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.
The Polar Express (2004)
Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Tom Hanks, Michael Jeter, Chris Coppola, Leslie Zemeckis
Continuity mistake: During the scene when the Polar Express slides across the ice and the conductor is telling the train controllers to head for the tracks, the distance between the train and the tracks keeps changing.
Continuity mistake: When the boy runs out of his house, as the train is arriving, they make a point of showing his footprints in the snow along with his sliding leaving long marks. However, when they pan back it is his footprints that are gone.
Trivia: The ticket that gets lost often times floats almost exactly like the feather does in the beginning of "Forrest Gump" (1994), another Robert Zemeckis-Tom Hanks film.
More trivia for The Polar Express
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.
Conductor: Sometimes seeing is believing. And sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can't see.
Conductor: One thing about trains - it doesn't matter where they're going. What matters is deciding to get on.
Question: What kind of instrument was the bum playing when we first meet him?
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.
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Answer: The instrument is called a Hurdy-Gurdy. It is a type of wound string instrument.