoiler Warning ⚠️

Below here, the hot chocolate’s gone cold and the ghost hobos roam free.


—

💀 Spoilers

The movie begins with Hero Boy lying awake on Christmas Eve, doubting Santa exists. Suddenly, a massive train screches outside his house — The Polar Express. The Conductor tells him to hop on, and against all logic, he does.

On board, he meets Hero Girl, Know-It-All, and Lonely Boy. They bond through chaos — most memorably when the train derails onto a frozen lake, skating across thin ice as the kids scream.

But the strangest part comes when Hero Boy climbs on top of the train and meets the Hobo Ghost. This spectral figure taunts him about belief, vanishes in the snowy night, and even puppeteers him like a ghostly test. It’s one of the creepiest sequences in any “kids’ movie” — snowy black skies, an old ghost by a campfire, and the uncanny mo-cap making him look like something out of a horror film.

At the North Pole, the kids sneak around the city of elves, eventually reaching Santa’s sleigh. Hero Boy is chosen to receive the first gift of Christmas. He asks for a simple sleigh bell — the one thing he can hear when he finally chooses to believe.

The bell becomes symbolic. The kids hear its jingle, but when he shows his parents later, they hear nothing. Only those who believe in Santa can hear it.

The movie ends on a bittersweet note: Hero Boy narrates that as the years went by, his friends eventually stopped hearing the bell. But he never did. Even as an adult, he could still hear the sound of belief.

It’s beautiful, eerie, and a little haunting.