The Polar Express

Question: What kind of instrument was the bum playing when we first meet him?

Answer: The instrument is called a Hurdy-Gurdy. It is a type of wound string instrument.

Answer: Violin.

Question: How would the train have been able to go back the same way with the ice on the lake cracking?

Answer: Because it's a magic train.

Question: When Hero Boy gets back from the toy room in the train, what were all the kids shouting?

Answer: After "Hero Boy" gets back into the train the kids are all laughing and spouting gibberish. This is often done in post-production when backround noise or talking is necessary. They aren't saying or shouting anything in paticular, just a bunch of kids jabbering on about nothing. I listened to that section three times and it's just gibberish.

CCARNI ★

Question: In the scene at the end where the conductor is finishing stamping everyone's ticket (e.g. know-it-all got 'learn', girl got 'lead', etc), what was on Hero Boy's ticket? I didn't watch the English version and the conductor said not to say it out loud.

Answer: It says "Believe".

Question: How come the conductor and the hero girl walk on the roof of the train headed towards the front when they could have walked through it, the way they did coming back with the hero boy?

Answer: Cinematically, it made for more excitement. Walking to and from the engine through the train is, let's face it, boring.

CCARNI ★

Question: So if you can't hear the bell you don't believe in Santa, therefore if the parents can't hear (ie. don't believe) and Santa brought the presents who do they think bought them?

Answer: Each likely assumes the other (or another relative) brought them.

Answer: Hero Boy isn't imagining Lonely Boy. He is a real character that interacts with Hero Boy, Hero Girl, the Conductor and the elves at the North Pole.

Question: When the boy trips on the ball, what's the thing that it hits?

Answer: It looks like a hubcap.

Answer: It is a Ford hub cap from the 50's, I have one in my barn just like it.

Answer: It's a wheel cover that covers the entire rim, which are different from hub caps that just cover the hub part of the wheel.

Question: When the boy enters the train car the other kids are heard singing the polar express song. How could they have learned it?

Answer: They likely were taught it before the boy boarded the train. We should assume that the same magic making the train appear without being seen by others and to travel to the North Pole is also at work here, perhaps allowing the children to be able to learn the song quickly.

raywest ★

Answer: Alternatively, it could just be a song they all made up.

Question: When the 3 kids are in the back of the train, and they start rolling away and end up in Santa's bag how did the know-it-all kid get in there? People are saying he followed them but you have to remember they were in a moving train.

Answer: He just went off on own to snoop around and ended up in the bag before the other three kids did.

Question: What song is the hobo playing when Hero Boy first meets him on top of the Polar Express?

Answer: It's "Good King Wenceslas," a traditional Christmas carol.

raywest ★

More for The Polar Express

Mistakes

Factual error: When hero boy and girl and Billy are on the runaway car at the north pole, they crash into the stopper at the end of the tracks. They are flung backwards when in reality, due to inertia, they should have been flung forward into the guard rail.

wizard_of_gore ★

More mistakes in The Polar Express

Quotes

Hero Boy: At one time most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. And though I've grown old, the bell still rings for me, as it does for all who truly believe.

More quotes from The Polar Express

Trivia

Trivia: The voices of Hero Boy's mother and sister are director Robert Zemeckis' wife, Leslie.

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