Polar Express gets a bad rap

The Polar Express is already an established viewing (movie) and playing (train around the tree) tradition for my four grandkids (three boys and one girl), ages 3, 5, and 7.

Scrooge is a name that can fit any gender .

Watch it every year.  Have the trains too.  
a holiday tradition

We watch Polar Express every Christmas Eve as a family tradition.

We saw it in IMAX format and was incredible.

Christmas Story was a huge bust when it came out. It lasted one week in theaters and got pulled. I saw it and there was probably 10 people there. I thought it was great but apparently not many others did.  

Right up there with "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "A Christmas Story"!

And a PE Berk is under the tree each year.

Bob

I was pretty disappointed with it in the theaters. I guess I was spending too much time comparing it to the book. I saw it both in a normal theater and IMAX 3D. The IMAX was much better.

I do watch it each year now, but the North Pole scene does drag on me a bit.

It's become a traditional Christmas/Holiday must watch in my house right up there with Christmas Vacation and A Christmas Story. Train biases aside, it's a decent movie and I think the animation technology is pretty darn good for its time. Of course, every year in the scene where the "Know-It-All" kid starts to ramble off the technical specs of the Berkshire, my family all look at me with that "Gee, who does that sound like?" look on their faces!!

Rob

I had the book when I was little. Have always loved the book still do. I remember seeing the movie in theaters opening weekend in 2004 with my Grandfather. Now one thing about my Grandfather he did not like animated films at all however, he wanted to take me to see it. He was blown away by the effects at the time and still talked about it years later. Sadly he passed away unexpectedly back in November of 2023. It felt different watching it last year on Christmas Eve, I kept thinking back to sitting in the dark theater being completely captivated by the film with my Grandfather. Will watch it again this year along with A Christmas Story. Might have to pick up one of the Polar Express sets at some point for my layout.

I received the book as a Christmas gift in 1989.   I loved the story and especially the illustrations!   I saw the movie in a theatre in 2004 and loved that too!!   I have the DVD and watch it every Christmas season along with Christmas Vacation and A Christmas Story  and sometimes Bad Santa too.  

I don't own the PE set but I did give a new PE set ( purchased from one of our OGR Forum sponsors ) to my cousin and her husband as a Christmas gift for when their grandkids come to their house.  The PE set has become a big part of the holiday tradition at their house as it now lives each holiday season on a  4x8 train table.  Each year I purchase ( as my cousin does too ) a new PE piece to add to their layout.   Her grandkids love the layout!!

Surprising as this may be, the model train-loving demographic probably holds a movie about a Christmas train in higher regard than a film critic, or even the public at large.

Overall is a very good movie - the animation (while good at the time) now looks dated. I would love to see them re-release it with updated animations using current techniques