The Polar Express (CD - 2004)

Arranger: Jerry Hey.

The Christmas season is a perennial juxtaposition of the old and the new. Accordingly, the blockbuster Robert Zemeckis film THE POLAR EXPRESS blends a children's book by Chris Van Allsburg, the classic recordings of Bing Crosby's day, and state-of-the art computer animation into a seamless, organic whole. On the soundtrack, new compositions by Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri coexist with such timeless classics as "White Christmas" and "Winter Wonderland". Here the former tunes become instant classics by association, as the latter gain up-to-date relevance in a new context. Frank Sinatra and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler are seldom heard on the same album, yet here they both are, united by the spirit of Christmas. While some Christmas recordings can be bland and overly familiar, this album is anything but that. THE POLAR EXPRESS is the perfect accompaniment to the blockbuster movie, but it also works as a great collection of Christmas songs, from the timeless to the contemporary. Reflecting a child's sense of wonder, excitement, and adventure, it may well become a holiday classic itself.

The soundtrack to Robert Zemeckis' groundbreaking film adaptation of Chris Van Allsburg's popular children's book The Polar Express celebrates the season with both classic and contemporary holiday flair. Composers Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri provide the latter, relying on swelling choral arrangements, tender ballads, and polarizing yuletide offerings from Stephen Tyler and Josh Groban. Tyler struts his stuff on the amiable but derivative "Rockin' on Top of the World," a three-chord rave-up that finds the Aerosmith mouthpiece channeling a pack of howler monkeys, but it's Groban's syrupy, future American Idol favorite "Believe" that serves as the soundtrack's commercial centerpiece. Tom Hanks does his best Gene Wilder on the whimsical and strangely unnerving title track, a wonderfully unhinged performance that will have Willy Wonka fans clamoring for more, and the winsome vocals of preteens Matthew Hall and Meagan Moore give the ballad "When Christmas Comes to Town" a real sense of wonder. Silvestri's orchestral pieces are effective in tone, yet ape Danny Elfman's Edward Scissorhands theme so shamelessly that lawyers on both sides must have had words early on in the production. The Polar Express is ambitious for sure, but the fact that its most sincere pieces are the six classics that make up its caboose is telling. [The Polar Express is also available in a Special Edition that includes a decorative box and artwork from the book.] ~ James Christopher Monger minimize