The Polar Express: Similarities and Differences in Book and Movie

The Polar Express, written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg, is a very popular children's picture story. This book was awarded the Caldecott Medal in 1986 because of the exquisite and distinctive illustrations. The book tells about a story of skeptical young boy who boards a train on Christmas Eve and travels on a magical adventure to the North Pole. As a result of the experience, he receives the first gift of Christmas from Santa and then finds himself always truly believing in the magic of Christmas.
This award-winning feature film, released in 2004, starred well-known actor Tom Hanks and was directed by Robert Zemeckis. The movie was comparable to the children's book. The brilliant illustrations in the book greatly resembled many of the background scenes in the movie. I found the computer animations were a very interesting choice which truly brought the book to life. In addition, many of the characters in the movie paralleled many characters found in the book. The young boy, the mother and father, Sarah, the conductor, the elves, and of course Santa were featured in both the book and the movie. There was a small amount of dialogue embedded in the book. However, nearly all of the dialogue that appeared in the book was used throughout the film. Furthermore, the main idea, along with many of the same events, were evident in both versions of the story. For example, in both forms, the young boy was unable to sleep on Christmas Eve and was uncertain about the magic of the holiday. In the middle of the night, he heard a loud screeching sound outside and discovered a long train in front of his house. The boy ran outside and met the conductor who informed him the train, The Polar Express, was heading to the North Pole. The boy boarded the train and immediately noticed other children on board. In both the book and movie, the children received hot chocolate while on board the train. After riding though wildernesses, mountains, and hills, they arrived at the luminous North Pole packed with numerous elves. Once there, Santa chose the young boy to obtain the first gift of Christmas. He asked for a silver bell from Santa's sleigh and he granted the boy's request. While back on the train the children asked to see the silver bell, but the boy quickly discovered he had lost the bell due to a hole in his pocket and was unfortunately too late to search for it. The young boy arrived back home and then awoke on Christmas morning to open a present from Santa that contained the silver bell from Santa's sleigh. While the young boy's parents did not hear the sound of the shaken bell, both the boy and his sister heard the magical sound.
While the book and the movie had many similar features, there were many differences as well. The one hour and forty minute feature film added many scenes that were just not found in the rather short children's book. For instance, there were more events at the beginning of the movie. In the movie, for example, the inquisitive young boy searches the word 'North Pole' in the encyclopedia. This scene did not occur in the book. Another difference I discovered toward the beginning of the movie was when the boy hesitated going on The Polar Express. In the book, however, the boy did not hesitate going aboard. Moreover, in the movie, the young boy encountered many more adventures on the train and at the North Pole. At one point, for instance, the young boy found himself on top of the train talking to a rather strange traveler. Another noteworthy difference were the train tickets. In the movie, the tickets were a very big part of the film. In the book, on the other hand, the tickets were not ever mentioned. Also, there was naturally more dialogue throught the movie, especially among the conductor and the children. Furthermore, there were two central characters on the train, a young girl and a young boy named Billy, that appeared in the movie, but were not in Chris Van Allsburg's book.
I personally did not enjoy the movie as much as I thought I would and was disappointed because I usually love Christmas movies. I really enjoyed Allsburg's simplistic version better. I found the movie to be too long in places, especially on the way to the North Pole, and as a result, found myself really struggling to focus on what exactly was happening. I also thought some of the scenes were somewhat bizarre, especially the entire scene of when the young boy meets the strange man on the top of the train. I did, however, enjoy the scenery and the animation. It truly is amazing what can be done with the use of technology!