Tom Hanks has a very distinctive voice, so I don't know how you missed it. His brother, Jim Hanks, sounds just like him and played Woody in _Toy Story_ video games and commercials.

@@gaynor1721 just wasn't really thinking about it. I heard different voices for each.

If you see the early trailers, he also did the voice for the boy, but the movie used a true young person for the boy voice.

And was the face model too. It gets pretty creepy when you notice it's all Tom Hanks monsters on that train.

Iirc this movie was a bit of a passion project for Tom Hanks, he had been trying to get it made since 1999.

Perhaps yet- the ghost of Christmas future?

11 more years until the original Rudolph story (not the classic Rankin and Bass clamation) becomes public domain.

@@Sam_on_KZfaq The Rankin/Bass film is already public domain (improper copyright notice), so the wait is for the character himself and the song (and considering laws about sound recording copyright, that may never enter the public domain in our lifetimes).

@@karabearcomics I always said public domain is the life of Steamboat Willy plus a few years. But Disney didn't lobby to extend beyond the already ludicrous 95 years and the original version of Mickey is entering public domain next week. No reason to think something will change in the next 11 years before Rudolph.

Imagine your pal being copyrighted but all you are is "pUbLiC dOmAiN"

@@belleofbrightside97 Winnie the Pooh and most of his friends have been public domain for 2 years. Hence the horror film Pooh: Blood and Honey. Tigger enters the public domain next week... In case they want a sequel.

We have a Christmas train out here in Nevada too! I need to ride it sometime with my hubby :D sounds so fun.

Here in Dallas-Fort Worth (GRAPEVINE, Texas) we have a polar express at Christmas time too! It's cute! The tickets get sold out in the summer!

Dangit!! You just added something to my bucket list.

We have it in Utica NY and sometimes real snow!

I was today years old when I found out about this.

Yep lol :P

@@RedRoseSeptember22 Why lol?

caribous are bigger

​@@simonrancourt7834The North American populations?

​@@RedRoseSeptember22What's with the lol?

videohistory: That's why she's there. If her faith is as unshakable as she Says, she wouldn't be on the train. But, she got on because she wanted to have her belief supported. It's possible that she was on the line because of others telling her to grow up and stop believing in kid stuff. That happens to many of us. But, it doesn't mean that we're to completely surrender our sense of wonder, humor, and fun. Oh, and humility. May your Holidays be one of Everlasting Belief. PS. What's your thoughts about the ghost? A nod to A Christmas Carol? Someone who didn't believe once, but always longed for a second chance? The Spirit of Christmas? The Spirit of Faith (given his appearance as a hobo riding the top of the train and helping wayward children find their way back into the interior)?

He's also a weird creep and harrassed a waitress continually IRL

Yep lol I always say "Shut up Mandark" whenever I hear him XD

Same thing happened in my elementary school. Before this movie was being released, my teacher set the classroom like a train and served us hot chocolate. One of the best experience I've had as a child, which is why this movie always resides with me.

Either Image Movers Digital became a horror film company after Forrest Gump or they messed up and accidently created the greatest abomination known to man.

I believe Hanks was also the voice of at least one of the elves.

I did the same! northern Illinois for me. did we all have the same childhood lol

@@dontbstingy3587 one of the problems with computer generated human animation is that the characters are too perfect. Really people have flaws ( one eye slightly higher than the other, crooked noses, blemishes etc.) The absence of which appears creepy. I'm not sure why the creators chose to use human characters but it does make a scary movie.

I too have a little Polar Express bell that I hang on my tree every year. I got it from my grandma. I turn it into a game. Who can find the bell in the tree? Kind of like someone finding the pickle ornament or something.

I really loved "A Christmas Carol" in 3D from the same director (Robert Zemeckis of Back to the Future fame).

Same here, it was my first Imax film and it was stunning to watch especially in 3D

The blu-ray 3d presentation is fantastic.

It was logical to suppose that motion capture would be a useful tool for animators. And while it may still have its uses, it clearly doesn't work for everything. For storytelling purposes it just doesn't render human figures naturally. In the years since computer animation was introduced, those working in that medium have refined it to a point that much more fluid and and expressive movement can be achieved using the skills of traditional animators. Motion capture is the digital equivalent of rotoscoping - tracing over live action footage expecting that it would result in a natural, lifelike look. Unfortunately it turned out to be the opposite. Films like "The Polar Express" were a noble experiment but not an aesthetic success.

Zemekis tried so hard to make mo-cap work. But the more human he tried to make the characters, the less real they looked. In many respects, the technology just wasn’t ready. Most of the movement comes off slightly stiff. The hands, wrists, and fingers don’t move right, because the mocap gear just didn’t pick up the subtler movements. And the facial capture never really worked at catching all the subtle movements around the mouth and eyes humans are naturally hyper attuned to, since it’s the foundation of how we communicate. While it did save them money building sets, it would have been better if the kids, anyway, had been real actors.

Unfortunately, the dynamite team of Zemekis and Hanks was kneecapped by - at the time - a rarely used term we use quite a bit now. The Uncanny Valley. TPE became its poster child.

Trains were once the main public transportation system between cities and towns. Tracks were laid passing through population centers, establishing stations for shipping and travel. Trains were especially important in rural areas, most notably in the eastern mountain areas and beyond. It was these mountain areas where bluegrass developed and songs were written that included trains. Hillbillies immortalized trains in their music. I was born in the mountains. When the Great Depression hit our area, many young people fled to cities on the train lines that went through their little rural town. In my family, some went east to Baltimore and some went west to Indianapolis. Years later, my family had an annual family gathering that each year was held in either Baltimore, Indianapolis, or the tiny town our family began in. I still have family in those three towns. When I was a divorced mother, I used to take that same train, daughter in tow, to stay a week or two with my grandfather, who still lived in that tiny mountain town. We would go three times a year, so my daughter now in her 30s had that same experience of train travel that my own parents and grandparents had. It's the same train line that my grandfather would take from his birthplace to come court my grandmother in the same tiny town that my family spread out east and west from.

@@chris...9497 Yep. Trains were important all over the country. For a time they were the main movers of nessisary goods. In the west where good roads were space before Ikes highway system was completed trains got products that were manufactured in the east to us in the west. Cattle and hogs and grains moved from west to the east. I've ridden on AMTRAK a few times but for me it isn't as special as it was in the 50s traveling on the Burlington, Sante Fe, B & O, or the Norfolk and Western.

moogotron: The very definition of Faith/Belief is to give credence to Nouns -- persons, places, and things (Thank you, Schoolhouse Rock. haha) -- we can't see, that haven't happened yet, and that aren't manifest within the world but within ourselves. Just like we learn in other Christmas movies and TV shows like The Guardians, it can require a little sacrifice, ignoring what people tell you, and resisting the bitterness and anger that disappointments and hard times heap upon us throughout our lives. The end of the movie says this when the boy, now a man, says his little sister lost her Belief as she got older, so she, like the parents, couldn't hear the bell anymore. Granted, she didn't get the opportunity to take the train trip like her brother, who was granted a rare glimpse into something Amazing. But, isn't that the way it often works? A few people tell of a miracle they encountered, but the rest of the world that didn't get that precious insight can't bring themselves to believe. And often become the mockers and tormentors of The Believers and The Faithful. Some give in and stop believing. Some stop talking about it and keep their beliefs hidden within themselves like a precious secret. However, there are those who tell everyone they meet, regardless of the negativity they receive. I really think that's the real reason Harry Potter was so special. That first book brought back Belief for so many kids, teens, and yes, adults, who had lost their sense of Wonder. And for a time, or longer if lucky, millions were able to recapture that Feeling of Anything and Everything Being Possible. Just like when we were very, very young and our entire souls were sure there was still Magic in the world. Happiest Holidays to you. May your New Year be wonder-full

Believe to understand and undestand to believe

I can tell you the reason, he was never given a spot on the team at least not full time. Its said Won't you guide my slay tonight. Not would you like to be the new lead Reindeer. And it's said he saved that Christmas, and that after that all the other Reindeer loved him. He will go down in history as the song goes. He will go down in history not just for saving one Christmas but for being the only Reindeer not part of santa team to not only get to be on it but actually lead it.

@@Yugioh420 I think you're partly right, I say this takes place before Rudolph. Rudolph might have been born, but it was a particularly brutal blizzard when he guides the sleigh the first time. This felt like a standard Christmas.

@scottboswell6406 most are pretty standard besides the Christmas Rudolph led the sleigh but it wasn't a blizzard Rudolph guided Santa threw. At least not the original. Unless I'm having a Mandela effect moment I'm pretty sure it was Fog Santa couldn't see threw that only The shinning nose could cut threw to guide the way. Now I gotta double check to see if I'm right or not.

@scottboswell6406 yea one Foggy Christmas eve. Santa came to say.

Rudolph was not one of Santa's original Reindeer. He was made up by a dept. store for a Christmas ad and then made into a hit song (sung by Gene Autry) and then a Rankin/Bass TV Christmas special. Reindeer trivia: They are the only kind of deer that both male and female can grow antlers.

MR POTATOHEAD! Back doors are not secrets!

The one with the weird voice? He was also in the movie Grease as Eugene.

Eddie Deezen. ;) I mainly remember him in Wargames, too. (not Wargames Two, that was terrible. lol) Wargames (1983) has a genuinely important message, I think. Even more so at this time in the World today.

@@electronash Absolutely

@@electronash And he was also in a really stupid movie called "Joysticks" - a silly teenage comedy about playing video games. This may have been his first movie. I only know about it from RiffTrax.

I remember getting to see the monorail before all the remodeling took place. I'm not sure when the department store itself closed for good.

@@carriemilito2851 I think 87 is when Herp's closed. Then it was the City centre until about 1990. I used to skip school and go there and eat in the food court.

The original Herpolsheimer’s Children’s Train was pulled out of storage, restored to its original condition, and is displayed at the Grand Rapids Public Museum every holiday season.

​@@ptw5h2o3 I've heard that but I've never been to the public museum at Christmas.

Going to Herp's was a big deal as a kid. As you exit the escalator, kids would follow the reindeer tracks painted on the floor that would lead you to Santa. He gave a free toy to every kid. Riding the monorail train ( which was painted as a rocketship) above the toy dept was super fun.

I know Eddie as Mandark from Dexter’s Lab. Most unforgettable evil laugh ever. Ah Ah-Ha! Ah Ah-Ha Ah-Ha!

Eddie Deezen is one that you should look into his recent life to much

I actually read somewhere that Tom Hanks had to take a lot of breaks because he was so exhausted.