Thomas And The Magic Railroad

***Thomas And The Magic Railroad*** is a 2000 British-American adventure fantasy film based on the British TV series Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends, The Railway Series by the Rev. W. Awdry, and the American TV series *Shining Time Station*. This was the first Thomas The Tank Engine feature-length movie. When the film was released, it received generally unfavorable reviews from critics and fans alike. The movie's budget was $19 Million and grossed $19.7 Million, making it a box office failure.

## Plot

Mr. Conductor's supply of magic gold dust, which allows him to travel between Shining Time and the Island of Sodor is critically low. Unfortunately, he doesn't know how to get more. Meanwhile, Thomas is fending off attacks by Diesel 10. Getting more gold dust will require help from Mr. C's slacker cousin, Junior, his new friend Lilly, and her morose grandfather, plus the secret engine he's hidden all these years and couldn't get running.

## Why it’s better than *Misty Island Rescue*, *Day of the Diesels* & *Big World! Big Adventure!*

1. It was Thomas The Tank Engine's first feature-length movie.
2. While the audiences hate this movie, some *Thomas* fans like the movie and consider it better than *Misty Island Rescue*, *Big World! Big Adventure! and Planet 51*
3. All of the characters are more memorable than the new ones.
4. The sets looks amazing and better than the animations in *Big World! Big Adventure! and Planet 51*
5. The voice acting on the engines are really good, except James. Thomas, Henry, and Percy’s voices are tolerable.
6. Memorable quotes like Mr. Conductor's "Sparkle! Sparkle! Sparkle!"
7. Thomas is not an idiot like in The Miller Era.
8. Really catchy songs like *Really Useful Engine, Shining Time* and *The Locomotion*.
9. The chase scene was the most memorable scene in the movie, despite the plot hole that Burnett Stone said to Diesel 10
10. Even if the movie had magic in it, some fans prefer the magic than the bouncing.
11. Britt Allcroft had a hand in making the movie and did a good job voicing Lady, the first female steam engine in the film and series.
12. The scene where Toby rings his bell to distract Diesel 10 proves he was more useful in the season it took place in than in the CGI series.
13. There's a Director's Cut of the movie that's far more decent and superior than the final version.
14. It proves to not be afraid of showing dark moments, such as the scenes of the Smelters' Yard.
15. Whilst there are several flaws, the movie's narrator attempted to fill in the plot with easy details to follow.
16. Sir Topham Hatt and Lady Hatt are mentioned in this film.

## Bad Qualities

1. **Misleading Title:** While Thomas is the title character in this movie and does contribute to the plot, **he gets very little screen-time with only 11 minutes.** Had the crew delayed the release date if they decided to spare some time to make the other characters, the movie could be written if they added more characters that were not included in the film (see below) and nothing would change after all.
2. Night Time, The Island Song, It’s Great to Be an Engine, and Thomas’ Anthem were deleted.
3. Diesel 10 may be frightening for some younger viewers.
4. Edward, Duck, Donald/Douglas, Diesel, Oliver, Toad, BoCo, Daisy, Mavis, Skarloey Railway Engines, Stepney, Bill/Ben, Terence, Farmer Finney, Trevor, Jem Cole, George, Horace O'Schemer, The Jukebox Band, Drivers, Firemen, Workmen, Passengers, Guards and all the other characters (minus Cranky) do not appear in this film because they are nowhere to be seen as there was not enough time to develop their models or hire actors to play the crew.
5. Engines do not have drivers or firemen in this film.
6. P.T. Boomer was demoted into making a cameo because of the test audience that deemed him too scary for kids. As a result, many plot holes were left intact.
7. Like P.T. Boomer, Cranky was also demoted into making a cameo.
8. Michael Angelis, Ringo Starr, George Carlin, Tom Jackson, Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell are not involved in this film.
9. James’ voice by Susan Roman is too awful. Originally, Michael Angelis was supposed to voice James and Percy until the test audience hypocritically claimed that his voice is too unsuitable, thus his roles as James and Percy were given to Susan Roman and Linda Ballentine. At least Percy’s voice by Linda Ballentyne is decent and makes some sense since he’s the youngest member of the Steam Team, but James’ final voice ended up sounding way too unsuitable.