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Chris (better known as the Hero Boy) is the main protagonist of the 1985 book The Polar Express and its 2004 film adaptation. As an adult, he serves as the narrator of the story.

Role in the book[]

In Grand Rapids, Michigan on a snowy Christmas Eve, Chris lies in his bed, waiting to hear the bells from Santa's sleigh, despite a friend telling him Santa does not exist. Suddenly, he hears a train outside and sure enough, a train had stopped in front of his house. A Conductor steps outside one of the cars and looks at Chris' window, prompting him to go outside. He tells Chris that the train, called the Polar Express, is going to the North Pole, so Chris puts out his hand and the Conductor pulls him aboard.

On the train, Chris meets other children going to the North Pole. Throughout the journey, they sing Christmas carols, eat nougat-centered candies, and drink hot cocoa while the train travels through villages and forests and climbs mountains until it arrives at the North Pole where Chris, along with the other children and the Conductor, get off. Chris hears the silver bells from the reindeer's harness and thinks it is the most beautiful sound he has ever heard. Soon, Santa arrives and chooses Chris to receive the first gift of Christmas. Chris asks Santa for one of the bells from his sleigh, so an elf cuts one from the harness and tosses it to Santa. Santa declares it the first gift of Christmas and gives it to Chris, who puts it in his robe pocket.

After Santa leaves, the Conductor and the children get back onboard the train. The other children ask to see the bell, but Chris only feels a hole in his pocket when reaching for it. One of the children suggests they go look for it, but the train had already begun moving. When they arrive at Chris's house, Chris gets off and waves goodbye. The Conductor wishes him a merry Christmas, but Chris cannot hear it from his house, so he shouts it with his arms cupped around his mouth.

The next morning, Chris and his sister, Sarah open their presents. Sarah finds one small present behind the tree and Chris opens it to find the silver bell he lost. He shakes it and he and Sarah both enjoy the sound it makes. However, neither of their parents can hear it, as they do not believe in Santa.

In the beginning, most of Chris' friends were also able to hear the bell, but it would fall silent for all of them over the years, even Sarah. Though he has grown old, it still rings for him.

Role in the film[]

While the book only implies that Hero Boy is losing his faith in the Christmas spirit, the film directly states his crisis.

Set in Grand Rapids, Michigan on one late snowy Christmas Eve, Chris thinks he hears Santa's sleigh bells, so he goes downstairs to find a shadow resembling Santa, but it turns out to be his father taking Sarah to get a drink of water. He goes back upstairs to his room and watches, through the keyhole, Sarah telling her parents about being told Santa does not exist, but her parents assure her that Santa will come. Chris looks into an encyclopedia, which says that the North Pole is "devoid of life." He also looks at an old magazine, a newspaper headlining a Santa strike, and picture of a girl with a department store Santa and pulling his beard.

Chris returns to bed, but is woken again when the train shows up outside. He puts on his slippers and robe and goes outside. The Conductor steps outside and tells Chris about the train, as well as some signs of disbelief in Santa he has been showing this year, including no picture with a department store Santa, no letter to Santa, and making Sarah put out the milk and cookies. Chris initially declines the trip, but just as it starts moving, he runs aboard the train.

Chris walks into the seating area to find other children singing the Polar Express song and he goes to take a seat. A Know-It-All kid in front of him looks back and asks him what kind of train they are on, leaving Chris in confusion. Hero Girl jumps in and says they are on a magic train going to the North Pole. Hero Boy asks her if they are really going there when the train passes by Herpolsheimer's. The other children were mesmerized by the Christmas display, but Chris smirks at the mechanical workings of the Santa figure.

When the Conductor comes to punch everyone's tickets, Chris does not know where his is. The Conductor suggests he checks his pockets. Only a hole is in the right one, but when he checks the left, he finds a ticket and hands it to the Conductor, who punches the letters B and E out of the left and right sides. Next, the train stops at Billy's house, but Billy makes the decision to get on the train a little too late. Chris stops the train for him by pulling the emergency brake. This briefly gets him in trouble with the Conductor until Hero Girl jumps in to explain his actions.

Next, a group of chefs and waiters enter the car to serve Hero Boy and the other children hot chocolate. After they leave, Hero Girl goes to give a cup she saved to Billy. Hero Boy finds her unpunched ticket left on her seat and goes to return it, but it gets blown away by the wind while he attempts to transfer to the other car. When Hero Girl finds out that she had lost her ticket, Hero Boy owns up and attempts to transfer his ticket to her, but the Conductor tells him he cannot do so because they're not transportable and takes her away. Luckily, Chris finds the lost ticket, goes after Hero Girl and the Conductor, and along the way, meets a Hobo on top of the observation car. The Hobo offers him a cup of coffee, but he spits it out after finding out the Hobo washes his socks in it. After that, he helps Hero Boy get to the engine room before Flat Top Tunnel by skiing down the passenger cars.

In the engine room, Chris find Hero Girl driving the train. He then stops the train after they catch sight of a herd of caribou blocking the track, then helps Smokey, Steamer, and the Conductor clear the track. Later, the wind blows Hero Girl's ticket out of his slipper, but he and Hero Girl manage to grab it. Hero Girl thanks him for finding her ticket and the Conductor punches it. Everyone soon heads back to the passenger cars, going through the abandoned toy car where Hero Boy gets scared by an Ebeneezer Scrooge puppet being operated by the Hobo. In the observation car, he encounters Hero Girl and Billy singing "When Christmas Comes to Town" and watches the Northern Lights, before the Conductor shows up to tell them they are almost at the North Pole.

Soon, they arrive and get off the train. There, Chris, Hero Girl, and Billy end up exploring most of the area, including Santa's Workshop, after Hero Boy accidentally presses a lever that uncouples the observation car from the rest of the train, causing it to become a runaway. The children find their way back by following the sounds of the silver bells, which Chris could not hear. After he and Hero Girl chase Billy and his newfound gift in the Wrapping Hall, they end up in Santa's bag with Know-It-All, who had followed them around the whole time.

After they arrive at the North Pole Square and get rescued from the bag, Santa Claus arrives, but the Chris has trouble seeing him, and he still cannot hear "the most beautiful sounding bells in the world," according to the Hero Girl, but when a bell falls off a reindeer and lands at his feet, he still can not hear it ring (just the word doubter whispering) until after he whispers to himself, "I believe." Later, Santa chooses Chris to be the one to receive the first gift of Christmas, which is the sleigh bell that landed at his feet just then. Chris then watches Santa fly away in his sleigh. When Billy asks him if these events are just a dream, he responds with a, "No."

The children line up to get their tickets punched again. When it is Chris's turn, the resulting word is, "BELIEVE", but the Conductor interrupts him before he can read it out loud, claiming he does not need to know. With everyone back on the train, the children ask to see the bell, but Chris discovers that it fell through the hole in his pocket, much to his depression. Later, before Billy gets off, he thanks Chris for stopping the train for him and they say goodbye to each other. Chris also cheers up when he finds out Billy's present has arrived. Later, it was time for Chris to get off. He says goodbye to Hero Girl and Know-It-All, then gets off the train and to his house.

The next morning, when Chris and Sarah open their presents, Sarah finds a box that contains the sleigh bell and a note from Santa Claus himself, telling Chris that he had dropped it on his sleigh the night before and that he better fix the hole in his pocket. Chris rings the bell and he and Sarah enjoy the sound it made, but Chris' parents do not hear it when they ring it themselves.

Chris, as a grown-up, narrates the end, saying that even though he has grown up, he can still hear the bell, unlike all of his friends and Sarah, who were able to hear it when they were children but at some point lost their beliefs and thus their ability to hear it.

Other appearances[]

The Polar Express: The Video Game[]

In the video game, Chris appears as the character which the player plays as in every level. In the first chapter, he helps the other children find their lost tickets, which were stolen by Scrooge. He also encounters Scrooge and his minions on several occasions and fights them. When he meets the Hobo on top of the passenger cars, the Hobo takes him on a ski down the hill and race the train. Later, when the children are being served refreshments, Chris fills in for a missing waiter. Hero Girl saves a refreshment for him.

He, along with Hero Girl and Billy, have several adventures at the North Pole. First, the observation car becomes a runaway and they have to avoid crashing into oncoming obstacles by tilting the car with the brake wheel. Next, they ride the pneumatic and make sure they open the right gates by hitting the correct switches. They end up at the Wrapping Room where Chris and Hero Girl get separated from Billy, who gets distracted by a present and follows it. However, they manage to make their way through the factory and reunite. Next, they find themselves at the bottom of the big pile of presents. They decide to climb up the pile, thinking an exit might be at the top, but by the time they make it, the presents are enclosed in a big bag and carried by a pair of zeppelins to the Square. They, along with Know-It-All, are taken aboard the zeppelins where the captain asks Chris to take the wheel while he goes to help the other elves. By the time they make it to the Square, the captain takes over again and the children go back to the bag. They are rescued from the bag after it lands on the sleigh.

The Polar Express Train Adventure[]

Hero Boy appears as one of the pickups.

The Polar Express Ticket Chase[]

The wind blows Hero Boy's ticket out the window and gets it stuck on the observation car. The player, playing as Hero Boy, must walking across the passenger cars, dodging obstacles along the way, and retrieve the ticket. After that, they become the Hobo and ski back across the train to help Hero Boy back to the front passenger car before the train reaches Flat Top Tunnel, once again avoiding obstacles.

Behind the scenes[]

While Hero Boy's real name is never revealed in either the book or the film, several art books related to the film say that his name is Chris, named after the author of the book, Chris Van Allsburg.[2] Tom Hanks also refers to him as Chris at one point in a behind the scenes interview.[3]

Like most human characters, Hero Boy's animation was done through motion-capture, mostly provided by Tom Hanks with additional motion-capture done by Josh Hutcherson. However, some keyframe animation was done to perfect his movements.[4] For example, whenever Hero Boy ran, Tom Hanks' adult-sized motion capture for him came out too slow for a child and was sped up by about 12%.[5] Tom's voice would later be dubbed over by Daryl Sabara, who would mimic the voice of Tom while playing the role.[6]

Hero Boy's computer model had gone through several changes before its final design. According to animation supervisor David Schaub, the original model had features more akin to that of a teenager. This was fixed by reducing his height by ten inches and making his eyes and head bigger. However, the animation data also had to be fixed as the original data did not work well with the changes.[1]

In other languages[]

Language Name Voice actor(s)
Chinese 英雄男孩 Kang Dian-Hong (adult voice)
Dutch Jongetje Frans Limburg
Finnish Sankaripoika Henri Piispanen (child voice)
Markus Bäckman (adult voice)
French Le Jeune Héros Maxime Baudouin (child voice)
Jean-Philippe Puymartin (adult voice)
German Der Kleine Junge Maximilian Artajo
Hebrew הילד הגיבור Tamir Ginsburg
Hungarian A Kisfiú Márk Jelinek (child voice)
Ákos Kőszegi (adult voice)
Italian Hero Boy Furio Pergolani
Japanese Hīrō Bōi Ryuhei Yamamoto (child voice)
Toshiaki Karasawa (adult voice)
Korean 소년 Kim Seo-yeong
Polish Krzyś Kajetan Lewandowski (child voice)
Adam Ferency (adult voice)
Portuguese Herói João Teixeira (Portugal; child voice)
Diogo Infante (Portugal; adult voice)
Romanian Hero Boy Carina Marin
Russian Glavnyj Geroj Dmitriy Martynov (child voice)
Pavel Smetankin (adult voice)
Spanish Niño Héroe Fabrizio Santini (Latin America; child voice)
Óscar Gómez (Latin America; adult voice)
Andrés Arahuete (Spain, child voice)
Jordi Brau (Spain, adult voice)
Swedish Pojken Calle Dahlström (child voice)
Roger Storm (adult voice)

Trivia[]

  • Fritz the Dog appears in Hero Boy's room on top of the bedpost in both the book and the film.
  • A picture of Babe Ruth an American professional baseball player was seen in the wall in the Boy's bedroom next to the window in both the film and the book.
  • After Chris blows the locomotive's whistle, he says, "I've wanted to do that my whole life," in order to be a train engineer. In Back to the Future III, a film also directed by Robert Zemeckis, Emmett Brown says the same thing after blowing the whistle of Locomotive 131.
  • Hero Boy is one of the few characters not to sing any songs throughout the movie.

Quotes[]

Film[]

  • "Where?"
  • "The North Pole?"
  • "Are we really going to the North Pole?"
  • "Hey, that kid wants to get on the train. Come on! Hurry up!"
  • "We have to stop the train!"
  • "I don't think we're supposed to leave our seats."
  • "Uh-oh! She forgot her ticket! It hasn't been punched!"
  • "She didn't lose her ticket. I did. I was trying to return it to her, but the wind blew it out of my hand. You can have my ticket."
  • "Where'd they go? What happened to them? Please, she's in big trouble, you have to help me!"
  • "I'm looking for, a girl."
  • "I have her ticket."
  • "What about, uh Santa?"
  • "Isn't he the king of the North Pole?"
  • "But, what about this train?"
  • "We're all really going to the North Pole, aren't we?"
  • "Are you saying, this all, just a, dream?"
  • "AAH!"
  • "You!? I thought you got thrown off and... you're driving the train!?"
  • "How'd you know how?"
  • "I've wanted to do that my whole life!"
  • "The engineer?"
  • "What about this red one!? It looks like a brake!"
  • "Are you sure?"
  • "ARE YOU SURE!?"
  • "Is everything alright, what should we do?"
  • "LOOK!" (pointing to the breaking ice with the help of his right-hand)
  • "My slipper."
  • "It's not my ticket, it's yours!"
  • "What are they doing here?"
  • "The Northern Lights!"
  • "She's right."
  • "Look, I don't know if Christmas is gonna work out for you or not, but this is Christmas Eve! Don't stay here by yourself!"
  • "We're gonna be okay. Maybe NOT!"
  • "The emergency brake! THE EMERGENCY BRAKE!"
  • "There's no brake! I CAN'T FIND THE BRAKE!"
  • "What bell?"
  • "I don't hear anything."
  • "Why can't I hear anything?"
  • "I don't know about this."
  • "I think we should follow those arrows."
  • "I thought there, there would be a way out."
  • "Hey look, a present. It's going to my town, to someone named Billy."
  • "YOU!"
  • "We're not gonna make it."
  • "We fell in here by mistake."
  • "I can't see him!"
  • "I can't see him! I CAN'T SEE HIM!"
  • "I believe."
  • "It says..."
  • "It's gone. I lost it, I lost the bell from Santa's sleigh."
  • "That is amazing. It is amazing."
  • "What?"
  • "Santa."

Video Game[]

  • "I've gotta find those tickets!"
  • "That wasn't the one."
  • "Hey. Slide this way."
  • "Come over here."
  • "Okay, you stay here, and keep an eye out for the Conductor. I'll go, and help find their tickets."
  • "Did you find your ticket?"
  • "Don't be afraid, if we go in there together, it won't be so scary. Do you know which jack-in-the-box has your ticket?"
  • "Okay, here's the plan, you hold the flashlight, and I'll check in the jack-in-the-boxes. Try to be brave, I don't like the dark much either."
  • "Hey, why did you run off? I can't open the toys without you."
  • "I'm pretty sure I know which toy it's in. Will find it in no time."
  • "Hey, did you see that? The boxes have switched places, spooky. Now, which toys haven't we tried?"
  • "No, we found it together. I couldn't have done it without your help. But hurry back before the Conductor starts looking for us."
  • "I'm not afraid of some old puppets. I'll go in there and get your ticket back for you."
  • "I've come to get my friend's ticket back. If you want to stop me, you better do it now."
  • "That's the last one, we can get the ticket!"
  • "Well they started it, and it was the only way I can get your ticket. By the way, here it is."
  • "Good idea, I'm gonna go find the others and see if they found their tickets."
  • "Left behind, are you sure? The only way we can stop the train is to pull the emergency brake. I saw one in the other car."
  • "We haven't got anytime to lose. Don't worry, the boy won't miss the train."
  • "Alright, you've got a deal."
  • "Hmm... I wonder where the other tickets are?"
  • "Um, why is the cook angry?"
  • "Uh yeah, that was me. But it wasn't really my fault, those puppets started it. Don't worry though, I'm gonna sneak in there and get your ticket back."
  • "Phew! That was close! He sure is in a bad mood. Here's your ticket."
  • "Hi, have you found your ticket yet?"
  • "Did you look for a key?"
  • "I won't laugh."
  • "I'm sorry. Well, how about I catch those mice for you, and then we can search the next train car for your ticket."
  • "Hey, you'll never believe it, but those mice, were only wind up toys. You shouldn't be scared of toys."
  • "Okay, we better hurry, let's go."
  • "An ice smasher. That sounds cool, I wanna try that."
  • "I sure did, here you go."
  • "Don't worry, you head back with the others. I'll help him find his ticket, and the Conductor will never suspect a thing."
  • "I've came up here to help you find your ticket. I fought puppets, dodged toys, smashed ice blocks, trapped mice and even hid from an angry cook."
  • "Let me guess, there's toys in there, they won't give you your ticket."
  • "Leave it to me. We are all going to the North Pole, and we need those tickets."
  • "Stay in your box until Christmas!"
  • "That's it, the toys are back in there places! Let's get that last ticket."
  • "I don't think will be having anymore trouble from those toys. They'll stay shut for a long time."
  • "Yup, we better get back before the Conductor throws us off the train."
  • "That's okay, it was nothing really."
  • "He's right about one thing though, we should get back to our seats, I can hear the Conductor coming."
  • "I can do this. I just gonna be careful, and make sure nothing knocks me off this train, that girl was depending on me. I'm not going to let her down!"
  • "I have to show this ticket to the Conductor, before it's too late!"
  • "I think they're just up ahead."
  • "Hello, is someone there?"
  • "So it's hopeless then?"
  • "I guess I can do it. I can do it!"
  • "Have you done this before!?"
  • "I got it!"
  • "What's happening, shouldn't you do something?"
  • "Then what's that sound coming from the engine? It's... GET BACK! IT'S SOUNDING LIKE SOMETHINGS IS GONNA BLOW!"
  • "What do you want me to do?"
  • "Alright, I'm ready."
  • "Yeah, you did too. I'm just worried about what the Conductor will do when you realizes that I've stopped the train again!"
  • "We gotta do it, let's get this train moving."
  • "Hey, I'm getting the hang of this."
  • "No problem."
  • "This is easy!"
  • "Holy smokes, I forgot! I found your ticket."
  • "It was nothing, just glad I got to blow that whistle, I always wanted to do that. Okay, let's head back. I should warn you though, there are some nasty toys on this train. I've got a sneaky suspicion that there may be trouble ahead."
  • "Don't worry, it sounds like we have some company. Just keep your head down, I'll take care of these toys. Once the cost is clear, follow me across the train car."
  • "It's really slippery. Hey look, there's a pair of ice boots. Hey why didn't I get that the first time? If I put them on, I should be able to walk safely and make a path for you."
  • "Don't worry, they're only toy mice. But it looks like they've stolen the key to the door again. I'm quite good at catching them. You wait here, and I'll go get our key."
  • "I don't know, but it sounds pretty angry."
  • "I think it's that nasty toy who stole our tickets. It wants to stop us from to getting to the North Pole."
  • "No way, we've come so far! It's time to put this toy away for good!"
  • "You're just a bitter old toy! Christmas isn't about toys, it's about giving and sharing."
  • "Let's see about that!"
  • "Uh, I think so. I've never done it before."
  • "Thank you. Extra marshmallows too, my favorite."
  • "As long as we don't crash into anything, we should be alright."
  • "Whoa. It works, sort of."
  • "One more thing though, where are we going?"
  • "We need to catch up with those elves."
  • "Okay, I'll follow your lead."
  • "Okay, onto the next switch."
  • "Just keep on top of it until we reach the end."
  • "Where did he go?"
  • "Maybe I should pull this lever."
  • "I wonder what this lever does?"
  • "The conveyor belts have changed directions."
  • "There he is."
  • "How are we gonna get out of here?"
  • "I'm not sure that will work, it sounds pretty dangerous. This is a big pile of presents."
  • "Sure, I'll meet you guys at the top. Shout down if you see any dangerous spots."
  • "Um, hi."
  • "Sure."
  • "I think I can help you captain."
  • "I'll do whatever I can to help. What do you need me to do?"
  • "Eye eye sir, I'll give you me best effort."
  • "The presents! I have to be more careful!"
  • "This is harder then it looks."
  • "We have to get these toys to Santa!"
  • "Thanks, but we're not quite there yet."
  • "Um, thank you."

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Schaub, David (November 23, 2004). "'The Polar Express' Diary: Part 1 -- Testing and Prepping". Animation World Network.
  2. Cotta Vaz, Mark. Starkey, Steve. (November 4, 2004) The Art of the Polar Express, Chronicle Books. p. 32. ISBN 978-0811846592.
  3. Behind The Scenes with Tom Hanks (timestamp 3:14)
  4. Schaub, David (February 15, 2005). "'The Polar Express' Diary: Part 2 -- Performance Capture & the MoCap/Anim Process". Animation World Network.
  5. Schaub, David (February 22, 2005). "'The Polar Express' Diary: Part 3 -- The MoCap/Anim Process". Animation World Network.
  6. Van de Wall, Virginia (December 4, 2014). "8 Mindblowing Facts About the 'Polar Express' Movie". J-14. A360 Media Entertainment Group.
Characters
Children Hero Boy (Chris) Hero Girl (Holly) Know-It-All Billy the Lonely Boy Sister Sarah Gus the Toothless Boy Boy on Train Blonde Girl (Heather) Little Boy Young Boy Steven Other children
Adults Conductor Hobo Smokey and Steamer Santa Claus Pastry Chefs Waiters Hero Boy's parents
Elves Elves Acrobatic Elves Elf General Elf Lieutenant Elf Singer
Animals Caribou Santa Claus' reindeer Wolves Other animals
Toys Ebenezer Scrooge puppet Scrooge's friends
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