The Little Engine That Could (1991 film)

The Little Engine that Could is a 1991 animated adventure film directed by Dave Edwards and co-produced by Edwards and Mike Young, animated at Kalato Animation in Wales and co-financed by Universal Pictures through their MCA/Universal Home Video arm and S4C, Wales' dedicated Welsh-language channel. It was released on VHS by MCA. The film features the voice talents of Kath Soucie and Frank Welker. It is based on the 1930 book of the same name, by Watty Piper (specifically based on the 1976 illustrations by Ruth Sanderson). The film was also syndicated in the US on broadcast television as an Easter special in March/April 1993.

Plot 

Eric, a young boy, is excited about his birthday after reading a book and believes that a birthday train will come for him, much to his teenage sister Jill's disbelief. Opposite from their town on the other side of a mountain, the engines at a roundhouse wake up and are assigned jobs by Tower. Farnsworth and Pete each pull a passenger train and a freight train over the mountain to the town; Jebediah is assigned the milk train; and Georgia is assigned the birthday train, which is being loaded by Rollo the clown. Tillie, a switcher engine, wishes to pull a train of her own but is denied permission by the Tower due to her small size.

Georgia breaks down shortly after departing the station and is taken back to the roundhouse. With the birthday train stranded, Rollo and the others attempt to flag down a substitute engine; Farnsworth, Pete, and Jebediah each pass by and decline their request for various reasons. Tillie sneaks out from the roundhouse after Tower falls asleep and offers her help. Tillie, repeating "I think I can", pulls the birthday train up the mountain and endures ridicule from various animals. Tillie narrowly crosses a collapsing bridge but loses the last train car, which snaps off and falls into the river below.

Tillie reaches the summit but is knocked out after an avalanche buries her and the train. When she regains consciousness, Tillie pulls the train out of the snow using her cowcatcher as a snowplow. The train descends the mountain and reaches the town in celebration, to Eric's delight and Jill's amazement. Tillie expresses pride for finishing the journey and uses her whistle to summon the town's children to enjoy the birthday train's festivities.

Voice cast

 Kath Soucie as Tillie, Missy and the Little Wolf
 Frank Welker as Farnsworth, Jebediah, Rollo, Jeepers, Perky, the Big Wolf and the Eagle
 B.J. Ward as Grumpella
 Neil Ross as Doc, Tower and Sandy Pandy
 Bever-Leigh Banfield as Georgia
 Peter Cullen as Pete and the Cave
 Scott Menville as Chip and Stretch
 Billy O'Sullivan as Eric
 Dina Sherman as Jill

Broadcasting history
Despite being released as a direct to video film, The Little Engine That Could had been broadcast on 56 independent television stations as an Easter special for two weeks two years later.

In the United States, it has never been released on DVD and was only available on VHS and Laserdisc format.

See also
 The Little Engine That Could – the 1930 book upon which it is based
 The Little Engine That Could (2011 film) – 2011 CGI film starring Alyson Stoner

References

External links
 
 
 The 1991 movie on Internet Archive

1991 animated films
1991 films
Universal Pictures direct-to-video animated films
Universal Pictures direct-to-video films
American children's animated fantasy films
American animated featurettes
American animated short films
1991 direct-to-video films
Animated films based on children's books
1990s American animated films
British direct-to-video films
American direct-to-video films
Animated films about trains
Animated films about birds
Animated films about animals
Welsh-language films
Films about toys
British animated short films
1990s children's animated films
1990s British animated films
1990s English-language films
1990s British films
Animated films about birthdays