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79 of 87 people found the following review helpful.
Steaming in the wrong direction…
By R. Wolf
The last special released in the Thomas franchise was Thomas & Friends: Hero of the Rails, the first fully-animated feature with our #1 tank engine. I was impressed how it was down-to-earth, kept things as realistic as possible, and showed real character development and personality, leading for good morals for children to learn. It was everything a parent and child would want, instead of something bland and colorful that parents could sit their kids in front of while they went off to do other things.Misty Island Rescue, on the other hand, is none of those things.The film starts off with Thomas helping to build the brand new Sodor Search and Rescue Center. Special wood from far away, called “Jobi wood”, is needed to build it. Diesel tries to take the wood himself, but ends up almost crashing; Thomas saves him, but all the wood is lost in the sea. Sir Topham Hatt is proud of him, and as a special award, he arranges for Thomas to visit the Mainland to visit the Search and Rescue Center there. Along the way, Thomas’s raft breaks away from the ship, and he end up on a faraway place called Misty Island, where he meets strange engines called Bash, Dash, and Ferdinand. Meanwhile Sir Topham Hatt hears Thomas has gone missing, and orders a search with the help of Harold the helicopter and Captain, the new lifeboat.Without giving too much away, the first thing that’s readily apparent is that all four of the new characters are completely uninspired and made purely for children’s merchandise. Captain only gets a good three lines through the whole film. Bash and Dash are just obnoxious, especially their voices. Ferdinand, who should have had a bigger role, is reduced to saying “That’s right!” through the whole film. In Hero of the Rails, the three new characters (Hiro, Victor, and Kevin) are all beautifully fleshed out and made likable to the audience. But the four new characters here get absolutely no character development, no real reason to be liked.The narration and voice acting is even worse. It’s filled with more rhymes than a Dr. Seuss book, making it feel as if the story’s being told to a newborn baby. Originally, the Thomas series was famous for never talking down to kids, but this film has lines reduced to “That is very bad, and I am very cross!” when the (impressive) CGI is more than capable of show the needed emotion. Michael Brandon returns as the narrator. While he does an excellent job as always, sometimes lines are spoken when simply letting the character speak for themselves would have worked much better.The story is merely okay. Bash, Dash, Ferdinand, and Captain all take a backseat to letting Thomas run the show, leaving no chance for any of them to appeal to the audience. So very many things were unrealistic, such as Thomas’s crew riding with him on the raft in the middle of the ocean, an underwater tunnel made of wood and being used by steam engines…the list goes on. Misty Island is never really explained…it just seems to be there like a wooden amusement park. As for as morals go, what the story tries to tell is that “you don’t always make the right decisions, so listen to others!”. But there’s a particular scene early in the film when Thomas outright insults Diesel (“Only a really useful STEAM engine can take the logs! You’ll never be that!”) and he’s never called out on it by anyone.On a more positive note, the CGI has greatly improved, and Nitrogen Studios, once again, shows their work in creating a living, detailed environment. The Sodor Search and Rescue Center looks fantastic. Misty Island, although looking unrealistic in terms of how real railways work, looks unique and interesting. You’ll even notice cameos by other engines who haven’t been around, such as Stanley and Butch. Whiff and Salty also return to play roles in the film. I can’t complain about the background music. While it’s not the same leitmotifs from the original show, the music still fits well with the film.Overall, Hero of the Rails was a step forward, but Misty Island Rescue was two steps backwards. One of the original charms of the original stories and show was that it could appeal to both parent and child; Wilbert Awdry sympathized with parents who had to read through ridiculous stories to their children, and wrote the Railway Series with hopes that parents could enjoy the stories too. Misty Island Rescue looses that charm; dull, uninspired characters, a ridiculously unbelievable story, and a repetitive narrative will drive the adult far away into another room.

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful.
Kinda Different, if you know what I mean.
By Edgar LaCombe
I’m raising my twin grandsons who will soon be three and we own just about every “Thomas The Train” DVD out. I had been waiting for several months for the release of “Misty Island Rescue,” with full understanding that, unlike the old offerings, this would be 100% animation. The actual DVD is of decent quality, however, the storyline is as strange as it can get. THIS IS A RATHER DARK FEELING DVD,(not quite Tim Burton, but headed in that direction). By that I mean it lacks the warmth I generally associate with Thomas stories throughout the years. Aside from several familiar characters, it doesn’t even feel like it’s taking place in Sodor. (A real twist, when you discover that Misty Island and Sodor are actually, but confusingly connected.)If I had to come up with one word to describe this particular Thomas The Train DVD, it would have to be “WEIRD!!!” This is confirmed by Twins who don’t want to view it again. Mind you, they always watch every one of the other DVD’s again and again and again. Sorry to say, they clearly don’t care for this offering.I rated this a “3 out of 5,” only because the over animation is good. It certainly wasn’t what I thought it would be.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful.
2 year old says “Meh.”
By Karen Baker
This is not a bad story, but it drags. It could easily fit into half an hour and be more enjoyable. There are some nice moments of friendship and good values, my son really likes Cranky the Crane and Whiff, and I do like the new animation and the way the characters do more of their own dialog than the old style– it develops the characters well. However, there were too many repetitions of Thomas’s “I make good decisions” mantra, too long spent dithering around on Misty Island with creepy/kooky Bash and Dash, and too many truly suspenseful/dangerous situations, which all combined to make my 2yo son simultaneously anxious and bored. Not what I hope for when I pop in a Thomas movie! Perhaps for an older child it would be more engaging, and we’ll stick to the shorter classic episodes until he’s ready for longer movies. I’m glad I tried the Amazon video on demand version before buying it, that’s a great way to preview without the expense and cutter of owning yet another movie that won’t get watched.

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