4.4 /10 1 Votes
20% Rotten Tomatoes Written by Andrew Brenner Initial release 21 May 2016 Narrated by Mark Moraghan | 6.7/10 IMDb Directed by David Stoten Screenplay by Andrew Brenner Director David Stoten Music director Oliver Davis | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Produced by Ian McCue (HiT)
Robert Anderson (Arc)
Lynda Craigmyle (Arc)
Jane Sobol (Arc) Starring Rasmus Hardiker
Joseph May
John Hasler
Kerry Shale
Keith Wickham
Tina Desai
Robert Wilfort
Rob Rackstraw Music by Chris Renshaw
Oliver Davis
Andrew Brenner Film series Thomas & Friends Film Series Cast John Hasler, Tina Desai, Rasmus Hardiker, Joseph May, Keith Wickham Similar Sodor's Legend of the Lost T, Tale of the Brave, Thomas & Friends: King of th, Hero of the Rails, Thomas & Friends: The Adve | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thomas & Friends: The Great Race is a 2016 CGI animated musical adventure film.
Contents
The film stars the voices of Joseph May and John Hasler as the voice of Thomas in the US and the UK, respectively. It also stars the voices of Tina Desai, John Schwab, Rufus Jones, Rasmus Hardiker, Kerry Shale, Christopher Ragland, Nigel Pilkington, Teresa Gallagher and Keith Wickham, with Mark Moraghan narrating.
In an effort to expand the preschool franchise beyond its current lineup of mostly male, British—and apparently white—characters, the new engines are from locations around the world and include several female characters.
This is the last special to be animated by Arc Productions under their original name, they were renamed to Jam Filled Toronto in August 2016.
Plot Summary
After beating Gordon the Big Engine in a race to Vicarstown Station, Thomas the Tank Engine is introduced to Gordon's brother, The Flying Scotsman (Rufus Jones), who is taking part in The Great Railway Show on the Mainland, encouraging Thomas to try and take part as well. Though every engine on Sodor wants to take part, Sir Topham Hatt (Keith Wickham) has not made up his mind yet, and Thomas fears he won't be picked to go to the competition. After getting an idea to be streamlined for the competition, he passes his idea on to Sir Topham Hatt, who chooses Gordon to be streamlined instead of him.
At Brendam Docks, Thomas has a run-in with several of the competitors for The Great Railway Show (Teresa Gallagher, David Bedella & Rob Rackstraw) when their rail ferry docks there by mistake, and as a result, one of them is left behind. The engine, a beautifully-painted one from India named Ashima (Tina Desai), makes a bad first impression on Thomas after almost making him fall off the dock, but upon getting another idea regarding her paintwork from Annie and Clarabel, he heads to the Steamworks to be repainted, but is forced to reveal his new idea to Sir Topham Hatt, who selects James and Emily to be repainted instead. Running into Ashima again after learning she took Annie and Clarabel down his branch line, Thomas is convinced by her to just be himself and take part in the shunting challenge at The Great Railway Show since he is so good at shunting.
However, thanks to a trick by Diesel involving Den, Dart, and Paxton, Thomas suffers an accident with Norman at Knapford Junction, and has to be left behind to have his front end mended while Percy takes his place. In the end, Thomas is able to go, despite not being fully repaired when he discovers that Gordon left without his safety valve being properly installed while he was being streamlined, which means his boiler could overheat at high speeds.
At The Great Railway Show, Henry loses the strength competition, James and Emily lose the Best Decorated Engine award to Ashima's fellow engine from India, Rajiv, and due to not waiting to have his safety valve installed, Gordon's boiler explodes and he loses the race. Thomas takes Percy's place in the shunting competition, but sacrifices his chances to win when he sees Ashima's track blocked by a derailed flatbed and switches tracks with her so he hits the flatbed instead. However, the judges decide to award Thomas the win alongside Ashima for his excellent sportsmanship. Sir Topham Hatt and the other Sodor engines are very proud of Thomas.
With The Great Railway Show over, Thomas invites Ashima to come back to Sodor to catch her ferry home to India there, allowing her to spend some more time with her new friends while Diesel, stuck in a crate, sails away on a ship leaving Sodor.