While alot of people who grew up with Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends still talk about episodes of the show and occasionally mention Thomas And The Magic Railroad. Very people if anyone talk about the films that came out after Thomas And The Magic Railroad with the first of those films being the very film that i'm about to review for you all today and so then join me as I review the film that has more learning scenes then actual plot with the film in question being called simply just "Thomas & Friends: Calling All Engines" enjoy.
The plot of this film is when the steam engines and the diesel engines can't get along and cause several delays including the building of a new Sodor Airport it's up to the engines to put there differences aside before it's far to late. Now then in terms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / flt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that good as while it is understandable for a kids film to have a rather simplified plot for it's kid audience this films plot is so simple and easy to understand that all it does is make you wonder why this is the plot of a film as it's really epic enough to be a film plot with this not really being helped by the fact that the film straight up stops the plot of the film several times to have a learning segment for no reason whatsoever with the plot of the film not being really rather entertaining as well as not being really rather engaging either in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
The narrator and thus the only cast member for the film is of course the regular series narrator at this point in time Michael Angelis. Who gave the characters different voices to make it easier to fully understand who is talking something which Ringo Starr did try and fail to do in most regards with the voices that Michael Angelis gives the characters being oddly fitting for each of the characters altho Percy's voice can be a bit grating at times during the main series run here tho since he's not the main character his voice isn't as annoying to listen to and while Ringo Starr felt like an odd choice to be the series first official narrator Michael Angelis is the perfect choice as he sounds like someone who is reading you these stories as your drifting of to sleep where as when Ringo Starr was reading it felt like he was trying to keep you invested for five minuets instead of letting you drift of to sleep to the sound of his voice.
Now then interms of what I personally thought /felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought /felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With Michael Angelis being the pitch perfect narrator for this series so much that amongst the franchises fanbase he really is a firm favorite with him being one of if not the best UK narrator that the series ever had and it's really not hard to see why as he has the voice that really is just pitch perfect for not only this film but for this series as a whole with his acting in this film really being one of the very few saving graces that this film has going for with the acting in this film not really being helped by the fact that the script for this film is just so bad as it gives Angelis nothing to work with interms of what the characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does bring down the overall quality of the acting that's in this film.
As this film was made when the series was still using models for all of the train characters there really isn't anything in the way of traditional animation. With the models in this film looking just as good as you'd expect them to from the model era of the franchise however at the same time it's quite clear that the models that are used in this film aren't up to feature film with them just basically being the exact same ones that would have been used in the filming of the show which from a money saving standpoint really does make sense as all of these models wouldn't have been cheap to make but at the same time tho as this is the second ever Thomas film the people that were behind making this film really should have upgraded the models for this film just to make them look film worthy instead of looking like they've just finished using these models to film an entire series of the show and while the faces themselves really don't look to bad they also don't really match up with what the narrator is saying about what's meant to be going on in the plot either.
For some reason this film uses the full series 8 intro which just doesn't make sense at all as this is meant to be a film. Yet by having the full TV intro play in full it makes the story feel alot less special then what it already is as you wouldn't expect any movie that's based of off a TV show to use the intro of that TV show and yet for some reason they do it here at least with the following film they have the excuse of there using to introduce the guest narrator where as here they don't even have that excuse working for them this is made all the more odd when you take into account that all of the later films in this franchise have there own unique intro that's exclusive to that particular film and all of which makes you wonder why they didn't do it for this film as this is meant to be the first Thomas film since Thomas And The Magic Railroad and as a result no one would blame the maker of this film if they really wanted to go all out on it and yet they don't they just play the intro for series 8 with nothing or interesting added to it.
This film does get some credit for daring to do something that the TV show at least during series 8 wouldn't do. With that being show a storm hitting the island of Sodor as that's a key plot point in this film and the film rightfully treats it as something epic as we get to see how alot of the steam engines are effected by the havoc that the storm causes be it from the suspension bridge collapsing or the fact that alot of the trains temporary sheds are destroyed we get to see every little bit of destruction that the storm leaves in it's path and while it would have been nice to see how the diesel engines would have been effected as well as that would have given the engines more of a reason to work together outside of trying to get the airport finished so that they can take passengers places on the island which is a neat thing but if both sets of engines were effected by the storm it would have shown that despite all of there differences in both appearances and personalities the steam engines and the diesel engines really are the exact same at the heart of it all.
While this film gets so few things right like bringing back both Lady and Diesel 10 there's one thing that the film gets drastically wrong. That being the fact that the film stops the action for a learning scene where the narrator in the most condescending way possible tries to tech kids these most basic of things alot of which won't even apply to the kids real life and all of which really aren't needed as all it does is make it feel like that the makers of the film were forced to add them by HIT Entertainment the franchise owners at the time as the makers of the film wouldn't want to disrupt the story for something that adds nothing to the plot of the film and while it really was nice to see Lady again again she doesn't really do all that much as all she does is appear to Thomas in a dream and convince to set up a meeting between the diesels and the steam engines and that's really it which just makes her appearance in this film really feels like that she was only there really to help to justify the calling all engines title and nothing really all the more then that which even then still doesn't make sense as alot of the shows engines aren't even in the film at all.
Now then this film really has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and one second. Which does make it one of the more shorter Thomas films with the shortest one thus far being Thomas And Friends: The Adventure Begins which clocks in at around forty five minuets long with this film not really having alot of plot there to really cover that large of running time which only makes the forced learning scenes all the more worse as they feel like the makers of the film were padding out the films running time instead of just creating a story that was more fitting to that running tie or just going with a shorter running time either option would have been preferable then what it was that we got in the final cut of the film as it's those scenes that really drag the film to a complete halt to which it never comes back from each and everytime that one of these scenes appears with this not really being helped by the fact that the film has some really bad pacing to it.
So now then as this is a comedy that means that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. As while the film does rather rightfully have alot of jokes that are very child friendly when the film does tell a good joke it is something that is worth pointing as while little little kids might find this film to be both charming and hilarious the grown ups watching the film might not and yet there's still a few good jokes in this film that both sets of people will find enjoyable and will get a laugh out of them with this film very sadly having alot more bad jokes then it does have good jokes in them but when you hear a good joke in this film you really will no all about it as it is something that really does standout in the sea of of really bad jokes that are in this film in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall while Thomas And The Magic Railroad will always be the worst Thomas film out there this film has to be a close second just because of the fact that it's boring and has pointless learning scenes that feel more like filler to pad out the films running time all of which combine to make the film very hard for any one kid or adult to sit through and watch all the way through in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that meas that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 4.5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Thomas The Tank Engine fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from these very episode that I used in this very review being the official Thomas The Tank Engine fandom wiki page really simply just due to the fact that really alot of the images that are on the official Thomas The Tank Engine fandom wiki page are all really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being really fairly freaking high in definition.