Thomas the Tank Engine – The Hero of the Rails – Hero of the Rails (2009)

Directed by: Greg Tiernan | 55 minutes | action, animation, adventure, family

Thomas the Tank Engine has been chugging along the rails on the (fictional) British island of Sodor for many years. After the books of Rev. WV Awdry, published from 1945 to 1972, and his son Christopher’s, who continued the series in 1983, followed the TV series produced by Britt Alcroft and her wife Angus Wright. Thomas’s popularity is still unprecedented, but the fact that the series came out on DVD has certainly not hurt the fame of the blue utility locomotive and its friends. The clever toy industry has also earned enough from it, especially the fact that new characters are constantly being introduced that are then available as toy models, which is an excellent move. The short stories are occasionally supplemented by a film. The US production ‘Thomas and the Magic Railroad’ was not a big success because the story revolved more around the actors, but the hour-long film ‘Thomas the steam locomotive: Attention, all trains! ‘ stayed a lot closer to the series and was well liked. Now there’s ‘Thomas the Steam Locomotive – The Hero of the Rails’ (‘Hero of the Rails’).

The first thing connoisseurs of the ‘old’ series will notice is the application of CGI. The faces of the locomotives are now much more expressive. Although that takes some getting used to, it is an improvement! The makers have managed to stay very close to the original Thomas adventures. The fat controller has also been given more freedom of movement. What differs further is that the locomotives themselves have been given a voice. So it is no longer the voice-over (in the Dutch version train enthusiast Erik de Zwart) who does all the voices, but different voice actors. Well done!

In ‘The Hero of the Rails’, the locomotives on the island of Sodor must team up with the pesky Spencer. Spencer may be a beautiful, fast, state-of-the-art locomotive, but he has a few nasty traits: he is arrogant and unfriendly. When he challenges Thomas to a race, Thomas accidentally ends up on an old side track. There he discovers an abandoned, broken-down Japanese steam locomotive, calling himself Hiro. Thomas is initially a bit anxious, but soon he hangs on Hiro’s every word as he tells him his life story. Hiro turns out to have been the ‘hero of the railways’ once, but now he is only afraid that he will have to go to the scrap heap. But of course Thomas puts a stop to that! Thomas is determined to save Hiro. He keeps giving him new parts so that Hiro can drive again. After all, once that’s done, the fat inspector can’t take him to the scrap yard, can’t he? But unfortunately for Thomas, that pesky Spencer is bothering him.

Although it does require some adaptability for fans of the earlier, more static, Thomas films, the primary target group of ‘Thomas the Steam Locomotive-The Hero of the Railway’, toddlers and preschoolers from the age of three, will only enjoy the exciting and funny story, in which little life lessons about honesty and friendship are hidden in the usual way. More than worth a purchase!