An adventure that lacks energy

Johnson Thomas

This feature-length children’s TV to big screen adaptation is basically a forcibly linked together series of episodes. The idea is to get the under 5-year-olds to understand a bit of the macro world they are living in. And the intention here is probably to provide both educational and light entertainment but the fuzzy creatives pose a real hurdle to that!

Director Stoten gets Thomas to embark on an ambitious trip around the world, traveling across five continents – so there is plenty to see (albeit in animated form). Thomas’ historic quest takes him away from Sodor to distant regions across deserts, through jungles and over dangerous mountains seeing new sights, experiencing new cultures, cutting across racial divides and mingling with other entities from diverse regions with varied linguistic preferences. Thomas also makes friends with a Kenyan engine called Nia and eventually learns the true meaning of friendship.  

The animation here is a little more advanced than what you would have seen in The Great Race or Journey Beyond Sodor. It is far more flexible, allowing the engines and road vehicles to fully move their bodies around. While that dynamic allows for greater malleability in tone and tenor, it does, in a roundabout way raise a conflict with the overall theme and intention of this exercise. Since inanimate objects are vital characters in this kids sprawl, I guess it was to be expected, though! 

The voice cast, though not extraordinary, does a fair job mouthing dialogues that impress on individual personality types and youthful revelries. The songs keep the joyride elements afloat- especially Free and Easy by Peter Andre who voices Ace.

Sodor to Africa (Kenya), Dar-es-Salam, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil (South America), Amazon rainforest, Central America, Mexico, North America, United States, Bonneville Salt Flats, China, Asia, Europe and beyond is quite a stretch of imagination and allows for a range of sights that should have held you spellbound. But the colorful visuals don’t match up to the real splendor of these locations and the writing and direction is little too ordinary to keep the narrative buzzing with much-needed energy. This adventure doesn’t match-up to the Disney variety of Big Screen entertainment and therefore, would be better off staying within the confines of the TV and cable networks.