A Christmas story starring Tom Hanks based on the Caldecott winning children's book, The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg. A conductor (Hanks) and his train, pick up children from around the world who are losing their belief in Santa, and take them to the North Pole.

The movie was directed, produced, and written for the screen by Robert Zemeckis. Starring Tom Hanks as conductor, young main character, Santa, and a hobo. Playing at The Great Escape II in Bowling Green. Available in 3-D in some locations.

Gene Wilder must certainly remove his floppy Willy Wonka hat and take an exaggerated bow to Tom Hanks for his roles in The Polar Express. Because for the first time since his 1971 classic, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, someone else has managed to take all of his enchanting charisma and sprinkle in some Imax quality adventure scenes that will have you kneading your toes in the floor as you try to apply the brakes. Oh yeah, and there's Charlie Brown's Christmas charm stirred into this cookie dough that will make it an instant Christmas classic like Toll House Cookies.

The Polar Express is a movie directed and produced by Robert Zemeckis based on the children's novel written by Chris Van Allsburg, (author of Jumanji). The lusciously illustrated Caldecott winning book has frosty blue-toned, photorealistic illustrations that most "big" kids can easily recall more than 10 years after their librarian first read it to them on the patch of green carpet known as the reading space. And though in most cases children's books aren't given the justice they deserve when turned into the big screen, The Polar Express exceeded this former carpet dwellers expectations.

Much like Jumanji, this film has a heightened sense of realism that finds itself just a step above Pixar's Toy Story. Keeping to the same midnight snow colors of the book, the film takes place on a train that swoops around the country on Christmas Eve picking up those children who are just about to completely lose their faith in Santa Claus, and takes them to the North Pole. The sporadic conductor, played by Tom Hanks, seems indifferent whether the children choose to get on the train or not. Hanks, who also plays the roles of the young main character, Santa, and a Hobo, has also played in films such as Toy Story and Forrest Gump. And though he has been immuned to failure as an actor, he seems to recover from his recently unsuccessful film The Terminal.

With the magic Wilder used to temporarily uproot grown-ups into his believable world of chocolate and Oompa Loompas, Hanks and his "crew" dance around the train and pitch hot chocolate into the children's glasses with such realistic animation that it seems like the artists merely sketched drawings over a live filmed version.

As you spin around the train tracks with the characters 20 minutes into the movie, you have to stop and remember that you bought a $7 movie ticket, not an all night winter pass to Six Flags. Eventually you find yourself pulled into the turbulent ride to Santa Claus' workshop, where one of the children will be chosen to receive the first gift of Christmas.

If you've already written this off as another "believe in Santa" movie, think again