The Polar Express

Stupidity: The Engineer and Fireman of the Polar Express train crew should have known better than to not bend back the the metallic prongs of the cotter pin, which would have prevented the cotter pin from coming loose and causing all those problems in the driving of the train.

Scott215

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Suggested correction: As you yourself stated, the whole thing is likely a dream, where "normal" reality doesn't apply. In the "real world", the train would never be able to do any of the things that it does in the film.

wizard_of_gore

Dream or not, it is still a stupidity of the train crew to not secure a pin that could work itself free of the controls of the locomotive.

Scott215

Dreams are often unrealistic. There is no mistake.

The entry doesn't say anything about the entire trip to the North Pole being a dream.

Agreed. It was never stated that it was a dream considering that Hero Boy lost the sleigh bell only to find it Christmas morning with a note from Santa. And to add, Steamer said that cotter pin was sheared off which caused it to come loose.

Continuity mistake: Throughout the movie, the number of cars the train has changes. The scene where Hero Girl's ticket is surrounded by a pack of wolves shows the train having around 20 cars, but the scene where the train's on the ice shows it having 5.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: The entire journey is likely just a dream. There are many things in the movie that cannot happen in the "real" world, and the number of cars changing is just another aspect of the dreamlike nature of the trip.

wizard_of_gore

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.

Boobra

More mistakes in The Polar Express

Conductor: One thing about trains - it doesn't matter where they're going. What matters is deciding to get on.

More quotes from The Polar Express

Trivia: The voices of Hero Boy's mother and sister are director Robert Zemeckis' wife, Leslie.

More trivia for The Polar Express

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.

More questions & answers from The Polar Express

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