This is the first full length animation in HD DVD (not including King Kong) that we reviewed. I probably should have done this *before* Christmas but … the best laid plans of mice and men … It is also the first movie based on a Caldecott award winning book that we reviewed. So many firsts for this HD DVD.

The Polar Express is based on the book by Chris Van Allsberg of the same name. I have not read a Caldecott award book in about 30 years so I was unfamilair with this story. Ultimately, though I left this HD DVD impressed. Naturally CGI based movies are going to look good in HD DVD - at least thoseproduced by any reasonable studio. The Polar Express looks great in 1080. We really can’t nit pick much of the detail in this movie - it was gorgeous.

The Polar Express is a a book about a train - The Polar Express - with a dynamic engineer who picks up children who have a waning faith in Santa Claus. The engineer - who remains nameless - takes the hapless children to the North Pole to visit the jolly ol’ elf. The train ride to the North Pole is an adventure comprising about 3/4 of the movie. It is probably the worst movie to use to teach your kids to not take rides with strangers - even if the stranger is Tom Hanks. Regardless, the majority of the movie takes place on a train and in a train. When not on a train the ground is covered with snow. Accordingly, a strong audio track is important to support the environment. The DTS Dolby Digital mix provides the necessary ambient sounds to create a winter wonderland right in your TV room! The best scene in the movie is the “hot chocolate” scene. It is a treat for the eye and the ear. We “rewound” the scene a few times it so cool. I doubt that there were any organic sounds other than the voices and it works to the benefit of the movie. Your sub will get a workout on some of the train scenes.

The extras provide some great insight into the production of this movie. I would have liked to see some more interactive features, like a GPS read out of the travel to the north pole, or a feature where we could look into the north pole a bit more.

ILHDDVD Rating 4/5 (Cool flick, great images, great audio would have preferred more interactive features)
Video/Image: 5/5 (Cannot go wrong with CGI in HD)
Audio: 5/5 (Apart from the voices)
Recommended

Reader Ratings: (2 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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