- Child 1: "There should be elves. Where are the elves?"
Child 2: "Yeah, where are the elves?"
Conductor: "They are gathering in the center of the city. That is where Santa will give the first gift of Christmas."
— The children and the Conductor
The Elves are small dwarf-like humanoids with pointed ears who live and work at the North Pole, creating all the toys and wrapping them for Santa Claus to deliver on Christmas Eve as well as helping him keep track of all the children to make sure they are nice.
Role in the book[]
When the Polar Express arrives at the North Pole, the children initially see no elves. The Conductor explains they are gathering at the center of the city where Santa will give the first gift of Christmas to one of the children. Soon, the train arrives at the center where hundreds of elves are gathering. The Conductor and the children get off the train and press through the elf crowd to get to Santa's sleigh.
The elves cheer when Santa arrives. Santa chooses Hero Boy to receive the first gift of Christmas, who asks for one of the silver bells from his sleigh. One of the elves cuts a bell off the reindeer's harness at Santa's request and tosses it to him. He holds it up and declares it the first gift of Christmas as the elves cheer again.
Role in the film[]
Like in the book, the children see no elves the moment the train arrives at the North Pole, but crowds of them are seen at the Square.
While trying to return to the Square after getting lost on the runaway observation car, Hero Boy, Hero Girl, and Billy end up at the surveillance room where a few elves are doing last minute work. One elf reports on the last present being wrapped when an alarm sounds, alerting the elves of a naughty child. They find it to be a boy from Maplewood, New Jersey who stuck gum in his sister's hair. They decide not to deal with it, being almost Christmas, but to watch him more closely next year. After that, they leave for the Square on the pneumatic, saying it is the quickest way. The children take the pneumatic too, but end up in the wrapping hall instead.
The children later land atop a big bag of presents, which some elves carry to the Square using a pair of zeppelins. As they arrive, the Conductor notices the bag getting close to the star on top of the big tree and calls out to the elves to increase their altitude, so a few of the elves parachute off, lightening the load of the zeppelins. The bag nevertheless still knocks off the star, so more elves bungee jump off and grab it before it hits the ground, then put it back on the tree. The bag is landed on Santa's sleigh and four elves come to rescue the children while also saying to have known they were there the whole time. Billy is initially hesitant to let go of his present until one of the elves assures him it will be safe.
A procession starts in which the elves bring Santa's reindeer to the sleigh, then hang silver bells on their harness, all while singing "Spirit of the Season." They then, along with the children and the Conductor, sing "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" in anticipation for Santa's arrival. When he shows up, the elves cheer while standing on top of each other, blocking Hero Boy's view. They applaud again when Hero Boy is chosen as the one to receive the first gift of Christmas, then carry him to the sleigh and cheer once more when Santa holds up the silver bell. After Santa disappears into the sky, the elves toss their hats into the air and start a party. An elf band performs "Rockin' on Top of the World" while the others dance with many of them waltzing. During this, the other four elves use their handcar to bring the runaway observation car back to The Polar Express to have it re-coupled, then fall down in exhaustion.
International languages[]
| Language | Name | Voice actor(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Hebrew | ילדים | אסף פריינטא יגאל מזרחי עדי רז יורם יוספסברג |
| Polish | Elfy | Mieczysław Morański |
| Swedish | Nisse | Dick Eriksson |
Trivia[]
- Early in production of the film, there was uncertainty as to whether or not the elves would be motion-captured like most of the human characters.[1] It was eventually decided they would.
Gallery[]
The Polar Express Train Ride[]
References[]
- ↑ Schaub, David (November 23, 2004). "'The Polar Express' Diary: Part 1 -- Testing and Prepping". Animation World Network.
