The Polar Express

 Today we went with friends Mary and Chuck to the 3-D Imax theater to see " The Polar Express". 

For those of you who have seen an Imax movie, then you know that it is an experience and today's movie was not disappointing.   Based on Chris Van Allsburg's best selling chalderns classic about a boy doubting if Santa Claus was real.  

 On  Christmas Eve, a boy boards a train called the Polar Express that is bound for the North Pole.  When the train reaches the  Pole, Santa chooses one of the children on board to receive the first gift of Christmas.  He chooses the boy, who asks for a bell from the raindeer's harness.  On the trip home, the boy loses the bell.  However, he gets it back wrapped up in a gift under the tree.  He and his sister can hear the beautiful sound the bell makes, but his parents cannot.

Tom Hanks plays  the conductor, the boy, the boys father, a hobo, and  Santa.  

At times it is almost impossible to take your eyes off the screen when the train goes on a wild ride through plunging  rails, or the children trying to retrieve a lost ticket on the trains roof.  Some of the heights made me dizzy and I found myself looking away momentarily.   There are lessons for the kids to  learn  here about leadership, trust, humility and ?