Thomas And The Magic Railroad was one of my childhood favorites. I was a huge fan of Thomas The Tank Engine back in the day. I owned a bunch of the videos and toys. I remember one day thirteen years ago my Mom brought home this movie from the library and I was instantly intrigued by real humans on the cover with Thomas. I watched it and I loved it. Later on, I got it for Christmas and I've watched it countless times since. My family may have suffered a bit. Now that I'm older I can understand that it's not a very good movie, but there is definitely some good things about it. The scenes with the engines are magical, the soundtrack is great, the set designs for Sodor are really well done. This movie definitely has flaws though. It's way too Americanized, the acting is not the best, the voice acting is okay but nobody seems to own their role, but the two biggest crimes this movie commits are the film focuses way too much on the humans and not the engines and they left one of the most important characters Edward out of the movie. I want to see humans in this movie, but the amount of screen time given to them and the amount of screen time given to the engines should be reversed. And making a Thomas The Tank Engine movie without Edward is wrong! Edward was an important character and he should have been included in this movie! Not including him is like making an Arthur movie without Buster Baxter, or a Muppet movie without Fozzie Bear, or a Sesame Street movie without Oscar the Grouch. My point is it doesn't work and there's no excuse for not including him. Speaking of not including, this movie only includes the main engines from the show (save for Edward of course) plus Bertie, the four new engines, and two background characters. Come on, this is a Thomas The Tank Engine movie! Throw in, Duck, Oliver, Toad, Donald and Douglas, Diesel, and the Little Engines! Stop focusing so much on the humans and make the engines your main focus! One complaint this movie gets that I don't agree with at all is that the engines mouths don't move. Who cares!? Their mouths didn't move on the tv show! They did eventually but that was when the show became CGI animated and sucked. In regards to the acting performances, Alec Baldwin is over the top as Mr. Conducter. He plays his character like Mr. Rogers, Willy Wonka, and Nicolas Cage all in one person. It's not very good but he's at least entertaining. I do feel like the role could have benefited from being played by Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, or Will Ferrell. Peter Fonda's performance is nothing like Baldwin's. Peter Fonda is playing his role like he's in some sort of depressing Oscar winning drama. It's not bad, but this is Thomas The Tank Engine not Titanic. Mara Wilson is cute in this movie but at this point she wasn't the freaking adorable little girl she was in Mrs. Doubtfire. If this movie could have stayed true to it's British origins and waited several years to be made they could have cast Georgie Henley from Narnia in the role of Lily. That would have been better! People talk about how the movie would have been so much better if they didn't cut out the main villain. Sure it would have been better but I still don't think it would be an acclaimed masterpiece. Despite this movie's flaws I don't hate it. I don't think it's good but I loved it as a child and it still has a special place in my heart. I wouldn't mind collecting it on VHS and watching it occasionally. This movie gets 2.5 stars and a C+. If I wasn't a Thomas The Tank Engine fan it would most likely get a lower rating and if this was 13 years ago I would rank this up there with Forrest Gump.
Review of Thomas and the Magic Railroad
