I feel like this movie should have meant more to me than it did; I fondly remember the old picture book from when I was a child. Tom Hanks did a good job serving the voices of 3 main characters. The animation was excellent for the most part: amazingly lifelike textures and facial expressions, but some scenes seemed like they had been hastily thrown together so that the movements seemed unnatural and jerky like an outdated animatronic figure from Disney World; these scenes destroy the magic of the film (they bring you back to reality).
In general, the story is best left in book format. I have trouble really relating to the anxieties of the children in the film; I kept looking at my watch to see how much longer they could stretch the story out. Essentially, the story is about a train ride up to the North Pole to see Santa Claus; however, the children on the train encounter several difficulties in the journey. It almost felt like they tacked useless scenes onto the film just to make it “normal” length. In the end, I just wasn’t moved by Santa’s anticlimactic proclaimation that “the magic of Christmas is in your heart”. I suppose I was looking for something a little bit more profound (I seem to hear that same ‘magic of Christmas is in your heart’ line on every Christmas TV program I watch…how about some originality).
While I was watching the film, I had to remind myself that it was directed at an audience much younger than myself. Perhaps I should have reminded myself of that before I wrote this review. There is some good clean humor, a lot of slap-stick, and some mildly inspriational moments. It is a good, light movie for children (4 stars/5 for kids). If you are an older person, you’ll be more impressed by the holiday classics like: Miracle on 34th Street, It’s a Wonderful Life or Scrooged.
