Thomas and the Magic Railroad | | Cast : | Alec Baldwin | | Director : | Britt Allcroft | | Studio : | Columbia/Tristar Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby | | Released Date : | July 26, 2000 | | DVD Released Date : | March 23, 2004 | | Language : | Spanish (Dubbed), English (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | G (General Audience) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 07, 2005 | | Summary | Some good, some bad, but my kids love it. | Content
 | It seems that many of the reviews here are out-of-context, because the reviewers may not be familiar with the "Shining Time Station" series. Shining Time Station is the program which introduced Thomas and his friends to many folks. But after STS left PBS for Nickelodian, PBS was left with just Thomas.
In Shining Time Station, the role of Mr Conductor is fairly important. He is constantly interacting with folks like Stacey Jones (who is in this movie for a few scenes), Billy Two-Feathers (also in the movie and drives the 'real' train), and the infamous Schemer (notably absent). He is also the central figure for telling the children who hang around the station about Thomas and the Land of Sodor. Depending on season, Mr C was played by either Ringo Starr or George Carlin. It is supposed to be a somewhat responsible - yet somewhat wacky - role, as is everything about Shining Time Station. Alec Balwin clearly studied this role closely based on his predecessors, and I thought did an outstanding job.
OTOH, words can not describe how dreadful Peter Fondas performance was. He seemed to be completely lost in every scene he was in. He seemed to have no concept of Shining Time Station at all. It dragged down the entire movie.
As has been noted in other reviews, small kids won't be able to figure out the plot. By the time kids start figuring it out (say, age 9) they are starting to get too old for some of the movie.
The musical interludes are wonderful. Check out some of the samples from the Amazon page for the Sound Tracks CD. (And yes, Locomotion did appear in the movie - during the credits.)
To a rail buff, such as myself, there were some wonderful shots of the steam train taking Lily (Mara Wilson) to Shining Time Station. FWIW, engine #475 - prominently photographed in the movie - belongs to the Strasburg Railroad in Strasburg, Pa. If you have a good sound system, #475s 'CHUG' and whistle send chills up ones spine.
There were a few railroading problems too. Like how did the coal car that got lost through the buffer end up on a different set of tracks than Thomas was on? Or how did Thomas get turned around after he fell off the cliff? How did Patch manage to bring hundreds of lbs of coal back - on his horse - to fire up Lady? Or during the chase scene with Lady, how did Diesel suddenly switch from the left tracks to the right tracks? Kids won't notice any of that of course.
So in summary, if your kids have seen the Shining Time Station series, it will make some sense to them and why the characters are as they are. If they know about Thomas but have not seen STS, the Mr Conductor (and Stacey Jones and Billy Two-Feathers) characters will be new and a bit, er, different. If they've never seen either one, the movie probably will have a hard time standing on its own - at least for the first couple of viewings. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 27, 2005 | | Summary | YOU CALL THIS A MOVIE???????????? | Content
| TIS IS THE WORST THING TO EVER HIT THEATERS!!!!! The plot was lame, it goes from beloved train models to a world that was good when it was in shining time station, but is so horrible now. And to top everything off, ALEC BALDWIN is in it, that totally wrecks the whole thing. I just have one more thing to say: BOO! THIS THING STINKS!
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| Rating | | | Date | July 13, 2005 | | Summary | WHAT!!!!!!!!!???????? | Content
| The Island of sodor is real. But in this movie the island is ''Magical And full of wonder'' PLLLLHHHHH. I just thought that it WAS an island of the coast of England. I own this and only Watch it Occasionally. IT does not even have much island of sodor.It just Mostly Has an 'Adult' Cast. My favorate engine Charactars (including thomas) did not even take up half the movie.It Doesn't even have bill,ben,edward,mavis,boco,Stuart,duke,Etc. Overall Movie is half good and half bad. Only buy it for people who like 'adult themed' movies. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 14, 2005 | | Summary | What Thomas should be! | Content
| Let me be the first to say when I first saw this movie, I was amazed by the amazing detail of the island of sodor. But when I heard their voices, that really made me jump for joy! I think that the engines should have their own voices.
Second, WHY HAS EVERYONE WRITTEN SUCH HORRIBLE REVIEWS ABOUT THIS?
You should at least be happy that Thomas had his own movie! During September 2005, Thomas will have his second movie called "Calling All Engines!" I had better not see some bad reviews about this or I AM GOING TO BE VERY ANGRY!!!!!!
*Settles down and takes a chill pill* |
| Rating | | | Date | April 23, 2005 | | Summary | Where's Thomas In His First Movie? | Content
| I was so excited to get this movie for my brother who loves Thomas and knows everything a three year old can know about trains. I only wish I had read a couple of reviews first. I almost did not buy it just because Alec Baldwin was in it and after seeing this movie, I'll never waste another dime on anything he is in.
So why is this movie so bad? Let's start with the story. It has more to do with Mr. Conductor (a stupid name) than it has to do with Thomas and his friends. The dialogue is horrible. When it does show an engine from the Island of Sodor, it bears no resemblence to the engines in the beloved books. For instance, James comes across as an idiot. Thomas is nearly absent for most of the movie. The voices of the engines sound like little kids, which is silly. On the other hand the character played by Mara Wilson should have been played by a little kid. She is very unconvincing in this role and the boy, Patch is even worse. Some characters seem to be there for no reason at all, like Mr. Conductor's cousin. But that is the way the entire movie goes, things just happen for no reason, leaving the viewer with a bunch of annoying questions: Why is Diesel 10 so angry and mean? Why does Mr. conductor go from the "real" world to the Island of Sodor? Why would Sir Topham Hatt trust this simpleton to run his railroad? Why was Peter Fonda's character able to get to Sodor in the first place? Why was this movie ever made? Why did nobody check in with the original stories to see if any of this made sense? Why was Britt Allcroft allowed to do this kind of damage to Thomas the Tank Engine? Why am I so angry about this? Did they show this movie to a test audience? If so how did it ever make it to theaters?
In short, this is THE WORST movie I have ever seen from the screenplay to the acting to the editing. It has not one redeeming quality. |
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