Audience Left At The Station

Thomas the Tank Engine is the main character in a quaint series of children’s books that have been made into pleasing little animated TV shows and videos. But on the way to the big screen, the idea got derailed.

It cannot be argued that the new feature “Thomas and the Magic Railroad” was in the wrong hands. Britt Allcroft, its producer, writer and director, found the Rev. Wilber Awdry’s books and brought them to life in the early ‘80s with the series “Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends” and “Shining Time Station,” seen here first on PBS and now on Nickelodeon.

“Thomas and the Magic Railroad” has two big problems. First, in an effort to fill about 90 minutes, Allcroft has made the story too complex for its target audience of preschoolers.

Thomas, a precocious steam engine on the Island of Sodor, learns that nasty Diesel 10 intends to find a certain lost engine, then do away with all the island’s steam engines to take control of the Sodor railroad.

Meanwhile, there is a man who lives on Muffle Mountain, Burnett Stone (Peter Fonda), who never smiles, keeps to himself and secretly tends a steam engine whose fire went out long ago.

At the same time, Mr. Conductor (Alec Baldwin) must keep the peace on Sodor in the absence of the vacationing railroad owner, Sir Topham Hatt. But Mr. Conductor finds out he is running out of his vital gold dust which helps him travel between Shining Time Station, where he is about a foot tall, to Sodor, where he is scaled proportionately to the trains.

Burnett’s granddaughter, Lily (Mara Wilson), comes to visit him from The Big City and winds up in Shining Time by mistake, thereby getting enlisted by Mr. Conductor’s surfer dude cousin, Junior, to help with finding more gold dust.

Then there’s the mystery of a magic railway that shows in shadowy lines on a Shining Time map but whose exact position and purpose are unclear. Thomas figures it can be reached by going through a magic buffer, one of those wooden structures at the end of a track that stops trains.

Still with me? Well, the 3- and 4-year-olds watching the movie aren’t. They perk up when the trains are rumbling across the screen but get fidgety when there’s too much exposition.

The animation is true to the style of the TV series: three-dimensional engines that wobble down the tracks, their eyes moving back and forth and their facial expressions changing only when they’re off camera. The trains talk, but their mouths don’t move to match the words.

For sentimental Thomas fans, that’s a plus; they want to see the same Thomas and friends that they’ve enjoyed for years. But for newcomers to the franchise, the animation is a letdown, looking like Destination Films could not or would not put more energy into it.

The live characters are the best part of this package. Baldwin, in a role he surely never would have taken before he became a father, is charming as the conductor. In the moments he looks directly into the camera, he really connects with his young moviegoers.

Fonda’s talents are underused here, but he does a good job of making Burnett sad but not scary. Wilson, best known for her roles in “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “Miracle on 34th Street,” is appealing as Lily.

Still, Thomas and his friends are better off living in books, videos and TV programs and leaving the big screen to other kiddie characters.

This sidebar appeared with the story: “Thomas and the Magic Railroad”

Locations: East Sprague, North Division, River Park Square, Coeur d’Alene cinemas

Credits: Directed by Britt Allcroft, starring Peter Fonda, Mara Wilson, Alec Baldwin, Didi Conn, Russell Means, Michael Rogers, Cody McMains

Running time: 1:25

Rating: G