The Polar Express can be summed up quite neatly in a quote from 'Hero Girl' that features in the latter half of the film. In that speech she tells 'Lonely Boy': "Christmas is such a wonderful, beautiful time; it's a time for giving and being thankful, for family and friends. People hang decorations and lights, and above all it's a time for celebrating the birth of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ". Well, I wish that's what's she'd said anyway, instead, replace the last 16 words ("above all...") with "...then Santa comes and leaves presents under Christmas trees" and you have the real version of what she says. This not only is a great shame, but a true danger. For Christmas without Christ, as is so evident in much of society now, becomes a time of superficial beauty, for friends but not necessarily families, and for a type of giving that results in materialistic greed as opposed to giving out of love and true need. I won't go too much further down that road, but suffice to say the film has a pretty poor story line anyway, human characters that look a little strange bordering spooky, and a Santa's sleigh that looks like it has a giant tomato strapped to the back of it. On the plus side, the film does encourage a child-like sense of belief, and we are told that "sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can't see" and so in that respect may lay down some kind of a foundation for future belief in things unseen. All in all, as part of a balanced viewing schedule The Polar Express may have a small place, but on its own its merits are few. Either way, any parents that catch their children watching this one should take it as an opportunity to remind them of the true meaning of Christmas.