Rating (Anticipated): 3.5/5 Stars (A Visually Stunning, Existential Christmas Journey) Director: [Hypothetical Director: Robert Zemeckis (or a protégé)] Starring: Tom Hanks (The Conductor, returning in multiple roles)
THE POLAR EXPRESS 2 (2025) picks up the narrative twenty years later, centering on the original protagonist, Hero Boy (now Hero Man), who is now a successful but deeply cynical man approaching middle age. His childhood silver sleigh bell, once his cherished link to Christmas magic, has finally gone silent.
1. The Plot: The Silent Bell and the Lost Map
The sequel begins on Christmas Eve, where Hero Man (now an architect focused on cold, modern design) finds himself completely disconnected from the holiday spirit.
- The Loss of Sound: Hero Man still carries the sleigh bell, but he can no longer hear its sound—a visual metaphor for his lost faith, not just in Santa, but in the magic and wonder of life itself.
- The New Journey: A new, mysterious magical object—perhaps an antique map or a faded ticket stub found in his father’s belongings—begins to glow, drawing him out of his cold city apartment. To his shock, the familiar steam and roar announce the return of The Polar Express, stopping right outside his window.
- The Conductor’s Ultimatum: The Conductor (Tom Hanks) returns, not to shepherd children, but to challenge the adult. He reveals that the Polar Express itself is in danger; as belief fades in the adult world, the magic that powers the train, and indeed the North Pole, is weakening. Hero Man must board the train one last time, tasked not with receiving belief, but with restoring it in others.
2. The Passengers: Modern Skeptics
This time, the train is filled with a new cohort of skeptical children who embody modern cynicism:
- The Digital Skeptic: A sharp young boy who tries to explain the train’s magic using physics and YouTube videos, refusing to accept anything he can’t verify online.
- The Jaded Teen: A teenager who views the journey as a potential viral story, live-streaming her entire cynical experience to her followers.
- The Original Girl’s Son: One of the children is the son of the “Spirited Girl” from the original film, carrying the weight of his mother’s legacy of belief while struggling with his own modern doubts.
Hero Man’s journey requires him to navigate this new landscape of skepticism, using his unique perspective—the ability to remember the magic—to reach the children, rather than relying on the Conductor’s theatrics.
3. The Climax: The First Gift Revisited
The climax involves the train arriving at the North Pole, which is now dark, struggling, and partially frozen due to the diminished spirit of Christmas.
- The New Challenge: Instead of being given the “First Gift of Christmas,” Hero Man must perform the equivalent of a miracle: making a child hear the bell for the very first time.
- The Resolution: Hero Man confronts the Ghostly Hobo (possibly a physical representation of his own lingering doubt). By telling his authentic, complicated story of losing and regaining belief, he manages to connect with one of the skeptical children, who finally hears the bell ring. The magic returns, the North Pole lights up, and Hero Man, though still skeptical of “magic,” rediscovers the value of hope, memory, and the power of shared wonder.
The film concludes with Hero Man returning home, the bell finally audible to him once again, having found a new, mature definition of belief that accommodates the complexities of adult life.
