Customer Reviews

Little Engine That Could [VHS]

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Expecting a faithful rendition of Watty Piper's immortal book, I was appalled by this video. Not only does it add a lot of gratuitous material, but it undermines the main lessons in the book.

Here's a quick synopsis so you know what I'm talking about: Chili, the little blue switch engine, desperately wants to pull a train of her own but she is mocked for being too little by the mean dispatcher (in the form of a talking control tower). When the engine pulling the Birthday Train breaks down, Chili see's her chance to sneak past the sleeping tower and pull the train over the mountain herself. The results are nearly catatrophic as a storm washes away part of a bridge and the caboose plumets into the ravine. After the train get buried in an avalanche, Chili gives it one more try and saves the day.

In the original book, the little blue engine doesn't know about the broken-down train until she stumbles upon it. She agrees to help out of kindness even though she's not entirely sure she can do it. In this video, the message is entirely reversed. Chili wants to pull the train out of self interest in order to prove herself and she is quite sure of herself. She defies authority to do what she wants, at great peril to herself and the train. Do you want your 4-year-old to sneak past you and cross the street without supervision, just because she really believes she can do it? This video says it's OK to do that.

Not to leave bad enough alone, we also have a tower that yells and a big sister that taunts her little brother. What about "I think I can?" It's in there, but so distorted as to be unrecognizable.

This video does teach one good lesson, though: never trust a video based on a beloved book love until you've viewed it yourself.

This video is also my 3 year-old's favorite, and the books too. (He has about 4 different books of the story, he even found a reprint of the original [I think] version in the bookstore, all by himself, just based on the colors on the binding.) But besides the other complaints mentioned above, I feel that whomever added the video's additional material was very careless about the lessons that a preschooler might take away from it.

First (mainly an annoyance), the control tower character yells all the time, except once when he pretends to be nice just so he can yell really loud. Maybe it's setting things up for the next:

Second, a wrong lesson: It's okay to disobey your parent / local authority figure, especially if they aren't nice. And if they don't give you permission to go somewhere, it's okay to trick them and sneak out because you really want to do it, and you think you can. (I don't want my kid deciding to start his own search & rescue mission because someone says his son lost his puppy, and his son would be really, really sad if my kid can't find it.)

Third, a really wrong lesson: By repeating the mantra "I think I can" you can do anything you can think of (safe or unsafe), as opposed to those things that are merely difficult as in the book. (In the book, if the Little Blue Engine fails at her task, nobody's much worse off, and in fact the train is closer to town so she was still a help). I want my boy to use that mantra when normal childhood challenges arise, like running a lap faster or getting better grades. I do not want him thinking it will keep him safe when he encounters a rain-swollen river, or wants to race a real train over a railroad trestle. (Especially if a peer taunts him with "Yer tew little!")

Fourth, and kind of related: the avalanche that buries the engine makes the fire in her firebox go out. Then in the morning she magically wakes up, pushes her way out, and off they go, everyone's fine & happy. (Maybe there's some plot device w/ the boy reading the book at the same time.) But a kid who has gotten into so serious of a situation that his firebox goes out will not be able to just wake up and shake it off, and won't be able to learn about it for next time either. (Even in Thomas they need a breakdown train to pull them out of trouble.) I don't want my boy thinking there is no danger in the world, only fear, and that "fear is nothing to an engine with determination" (to paraphrase Percy) and should be ignored. Not sure how to discuss this one with him. He already thinks he should be able to cross the street, since if a car comes he'll just "run really, really fast! and jump! out of the way." ("As fast as a car?" "Faster!")

If your kid hasn't already discovered it, I'd advise avoiding this. Otherwise some lesson correction may be in order. An animated version of the original story would be nice though. (BTW that book had a lot better drawings of how the tracks, switches and roundhouse were connected, and I could show him how the Little Blue Engine could come up from behind, uncouple the broken one, tow it away, and attach herself to the front, that question has come up before.)

Bought this for my 27-month-old daughter. She loves the book. Was hoping this was the version I'd seen on TV as a kid; it isn't. That one followed the book exactly, from what I remember, including the illustrations. This version is fun - cute characterizations of the passenger, freight, and old engines, plus the one that's supposed to be pulling the train over the mountain, but has a few problems.

Biggest negative was that they added this really scary part where the Little Engine has to go over a very spooky mountain (with a skull-shaped cave/ice formation!) during a storm and loses the last car w/ lots of presents (nearly losing this "live" toy elephant as well), and then is buried in snow and almost dies. My kid was absolutely hysterical. Bawling. She almost never cries except for scary stuff like this. I wasn't thrilled by this use of artistic license either. Now that she's seen it a few more times, she doesn't cry, but that's only if I sit and hold her during the "scary part". She still has this wide-eyed terrified look during that whole part. With the train losing a car, my daughter also worried about the boys and girls NOT getting their presents because they'd been lost in the storm. I didn't know what to tell her on that one. The issue is not addressed in the video.

Next problem (minor, but annoying) was that the Little Engine & his/her (think it was supposed to be a girl, but sounded more like a boy to me) sidekick, a bird, have identical voices. Unless you're watching closely, it's hard to tell who is talking. This is mostly an issue in the opening few minutes.

Third problem - and one only adults & older kids are likely to notice - is that the bridge over the mountain gets totaled during the aforementioned storm, but no explanation is given as to how the Little Engine is supposed to get back to the roundhouse.

Fourth problem, also minor (but I liked the other way better) - train is supposed to be bringing "good things to eat" to the boys & girls on the other side of the mountain. In the book it was apples, oranges, milk, and lollipops/hard candy for treats, in about that order. This one seems to mostly have a big cake (that's the memorable item, at least).

Finally (also what I consider a plot hole) - in this video, it's supposed to be a "birthday train". Well, it arrives a day late, and doesn't seem to have a way to get back to the roundhouse and load up and return on that same day, suggesting that the short load of presents will have to be shared among the kids who have birthdays on both days...

Like I said, it was cute, and not terribly annoying as kids' videos go, but I liked the older version better. This one really did not need a scary part added. Anyone know where to get a copy of it? And why isn't this version available on DVD?

Not many people know this timeless film was made in my homeland and originally dubbed in Welsh. Even now at the age of 18 I look back fondly on the adventures of Tillie the Little Engine that Could. Any adults reading this are encouraged to purchase the English dub as a wonderful conterpart to any of their kids Thomas collections. Trust me, you'll love it.

And for the record, my favourite character was Pete the freight engine.

My 2 year old son loves this movie. We watch it every morning and then again before dinner. We have only had it for 2 weeks and he has learned so much from it. He sings with the songs, names animals, and talks about the train engines. It is a must have and teaches a valuable concept.

My five year old son who loves trains really likes this one. He really likes Tillie the heroine of the story. He likes the little bird, and Georgia, the train who needs help. Of course some of the other trains are not as nice, but isn't that really like life? Not everyone your child will run into will be kind, unfortunately. You can help them understand this. The cave part was a little scarier than I'd like to have seen, but even as tender-hearted as my son is, he didn't get scared. He seemed to see that the little engine was trying to help someone do something good even if the "tower" hadn't given him permission. Overall, it's a sweet story.

I'm 50 years old and when I was just a little feller, I had the book. I wanted to share the Little Engine with my grandchildren and I was so delighted to find the video a couple of years ago. The video broke and the grandkids (ages 4 and 5) kept on me to get a new one. I just did at Amazon and now everyone is happy again. The movie is such an upbeat movie, aside from from the perils faced. The soundtrack is very catchy and I find myself singing the song to myself. The movie is great because now, when one of my grandkids gets frustrated doing something, I just kind of sing "I think I can. I think I can." and they get a knowing smile on their faces and try again.

I didnt want to recommend or trash.This is a good one.2 year olds favorite. As good as any classic for storyline ,drama,animation,...I give it my personal Academy Award.Buried gem.The Little Engine is a classic fairyale in the likes of Snow White and this is an adaptation comprable to the Disney classic.A good one for ltttle guys.

this is an excellent video with beautiful colors, animation and music. The cartoon is a terrific retelling of the perserverent little train. The kids will watch over and over and so will adults.

This is a poor adaptation of a classic children's book, and it's disappointing since a great lesson could have been learned by watching it if it were done better. Instead, they made the engine disobedient and only out for her own interests. She pulls the train because she has something to prove and not out of kindness. They also add a part about a storm and scary mountain that my kids find disturbing. This isn't the version I saw on TV as a kid, which is what I was actually looking for.