The schmaltz content gets higher and higher, as if administered through a drip feed, until by the end we are drowning in sucrose.

People in Hollywood should never work with children or animals, W.C. Fields once said. Maybe that should be expanded to hyper-realistic computer-generated children and reindeer, too.

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.

It’s not hard to see why this movie [The Polar Express] was optioned, but it is frustrating to see the concept wasted on a thin, meandering plot meant as a morality play.