Besides the caribou, Santa Claus' reindeer and the wolves, various other animals are featured in various Polar Express media.
Rabbits[]
Along with wolves, the book mentions rabbits being in the forest and hiding from the train while it speeds through, though they never appear in any of the illustrations.
According to David Schaub, rabbits would have been featured in the film during the ticket journey. Hero Girl's ticket would have gotten stuck to the train tracks where a bunny tries to free it. More bunnies were added in later versions, but they were ultimately cut from the final version of the sequence.[1]
Eagles[]
The mother eagle and her eaglet.
During the ticket journey, an eagle catches the ticket as it is falling into a river. The eagle flies to its nest and feeds it to its eaglet, which spits it out as a crumpled ball and sends it rolling down a hill.
Like Smokey and Steamer, the Scrooge puppet and other animals in the film, the eagles were keyframe-animated as opposed to motion-captured.[1][2] Early concept art by Aaron Becker portrayed the eagle's nest with three eaglets.[3]
Bears[]
A sleuth of bears.
Early concept art for the film shows a sleuth of bears partying around a campfire in a forest celebrating Christmas.[3] It can be assumed this would have taken place during the ticket journey, but it never made it into the final film.
Polar bear[]
The polar bear.
In an early piece of concept art for the film of the ice plains, a polar bear can be seen watching the train pass by,[3] though it is never featured in the final film. However, it appears in the results page when one finishes the game The Polar Express Train Adventure, as well as in the Keepsake Memory Book on a page about real-life polar bears. It can also be seen on The Polar Express Train Ride posters. There are also toy Polar bears which are available at the Polar Express gift shops.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Schaub, David (November 15, 2005). "'The Polar Express Diary': Part 4 -- Keyframe Animation". Animation World Network.
- ↑ Schaub, David (November 23, 2004). "'The Polar Express' Diary: Part 1 -- Testing and Prepping". Animation World Network.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Cotta Vaz, Mark. Starkey, Steve. (November 4, 2004) The Art of the Polar Express, Chronicle Books. p. 51, 54, & 76. ISBN 978-0811846592.