Review: Thomas And The Magic Railroad (2000)
Magic, magic, and more magic!
★½
The year is 2000. It's been 16 years since Thomas the Tank Engine was brought into the world. High hopes and expectations were flying around, especially after season 5, which was the most cinematic and took risks in everything. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.
"Thomas and the Magic Railroad" is a 2000 fantasy adventure film where the magical world of Sodor faces the threat of Diesel 10 (Neil Crone), a devious engine plotting to destroy the lost engine, Lady (Britt Allcroft), and eliminate the magic that powers Sodor. Mr. Conductor (Alec Baldwin), who maintains the connection between Sodor and the human world, loses his magical gold dust and becomes powerless. Lily (Mara Wilson), a young girl, teams up with Thomas (Edward Glen), Mr. Conductor, and her grandfather Burnett Stone (Peter Fonda) to find Lady and restore her. They uncover that Burnett has been hiding Lady to protect her from Diesel 10. With Lily’s help, Lady is repaired, and together with Thomas, they thwart Diesel 10's plans. Mr. Conductor's gold dust is restored using shavings from Lady's coal, and Sodor's magic is saved, highlighting the importance of belief, courage, and friendship.
What a dreary storyline. What countless journeys there were between the large town of Shining Time and the Isle of Sodor. What strange individuals, like Russell Means' Billy Twofeathers, who appears and vanishes without reason. This should be a swift and lively endeavor, but instead it's a wordy, plodding, and earnest one.
Despite the motionless mouths, "Thomas and the Magic Railroad" is a clumsy collection of mismatched plot lines that meanders through a production with appealing art direction. A good number of the frames would make happy stills. There's something cheerful about Thomas and the other trains, even Evil Diesel, and I appreciate the towns, trees, and scenery. And that's pretty much the only thing I liked about this movie: the actual Thomas stuff. The voice cast was almost perfect. The only one I disliked was James' voice actor. Had they kept Michael Angelis, it would've been better and would've linked the original UK dub with this American movie.
Speaking from the perspective of a Thomas the Tank Engine fan, this movie hurt the future of the Thomas series. The only benefit was bringing Thomas to a wider audience, but other than that, this movie made the show the "dumb TV show with talking trains." Also, the magic element. That sure helped the film by making it even more unrealistic. Poor Wilbert Awdry, he was probably rolling in his grave. Had he been alive during the production of this film, he would've put a stop to it.
The biggest problem is the human stuff. Thomas is supposed to be a movie about trains, but Britt Allcroft's decision to mix in Shining Time Station with Thomas was a big mistake. It hurt the film by making it confusing, slow, bad, cheesy, and rough. Kids may like this movie, and the Thomas stuff in the film might entertain them, but the plot, in general, will confuse them.