Critics Scoreboard
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Average Critic Score:
61
(36 sources)
61
(36 sources)
-
100
The Hollywood Reporter
A story that soars with breakneck pace but slows in all the tender moments. Visually, this train ride is both majestic and edge-of-your-seat. Read Full Review » -
100
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100
Chicago Sun-Times
A movie for more than one season; it will become a perennial, shared by the generations. It has a haunting, magical quality because it has imagined its world freshly and played true to it, Read Full Review » -
90
Washington Post
Every detail of the beloved children's classic is meticulously reconstructed in the film, with visuals that can only be described as wondrous. Read Full Review » -
90
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90
Film Threat
Just like “It’s A Wonderful Life” is shown on TV every year, The Polar Express should appear in IMAX theaters that traditionally. Read Full Review » -
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
So delightful it should come with a parental advisory: "Jaded adults, beware. Viewing this may pierce your shell of cynicism and spark a renewed belief in the magic of movie-making." Read Full Review » -
88
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88
New York Daily News
It's a sensation - both a milestone in computer-animation and a likely Christmas classic. Read Full Review » -
88
New York Post
Devoid of 21st-century irony, this visually stunning, action-packed yuletide treat is sweet and, yes, magical in a way that will enchant kids and give older viewers a twinge of nostalgia. Read Full Review » -
88
Baltimore Sun
Like the coolest train set a kid ever had. It's not real and the faces on the toy people don't look human, but it has bells and whistles galore and will take you as far as your imagination allows. Read Full Review » -
88
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80
Dallas Observer
If you have a chance to see the 3-D IMAX version of the movie ignore any objections. But if your only choice is a regular 2-D screen, The Polar Express is still three-fourths of a great movie. Read Full Review » -
80
Chicago Reader
The story offers lessons in faith and self-esteem; the darker passages of the child's journey are countered by shimmering, cascading beacons of light; and fine period detail adds to the nostalgic glow. Read Full Review » -
75
Chicago Tribune
This movie, which aspires to be a Christmas movie classic on the "It's a Wonderful Life" level, is overwhelming, enjoyable and impressive, without being really entrancing. Read Full Review » -
75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
For most of the way, it's indeed quite a ride: a cumulatively exhilarating, visually mouth-dropping, somberly stylish odyssey crammed full of virtuoso animation sequences. Read Full Review » -
70
Los Angeles Times
It's hard not to wish this film were more of a piece and less like loud music at the wrong party. Read Full Review » -
70
Time
Tom Hanks doesn't turn Polar Express into much of a thrill ride. For that you need 3-D goggles. Read Full Review » -
67
Portland Oregonian
A genuinely handsome film, and it tells a story that is well worth knowing. It's a kind, gentle and sweet holiday confection. But my Christmas wish is that the DVD comes packaged with the book. Read Full Review » -
63
Premiere
The Hanks overload feels like The Polar Express is "Being John Malkovich" transmuted into a computer-generated 21st-century children's Christmas film. Read Full Review » -
63
Philadelphia Inquirer
Visually, taking its cues (mostly) from Van Allsburg's Hopperesque art, The Polar Express is eye-popping. Storywise, however, it can be eyelid-drooping. Read Full Review » -
63
Charlotte Observer
While the 29 pages of his (Van Allsburg's) mini-classic would have made a superb half-hour TV special, Zemeckis and writer William Broyles Jr. have created a steroidal monster with a heart about one size too small. Read Full Review » -
63
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58
Entertainment Weekly
The screenplay, by Zemeckis and William Broyles Jr., plumps Van Allsburg's simple fable about the purity of childhood faith in what can't be seen with all sorts of wholly invented characters, complications, and declarations. Read Full Review » -
50
Boston Globe
Zemeckis and Hanks really seem to think they’re giving us a Christmas movie for the ages and a technology that will change cinema forever. They’re wrong on both counts. The Polar Express is merely a marvelous toy that has somehow become convinced it has a soul. Read Full Review » -
50
TV Guide
The film's characters, computer-animated over motion-caputure footage of flesh-and-blood performers, are as blank-eyed and rubbery-looking as moving mannequins -- the stuff of nightmares, not dreams. Read Full Review » -
50
Variety
This visually impressive yet emotional frigid fable could perhaps more accurately be tagged "The Bipolar Express." Read Full Review » -
50
The Onion (A.V. Club)
As a spectacle, The Polar Express looks remarkable. As a film, however, it's the equivalent of an elaborately wrapped Christmas present containing a nice new pair of socks. Read Full Review » -
50
Village Voice
When it comes to the "humans," the atmosphere collapses. Unnervingly smooth, mouths moving in strange, even frightening formations, the Polar people are the least convincing things on-screen, glaring impostors amid the otherwise painstakingly rendered scenery. Read Full Review » -
50
LA Weekly
The result is another powerful children's story dulled into mediocrity by the worship of technology. Read Full Review » -
50
Christian Science Monitor
Many moviegoers may find its colors and effects delightful enough to make the experience a thrill. Look beyond the tinsel, though, and you may be disappointed. Read Full Review » -
40
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30
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30
Salon.com
Actually, the wonder The Polar Express induces feels something like a coma. Read Full Review » -
30
The New York Times
A grave and disappointing failure, as much of imagination as of technology. Read Full Review » -
25
Rolling Stone
The result is a failed and lifeless experiment in which everything goes wrong. Read Full Review »
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