Best movie of this year hands down!

Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

This movie makes Misty island rescue passable. While I have a soft spot for the blue tank engine, looking back on it this movie was kinda boring. It's good background noise but as a movie it's just really underwhelming.

Thomas the Tank Engine is a precious memory that many young adults and older parents hold dear to their youthful days. Either if it was narrated by Beatles' drummer, Ringo Starr in the U.K. version, or by comedian, George Carlin in the American version, the show was, and still continues to be a wide success among aging toddlers. So it is of no surprise that at the beginning of the 21rst century that the cheeky steam engine was given a theatrically released film. Sadly, Not many people have found it appealing; however, I am one of those few people who actually did.Shocking to me, I don't understand why so many people hate this movie. Yes there are a couple of areas that were not perfect before the filming began, but don't all great projects have their setbacks. And really, there are only a couple issues. But I'm going to forgive it because this film should not be trashed for such small errors. The movie is also partially narrated Mr. Conductor, Alec Baldwin, the third most recognized conductor to tell of Thomas' adventures from the TV show.The problem is that Mr. Conductor starts losing the magic in his gold dust and he must find it quickly. The gold dust is what keeps him from traveling between his world and the Island of Sodor (Thomas' world). And the only people who can help him uncover this secret is a girl and her grandfather. The little girl, Lily is played by the no more in showbizz actress Mara Wilson. Her grandfather, Burnett is played by veteran actor Peter Fonda. And let's not forget that Mr. Conductor has a relative, Jr. (Michael E. Rogers), who joins the crew as well. Even Didi Conn from the original Shining Time Station (1989) TV show, which aired the Thomas and Friends adventures, reprised her role for this movie.There are other actors like Russell Means who doesn't have a big role but do add to the nostalgia of the film. What ticks people off about this film is the acting and characterization. And that's just the human part of the film. I didn't find it out of place at all. Baldwin is considered to be at his worst but I found him fairly entertaining. Fonda is bashed for being to down in the dumps, but I found his performance quite emotional because some people become depressed when losing a family member; it happens. I sympathized with him.Lily and Jr. were thought to be of no importance to the story at hand either. But to me, I found Lily a character that children could connect to. And Jr. may not have been the most convincing character but he did have a number of funny moments. The other thing viewers and professional critics alike did not enjoy were the trains themselves. Apparently audience wanted to see moving mouths. But why do that? The TV show wasn't like that. Why would you want to change something that's classic to bad? Ever hear of "If it ain't broke don't fix it"? It's good that they kept it that way, otherwise it probably would have done worse. Of course, NOW the new series of Thomas and Friends have moving mouths so I hope all of you mopes are happy.The reason why the mouths did not move was that Britt Allcroft, who also happened to be the director of the popular TV show, also directed this movie. I mean, what more could a fan ask for? I give credit to Allcroft, I believe she put in the most effort into making this film as good as it was. She even provided a voice to one of the trains. Speaking of which, this is the last thing people were not happy with; one of the Thomas' friends does not show in this film because his physical train model was not available and the trains all have different voices instead being narrated by Mr. Conductor. Guess what? Not everything's perfect.Actually, the voice actors do a swell job being the trains. Edward Glen as Thomas was a good match. His voice didn't sound too old or too young. Neil Crone as Diesel 10 was a good match too. In fact, Crone's voice made Diesel a very comical villain. Kudos to them! And the film score by composer Hummie Mann was done brilliantly. Mann is able to combine all the right tones with each scene and it even includes The Shining Time theme song in his tracks as a reoccurring theme. It helps the movie a lot.As the only theatrically released film of Thomas the Tank Engine, it should be respected for its good performances and storyline. The characters a very likable and the music excels it to the max.

For a film that I think is an absolute pile of tosh, it has kept my 3 year old enthralled time after time for almost a year. My 5 year old doesn't like it, but my 3 year old son loves it. It kept my attention for all of a few minutes before the laptop came out, but on the 4th or 5th viewing I had to find out what it was that was so enthralling to a 3 year old. There's just enough magic and storyline, and in places it is quite magical and touching (just put yourself in their shoes!). If you have little children don't dismiss this - it will guarantee an hour or so's quiet time for you, and I suspect will be held in the memory a bit like Wizard of Oz is in mine (well, maybe I'm a bit optimistic there!)

Director Britt Allcroft give Thomas The Tank Engine his big screen debut with Thomas And The Magic Railroad. The film is about Mr. Conductor played by Alec Baldwin is losing his supply of magic gold dust. He needs to get more gold Dust from an engine named Lady who supplies gold dust but due to a mean engine named Deisel 10 destroying her that is not possible. She is under repair from Burnett Stone played by Peter Fonda and his granddaughter Lily played by Mara Wilson. The film is just excellent the cast is great and heartwarming. A lot of people disliked this but they have to understand that when it went to test audiences they had to make so many cuts and rewrites because the test audience deemed the movie either too frightening, too long or too americanised and if you don't believe me go to wikipedia and look at the very long list of cuts and rewrites. And also I am sick and tired of people say the film was so American just shut up and enjoy it for what it is.Rated G.1hr 24min/84min.****/****