HBO Max subscribers are getting onboard with Tom Hanks’ decades-old Christmas movie, even if it is still incredibly divisive. The streaming service has been prepping its content offerings for the holiday season with new streaming titles like A Christmas Carol, Elf, and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. HBO Max’s November arrivals also brought a Christmas classic that reunited Hanks with director Robert Zemeckis, his frequent collaborator on projects like Forrest Gump and Cast Away.
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The Polar Express, Zemeckis’ adaptation of Chris Van Allsburg’s 1985 children’s book of the same name starring Hank as the conductor of a magical train that carries children to the North Pole, started streaming on HBO Max on November 1st, and it’s been a hit ever since. The movie currently ranks No. 5 on the platform, outranking even the iconic ’80s Christmas classic A Christmas Story. It only falls behind National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, The Conjuring: Last Rites, Elf, and Flight Risk.
The Polar Express Is a Disturbingly Heartwarming Movie
The Polar Express has all the makings of a Christmas classic, from the snow swept landscape and festive atmosphere to heartwarming themes of belief and the magic of the season, but it’s also disturbing in more ways than one. Despite being a kid-friendly Christmas movie, The Polar Express tosses stranger danger out the window as kids board a train driven by a stranger in the dark on a journey that is packed with roller-coaster-like thrills and suspenseful moments and constantly puts the children’s lives in danger.
The most disturbing part of the movie, though, and the aspect of the film that is still the most contentious, is the animation style. The Polar Express was the first movie created entirely with motion capture technology, a groundbreaking venture at the time that paved the way for countless motion-capture productions that followed but also resulted in truly unsettling characters. The Polar Express is a classic example of the uncanny valley effect, the characters bearing an almost-but-not-quite realistic human likeness. The vacant eyes and dead stares are downright disturbing to some, making the movie feel more like a horror film than an uplifting Christmas movie.
The Polar Express is ultimately the type of film that you either love or hate, and it continues to divide audiences today. There’s no denying that the movie is a true Christmas classic, though, and a fan favorite for Christmas movie marathons every year.
Other Christmas Movies Now on HBO Max
The Polar Express was part of a round of yuletide content that joined HBO Max at the start of November. Subscribers can now also stream the classic 1938 adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, A Christmas Story, Elf, and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Another new Christmas addition will join the streaming options on December 1st when Christmas with the Kranks moves from Netflix to HBO Max.
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