The Polar Express movie celebrates 20th anniversary!

It’s hard to believe, but The Polar Express movie is 20 years old this year. Released in 2004, the movie featured state-of-the-art animation at the time and was the first motion picture to use “performance capture” technology. The Robert Zemeckis directed film starred Tom Hanks, who voiced seven characters in the film, including the ever-present train conductor.

The film was a success at the box office, grossing $318 million against a budget of $170 million, which was the highest ever for an animated feature at that time. While it was making money at the box office, it received mixed reviews from critics and was snubbed by the Oscars. It didn’t even get nominated for best animated movie. But it was Zemeckis and Hanks who’ve had the last laugh, as the movie has become a Christmas classic in the pantheon of must-see holiday movies and spawned a real Polar Express train ride industry in cities and towns across the globe.

Where did the idea for the movie come from?

The film is based on the beloved 1985 Caldecott Medal-winning children’s book written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg. Praised for its detailed and beautifully rendered illustrations, the book is based in part on the author’s memories of growing up in Michigan and visiting his favorite local department stores during the holiday season. Van Allsburg served as an executive producer on the film.

The story is widely praised because it avoids the cliches of past Santa Claus stories. By the end, the boy in the book realizes that while his family and friends have outgrown their belief in Santa, he still hears the bell and has remained a believer.

While some have criticized the film for its ethereal “look,” particularly the humans in the film, Zemeckis has stated he was trying to capture the book’s unique oil-based paint illustrations and used CGI to try to emulate that effect.

“The paintings [in the book] are where the emotion comes from, in my opinion, and without those paintings you’re throwing half the book away,” he told blackfilm.com in a 2004 interview.

What is performance capture technology?

Zemeckis used a unique advancement in the movie called performance capture technology, also known as motion capture (mo-cap), which is a technique that records an actor’s performance and uses it to create digital characters in movies, video games, and virtual reality.

Performance capture uses sensors, visual markers, and advanced cameras to capture an actor’s entire performance, including their body movements, gestures, facial expressions, and voice. The data is then used by animators and game producers to map the actor’s performance onto 3D-modeled characters. This results in highly realistic CGI characters.

Actors can train for performance capture through courses and workshops that cover topics such as working with the technology, physical characterization, and scene work.

Zemeckis, who went on to make another holiday-themed animated movie using the same technology (A Christmas Carol), told interviewer Ian Winterton at the time of its release that filming and editing the technological ground-breaking movie was one of the best experiences he’d ever had as a filmmaker.

“It was really a fantastic experience,” he said. “It was the most relaxed movie I’d ever worked on. I had to compromise less because I wasn’t limited by the physical world.”

In a blackfilm.com 2004 interview, Hanks was asked if he thought the movie had a message about lost innocence.

“It’s about belief,” Hanks told the interviewer. “Everybody carries around their beliefs with them on their sleeve. It’s a very personal thing and it can’t be described. When we began, when Bob [Zemeckis] began writing the screenplay, he started the movie with the first line of the book and ended it with the last line of the book, staying away from the standard protagonist-antagonist narrative, which is usually a b.s. way to move the story along or bring jeopardy to it. I think the vast majority of the audience can see a formulaic narrative a million miles away. They’re tired of it. It’s very predictable. The reason you go to the movies is to be surprised by a narrative that you can’t predict where it’s going.”

Hanks has stated previously that he wanted to do the movie because he was drawn to the idea of building characters like those in his life and that he had always wanted to be part of a film that captures a journey, similar to The Wizard of Oz.

Van Allsburg himself liked the movie and told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer it was like “seeing a painting come to life.”

Will there be a Polar Express 2?

While Van Allsburg never published a book sequel to The Polar Express, there is talk of a movie sequel being developed, which would likely be released in 2027 or 2028.

You can view the Polar Express on HBO Max, by purchasing it on DVD, or by renting it from your local library.