OK, it’s American and yes, it does replace Father Christmas (no mention of Santa in this review – another US invention) with religious belief; but it has the right ingredients that can please both adults and children alike.

Tom Hanks provides many of the voices, including the Train Conductor and the grown up boy who, as an early teenager (played by Josh Hutcherson), wakes in the small hours of Christmas Day to find a steam locomotive has stopped outside his house, waiting to take him on a rollercoaster of a journey to the North Pole.

The Polar Express shows what a masterful filmmaker Zemekis is. There are moments when the sentimentality can be a bit cloying, but there has yet to be a Christmas picture made that doesn’t fall into this trap. The animation is top notch and it shows what a great team the director and Hanks are (they last teamed up on Cast Away), managing to bring Chris Van Allsburg’s book to life with the kind of panache that many cartoonists would love to do. If only all Christmas films could be made like this.

(4/5)

Release Date: 14 November 2005

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Polar Express