Directed by Robert Zemeckis, 2004's The Polar Express has become a Christmas classic, despite early criticism. Audiences initially were put off by the uncanny valley created by the motion-capture animation, but they eventually warmed to the film, to the point that it's regularly included on television lineup of Christmas favorites, airing numerous times each December.
But something else critics and viewers alike noticed is that it's not exactly a warm-and-cozy film. The late Roger Ebert highlighted the "shivery tone" in his review, and how The Polar Express maintains a creeping feeling of unease. Something about the film never shakes a pall of eeriness, which helps to make it even more memorable.
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This starts with the art direction. The children's car on the train, and many shots of the North Pole, are bathed in warm tones, but the rest is often shot in shivery blue, with ice and snow everywhere. When the children are on their own at the North Pole, even the warm colors take on a muted appearance. The outside shots of the train wouldn't be too out of place when put up against shots fromSnowpiercer -- ice and driving snow as the train barrels on to its destination. The train itself doesn't look inviting from the outside, either -- it's an intimidating behemoth that shows up where it doesn't belong before whisking into the unknown, with a conductor (Tom Hanks) who is aware of details about the children that should be impossible for him to know.
Not to mention the moments where the cold blues of the ice and snow contrast with the warm oranges and yellows of the lights. When the train approaches and enters Flat Top Tunnel, which resembles a monstrous beast eating the train, the steam from the stack and the fire from the engine light up holes above the tunnel, making it look like burning, evil eyes. The contrast of the oranges of the driver's quarter of the train only highlights the peril seen by the children and the conductor when it barrels out of control through Glacier Gulch and across the frozen lake, making the world seem colder and darker by contrast. Even the lights of the children's cab feel as if it's barely able to stave off the freezing darkness.
This isn't even getting into the story itself, which starts off with a magical train and crew spiriting children away, not unlike some fairy stories. The lead children are frequently in some sort of peril, whether from trying to navigate the train, the route they take to the North Pole or getting lost at the North Pole. Watching them try to find their way through the cold, gray industrialized belly of the North Pole while classic Christmas carols echo and skip in the background feels less like a warm children's story and more like a chilling horror film. A ghost haunts the train, and the viewer who didn't jump at the Scrooge puppet is a rare one indeed. The obstacles the characters encounter feel ethereal and terrifying, at least in passing. Even the music is strange, eerie and melancholic throughout the movie.
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And then there's the main character, the boy who has doubts about Santa Claus' existence even after boarding the Polar Express, despite the train magically appearing on the street for him -- and only him. His entire journey feels like an existential crisis, something much more complex than what a child is normally expected to go through. His doubts and hesitation cause many points of conflict that only increase the danger, and the conclusion of the movie is bittersweet: He forever can hear the bell, because he believed without seeing, a message of Biblical origin. But as time goes on, his family and friends cease to hear the bell, because they failed to go on the journey with him toward belief.
All together it makes for a melancholic and haunting film, not one you would expect to be such a hit around the holiday season. Colorful movies with bright musical numbers are the norm, so a cold film with haunting music feels less like a warm classic and more like a horror film. Yet the strongest stories are those that are unafraid to objectively look at the terror of the unknown and still go for the warmth of success. The Polar Express does just that, which makes it a Christmas classic with characters we can root for. It's a beautiful film in a haunting way, but that only makes it more memorable.
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