A “Harry Potter meets Scrooge” hodgepodge enacted on a plateau of plasticity.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 15, 2023

While on paper everything about The Polar Express seems to point towards the feature being a disaster, the final product stays on the rails to become anything but.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Aug 28, 2022

Director Robert Zemeckis adds tenderness to this roller-coaster ride of a train, the thrill and adrenaline are constantly offset with unrestrained emotional punches.

Full Review | May 26, 2020

But the technology was not quite up to the challenge of Mr. Zemeckis's vision.

Full Review | Feb 28, 2020

A worthy and entertaining film. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Nov 4, 2019

The Polar Express is reminiscent of childhood classics of yore. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 4, 2019

Polar Express has its moments, but it's not enough. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Nov 4, 2019

There is something indescribably unworldly about this picture, and not just because of the pioneering use of motion-capture technology.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Nov 16, 2018

The rest is easily summarized: the Polar Express arrives, Hero Boy and some other dead-eyed zombie children get onboard. . .we reach the real Santa, who exists, and drops a little silver bell from his sleigh, which the boy later finds.

Full Review | Aug 21, 2017

The trailers and TV commercials for The Polar Express don't do justice to the breathtaking artistry of the film.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 12, 2016

The schmaltz content gets higher and higher, as if administered through a drip feed, until by the end we are drowning in sucrose.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 4, 2014

People in Hollywood should never work with children or animals, W.C. Fields once said. Maybe that should be expanded to hyper-realistic computer-generated children and reindeer, too.

Full Review | Dec 9, 2013

As a spectacle, The Polar Express looks remarkable. As a film, however, it's the equivalent of an elaborately wrapped Christmas present containing a nice new pair of socks.

Full Review | Dec 9, 2013

Tom Hanks (in a number of roles) and the other actors do a nice job of voicing their parts, but the waxy animated faces they've been given are off-putting.

Full Review | Dec 9, 2013

At some point very early in the 3-D IMAX version of The Polar Express, technology trumps banality and you helplessly surrender to the shock and awe of this big, often thunderous movie.

Full Review | Dec 9, 2013

They say it's better to travel than to arrive and that's definitely the case with the latest CG 'toon to pull into cinemas.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 9, 2013

Though heartfelt, the film tries too hard to dazzle and thrill rather than echo its own message: just believe.

Full Review | Dec 9, 2013

Director Robert Zemeckis once again harnesses a new technology to an engaging fable in this digitally animated adaptation of Chris Van Allsburg's holiday tale.

Full Review | Dec 9, 2013

Though the emotion feels contrived, that's nothing compared to the flashy set pieces and meticulous detail, which do more to flaunt the technology than move along the story.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 9, 2013

A train wreck of mind-numbing proportions.

Full Review | Dec 9, 2013