With clunky bluescreen, spot-a-mile-off matte work and an absolute lack of synergy between real-life and animated action, it all conspires to provide an appropriately amateur sheen.
Thomas and the Magic Railroad (2000)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:63
Fresh:12
Rotten:51
Average Rating:3.9/10
Consensus: Kids these days demand cutting edge special effects or at least a clever plot with cute charectors. This movie has neither, having lost in its Americanization what the British original did so right.
Runtime: 87 mins
Genre: Childrens
Synopsis: Eleven-year old Lily (Mara Wilson) sets off to see her grandpa (Peter Fonda), but she ends up on the wrong train. Lily meets Mr. Conductor (Alec Baldwin), who lives in the town of Shining Time. Mr.... Eleven-year old Lily (Mara Wilson) sets off to see her grandpa (Peter Fonda), but she ends up on the wrong train. Lily meets Mr. Conductor (Alec Baldwin), who lives in the town of Shining Time. Mr. Conductor uses magic gold dust to visit the Island of Sodor and Thomas the Tank Engine and the Magic Railroad. When Lily arrives, Thomas is having problems with Diesel 10, a renegade diesel engine, and Mr. Conductor is running out of the magic dust. But all will be well if Lady, a missing golden engine, can be found. In the meantime, Grandpa has an engine hidden away in the mountain. Could it be Lady? Will Mr. Conductor find more magic gold dust? And will Thomas again be the number one hero of the Magic Railroad? In the early 1980s, Britt Allcroft found Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends in the Reverend W. Awdry's THE RAILWAY SERIES and brought them to television. Now--aiming at an audience of children between 3 and 7 years old--Allcroft transfers Thomas and his friends to the big screen, and she uses all manner of special effects in capturing the storybook feel of the original stories. [More]
Starring: Edward Glen, Alec Baldwin, Peter Fonda, Mara Wilson
Starring: Edward Glen, Alec Baldwin, Peter Fonda, Mara Wilson, Michael Rodgers, Russell Means, Cody McMains, Didi Conn
Director: Britt Allcroft
Director: Britt Allcroft
Screenwriter: Britt Allcroft
Producer: Britt Allcroft, Phil Fehrie
Composer: Hummie Mann
Reviews for Thomas and the Magic Railroad
If all this sounds convoluted, well, it's a toddlers' film and anything goes.
Nonsensical, cheesy, saccharine drivel, with all the charm of the source material removed, and the low-tech special effects kept in.
It's sad in the extreme to see a behind-the-scenes cast of thousands, well hundreds, combining in an attempt to turn visual effects and animation into pure, innocent magic, and failing miserably.
Could have been worse I suppose. At least there are no Pokemons or (shudder) grinning purple dinosaurs around.
This land of sweetness and light may appeal to many, but to some it is going to seem like living hell.
A cynical, poorly constructed attempt to make parents and kids pay for a lesser version of what they can get free on TV.
Compared with contempo kidpics, the whole thing also looks rather low-tech.
It's very slow, though it does offer a respite from the overactive animation that kids are mostly subjected to.
This surprisingly complex tale also includes a magic conductor (an enthusiastic Alec Baldwin) who desperately needs magic gold dust so he can do his work.
The movie is no better than something designed for a direct-to-video release.
Latest News for Thomas and the Magic Railroad
January 01, 2000:
It looks cute enough. ![]()
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January 01, 2000:
Though its box-office prospects seem chancy, the film does have a ready-made audience. ![]()
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