Wow. Zowie. Delightful.

These are a few of the words fluttering in the wake of "The Polar Express," which stars Tom Hanks in all his computer-generated, amazingly animated glory.

Warm feelings float like the golden train ticket that escapes our hero's grasp, arcing and flitting through snow-blanketed, moon-bathed forests before alighting once again on the mysterious train.

Based on Chris Van Allsburg's award-winning children's book, "Polar Express" honors its source, then exceeds it.

Director Robert Zemeckis and co-writer William Broyles Jr. take Allsburg's terse tale and magnificent illustrations about a boy on the night before Christmas and spin them into a sumptuous story of doubt and belief, friendship and purpose.

The boy in the film is teetering on the edge of skepticism. As the movie opens, Santa is fast becoming a fabrication for little sisters. Everywhere the boy looks, his suspicions are supported: A wind-up Santa here, a newspaper headline about a Santa gone bad there. Even his father has tucked in his pocket a white-trimmed Santa's cap.

As he drifts off to sleep - or does he? - the boy is summoned by a train whistle. An officious conductor gets the lad to make the leap onto the train bound for the North Pole.

The locomotive is already carrying pajama-clad youngsters. Two immediately make an impression on the Hero Boy (as he's called in production notes): Hero Girl and Know-It-All Boy. The girl (played by Nona Gaye) is the movie's compassionate heart. There's a clarity in her kindness, even if it is shaded with a smidgen of doubt.Before barreling to Santa's enclave, the train makes another pick-up on the other side of the tracks: Lonely Boy."Polar Express" delivers a yuletide message much the way Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" has or Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" or even Dr. Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" You're sure to find visions of classics dancing in this film's imagination: Zuzu's petals find an echo in Santa's sleigh bell; like the four friends in the "The Wizard of Oz," our youngsters receive tokens to help them know the meaning of their journey.Perils abound, but they aren't a villain's work, not even one who in the end would be transformed. An icy lake cracking isn't anyone's fault, but it is nerve-racking just the same.As captivating as it is for the wee ones, the film is a splendid gift to adults: a benevolent world devoid of blame."The Polar Express" celebrates the spirit of giving and the grace embedded in humble receiving. Who will get the first gift of Christmas? Millions of readers know the answer, and it's a no-brainer for the rest of us. Yet, its meaning is more complex and generous.So how is Tom Hanks, who plays Hero Boy, the Boy's Father, the Conductor, the Hobo and Santa?He remains Hanksian as ever: appealing, versatile, touching. Yet it's his computer-coded doppelganger, the Conductor, who most endears. The Conductor is one of those mentor figures who balances his authority and generosity with gentle amusement.Each time we think he is going to chastise Hero Boy or Hero Girl, he is instead loving, and it surprises. How refreshing. What does it say that we adult filmgoers expect the opposite - that we live by the notion that no good deed goes unpunished? "Polar Express" will have none of this.The movie has razzle-dazzle; the hot-chocolate number is fabulously show-offy. Just in case you thought these computer-generated images couldn't strut their stuff, a wait staff swoops into the train's car and puts on a manic, marvelous show.From its first falling snowflakes until its last "Merry Christmas," this snow globe of wonderment casts a spell of visual, technical and storytelling brilliance.