The Little Engine That Could
The Little Engine That Could
| 01 January 1991 (USA)
The Little Engine That Could Trailers

Eric, a young boy, is excited about his birthday after reading a book and believes that a train will come for him, despite his sister Jill's disbelief.

Reviews
Supelice

Dreadfully Boring

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Holstra

Boring, long, and too preachy.

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Dynamixor

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

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Billy Ollie

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

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RetroPizzaTimeCritic

The Movie about Eric, a young boy who reading reading a book, and of course his teenager sister named Jill who check on him. Eric totally excited about his birthday when a train will come for him as his birthday, but Jill's don't believe fairy tale. that made him hurtA few hours later, we introducing Tillie, a young little blue switcher engine who become main character in this film, who want to pull ed the Birthday train but Tower wont let her, she too little. but Georgia having problem she breaks down and Yes Farnsworth, Pete, and Jebediah give it No for their answers. but now Tillie turn to pulled the Birthday train who could say " I Think I Can" and it way to over the Mountain."Nothing Can Stop Us Now" was music and lyrics by Mark Mueller who did theme songs as DuckTales(performed by Jeff Pescetto) and Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers(performed by The Jets) for our favorite Disney Afternoon show for our childhood. He also wrote alots of songs in featured films such as Pokémon: The First Movie, Adventures in Babysitting, and of course Honey, I Blew Up The Kid. this song was good its remind you know about Casey Jr meet American DreamThis is a classic animated film for Bring Back memories, Kath Soucie is did great job who did the voice of Tillie.make sure to let your kids watch this movie and don't let your kids watch as 2011 film.its you likes movies about books, you gonna love Tillie is the Little Engine.I wish Universal Studios/Shout Factory/The Criterion Collection gonna release this movie on DVD/Bluray in futures

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mattwill-76313

This is a pretty great special, even to this day. Kids from 3-6 would especially love it. It's colorful, bright, and true to the book, not just to the point of the art style and the characters, but to it's very core and emotion. The music with the happy, gloomy, and sometimes even scary images displayed (don't worry, nothing your kids can't handle!) gives kids, and perhaps even adults alike, a sense of empowerment towards the end. This is especially important, because everyone and their grandmother knows what happens in the story: birthday train breaks down, other snooty but powerful trains come along (excepting the old, less well-to-do engine) refusing to pull the train, when along comes a little engine who ends up pulling the whole train over the mountain against all odds. Knowing very well the ending, you would think that you wouldn't necessarily feel as worried for Tillie (little engine) as you would when you first read the book, but the story is told in such a wonderful, unique and perhaps even Expressionistic way that you forget about the ending for 20 minutes and immerse in the world that is Tillie's home and the gloomy mountain.Animation fans will recognize the work of Dave Edwards, who, prior to working on this special, is known for the UK animated classic SuperTed. The cuddly bouncy style fits well in this half-hour special, and as mentioned earlier fits well with the style of the book. Fans of TV music in the late 80s will recognize Mark Mueller, who prior to this has done work with the theme songs for DuckTales, and Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers.One of the few things keeping the score to go any higher is the bland setting and story, but keeping The Little Engine That Could interesting is no easy task, and the team has done the best they Could to keep it as interesting as it is. Recommended over the 2011 special any day.

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Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)

"The Little Engine That Could" is a 1991 short film that runs for slightly half an hour. as this one has its 25th anniversary this year I thought this may be a good time to give it another watch. It is about a little locomotive train that looks a lot like Casper the Ghost and has the difficult task to make it over the mountains so that a boy can have a great birthday party with lots of entertainers and animals. The boy's sister is a bit of a bully and the main antagonist if there is any. It is all very harmonic I guess. The characters are funny to watch including pessimistic poultry and courageous clowns. The animation looks a lot older than 1991. And the title is probably the biggest spoiler ever as the dramatic final scenes are really all about whether the engine is gonna make it or not. As a whole, a pretty decent watch that scores more through cuteness than through drama or comedy, but it's worth checking out. Thumbs up. The voice cast includes a bunch of famous names, including Frank Welker, who seems to be in everything.

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Steve Rigby

As a father of a young boy who loved trains as a toddler, I can wholeheartedly recommend this movie to other adults with children who may happen to find themselves in similar positions; read the readily available picture book before, after or - even! - during viewing this video: 'I think I can ... I think I can ... I think I can ...' is a GREAT message to embed in young minds, ain't it? The story is about a small, blue engine asked to take over from older, more experienced engines who have somehow failed to function on a journey carrying an exceptionally important cargo: TOYS! - to the children on the other side of the mountain. Who could resist, eh?

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