Feature Film & Caldecott Medal: The Polar Express

Just with any published book that is turned into a feature film, you have variation in opinions.  This book, more so than other recent blockbuster hits, still seems to come up in conversation.  Chris Van Allsburg's illustrated children's book is elaborately simplistic.  Because of this, a story seems so much more magical than just any old story because it allows children access to an imaginary world that they can only dream about.  In many households and classrooms this book is a tradition because it reinforces the idea of faith and belief without reference to a specific religion.  

Movies based on published books that turn out to be equal to or better than the original story are few and far between.  Typically this happens when a movie is made based off of a book that hasn't quite become very popular.  People see the movie, love the characters and the story and then choose to read the book.  However people who read the stories and then see the movie are more often than not, disappointed.  As a child, my mother always told me the book is always better than the movie.  You develop your own characters and settings in your mind and sometimes they aren't quite the same, (or anywhere near), what the director had in mind.  

I enjoyed this film, only because it was a children's picture book, and the movie expanded a lot of the basic elements of the plot. However I know several people that said the adventure to the North Pole was too long and exhausting.  The director was able to capture the ageless time period that is portrayed in the book and the music that is incorporated brings that extra bit of warm Christmas celebration.  I appreciate when film makers stay consistent with the ending of the story.  There is nothing worse than the comfort of knowing how a story is going to end and then witnessing a new ending in a matter of moments.  Both the book and the feature film get two thumbs up!