Thomas & Friends: Hero of the Rails - DVD Review

My son absolutely loves Thomas & Friends, both watching the TV programs to playing with his wooden Thomas & Friends toys. I also remember watching Thomas when I was younger, and reading, playing and watching Thomas with my son brings back fond memories. I therefore approached the recently released Thomas & Friends: Hero of the Rails with slight trepidation. I have read both positive and negative reviews of the new film. Most reviews agreed that it was definitely better than Thomas & Friends: The Great Discovery, but many were far from impressed by the updated computer animation and talking train characters.

This may be a result of the childhood memories of the reviewer, who remember the early Ringo Star narrated episodes. Never-the-less, as a fan of animated films, I was interested to see how Thomas & Friends would transfer to the computer.

Computer Animation

Overall, the quality of the computer animation is very good. Whilst not matching the quality of a Pixar movie, it does reproduce the look of the earlier Thomas & Friends very well. It lacks the sharpness and clarity of the models, which I guess is because they were real models rather than computer generated (which typically introduces a slight blurriness to the edges), but this does not detract from the films enjoyment.

I was less convinced by the engines facial expressions. Rather than the simple (and relatively static) movement of the previous models faces, the animated faces show a full range of emotions and movements.

Talking Engines

This is the first time we get to actually see and hear the engines talk. Previously, the narrator would be the voice for all of the engines, with a ... and Thomas said ... and Emily said, etc. Now, the engines have been given individual voices. I guess with the move to computer animation it is a natural change, but it was quite unnerving at first. I used to enjoy the narrator attempting a female Emily !

Story

I was pretty disappointed by Thomas & Friends: The Great Discovery. The story was just too far fetched and with too many obvious 'thats just stupid' moments. Seeing Thomas floating down a mine tunnel was not very convincing for me ! Thomas & Friends: Hero of the Rails was a lot different. The story was far more believable and enjoyable, and as the film was only around 60 minutes, it seems to have a lot less slow, filler scenes.

It did end a bit too quick for me, and I would have enjoyed a few more scenes from when Hiro returned back to his home island. It seemed to end with a 'ooops, we have run out of money' feel, without really closing off the story.

Conclusion

Overall I enjoyed Thomas & Friends: Hero of the Rails. I am still not fully convinced about the computer animation, but I am thinking that this is because I am being nostalgic to the earlier series (read getting old). The story was actually well written and the film fast paced. I would have liked some more scenes at the end though, as it did finish a bit too soon.

The film has generated yet another marketing opportunity for the Thomas & Friends toys, as you can buy no less than 3 separate Hiro models, one when Thomas first finds Hiro, one after Thomas has attempted to repair Hiro, and finally one after Hiro has been fully restored. The DVD also includes a short advertisement for Thomas & Friends merchandise, where 2 women discuss how they have spent their child's college fund on every conceivable Thomas accessory for their son's room.

Overall, I recommend Thomas & Friends: Hero of the Rails to all Thomas fans.