Customer Reviews

Thomas & Friends: Misty Island Rescue (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

My 4 year old boy had many questions while watching this DVD. The most troublesome of all was how did Thomas get off the raft and onto land? Did the tracks come right up to the water? Did the Logging Locos have drivers, signal men, and men to tend to their fires and made sure they had coal? I think the new showrunners, as someone else has called them here, are underestimating the intelligence of their audience and this is a sad turn of events. The original Thomas was smart and stayed true to how a railway actually worked. This new Thomas just throws that out the window.

One thing I always loved about Thomas was there was never a bad or inherently evil character. Sure some of the Engines would say rude or mean things (James, Gordon)but in the end they always learned their lesson and were apologetic. At the end of the credits Diesel 10 ominously appears from behind a mountain and speaks some scary words with a cackle. Since he was not featured at all in this movie this is obviously a hook for a future DVD. Diesel 10 has been part of the Thomas cast for some time and he has always been an intimidating character, yes. But he was never scary or seen as evil as they are trying to portray him now. I am not pleased with this new direction for Thomas and his friends.

This movie is basically just a big commercial for the Trackmaster Set which will cost you $50. or the Take & Play set for the Xmas season. The worst part is that there is zero attempt to hide the fact that this is just a movie made to hawk toys. Character development is nonexistent and the dialogue is super simple. One of the characters just says the same thing over and over. "That's right". My kids are bored with it already.

Note to the producers and directors of The new Thomas movies: Children are young humans with working brains and can be highly intelligent. Just because they are young doesn't mean they are stupid. Thank you.

My sons loved this DVD and I have a feeling we will be watching it for awhile. The first thing that pops out is the CGI animation and how neat all the trains and everything looks. Now my sons never really watched Thomas & Friends until the CGI animated films came out but I think the new animation really makes everything "pop!" As always the DVD features great lessons including: asking for help, being positive, working together, no one is always right and taking responsibility for one's actions. I always try to point these out to my 3-year old to see if he understands.

Overall, this is a great DVD to add to a Thomas & Friends collection or for any child that loves trains. Oh and there are a few new trains in this DVD just as there were in the last Thomas & Friends movie "Hero of the Rails." The narrator, Michael Brandon, does an excellent job and the movie flows nicely for almost an hour! I really can't see a child not liking this DVD, especially if they are ages 2-5, which my boys fall into.

My 3 year old fell in love with Thomas after watching some of the television episodes. We soon discovered a big difference in the older (filmed model) episodes and the animated episodes:

- The engines in the old series are always cranky and participate in mean spirited behavior
- The engines in the new series are mostly happy and friendly and make mostly naiive mistakes that they repent and want to fix

The Hero of the Rails feature was really good. Thomas finds a broken down, hidden Hiro and helps rebuild him. You instantly like the new characters, Victor and Kevin. Victor is thoughtful and helpful, Kevin has the dropsies but tries really hard.

Then there's Misty Island Rescue, which I'd see as the next evolution of Thomas and Friends. By that I mean it changes / expands the Sodor universe.

The animation is great. The story, however, has so many "ugh" moments that I'm left disappointed. Surely the writers could have come up with something better? My 3 year old loves Misty Island as much as he loves any Thomas, but I am bothered by many things:

1) Bash, Dash, and Ferdinand, the new engines ("logging locos"), are annoying and childish. Heck, even Thomas annoyed me.
2) They talk about Misty Island as this spooky mystery, yet it's a nearby island (within view but mysteriously shrouded in mist 100% of the time so that nobody remembers seeing it). That is, 100% of the time EXCEPT when Thomas does something pigheaded and the mist disperses, allowing those on Sodor to see his distress signals...
3) Hiro says Jobi wood is only found in his homeland (supposedly Japan), yet it's somehow also found a few miles away from Sodor...
4) The narration says that Diesel is shunting the Jobi wood flatbeds but mysteriously when he gets to the unfinished bridge, he's suddenly coupled to the flatbeds.
5) I always appreciate that in the other Thomas tv and movies, they make an effort to show humans coupling the engines or inside them. They are mysteriously absent on Misty Island. The engines magically have fuel and water etc.
6) Thomas is encouraged to cross over the shake shake bridge. I don't want my son watching Thomas crossing a bridge that is falling apart and finding Thomas thinks that's ok.
7) The zipline and needless cross-rails are just silly. They're obviously just there (along with the shake shake bridge) to sell toys.
8) The movie should have ended when they all arrived on Sodor, but inexplicably Thomas has to go back through the tunnel to now save his three friends and Topham Hatt who went to Misty Island to rescue Thomas.
9) Thomas gets from his adrift raft directly onto rails when landing on Misty Island. Er...
10)In the newer Thomas series, when someone says something to goad other engines into doing bad things, they repent and say sorry. In this, Thomas' comments about Topham Hatt surely meaning only steamies could be really useful cause Diesel to do something really stupid. Thomas never has to apologize but Diesel does.
11) Come to think of it, the whole thing starts out badly when Harold brings an injured climber on a stretcher to the rescue center building site saying he's saved. But it's just a construction site - the center is barely even framed.

Sure, this is an animated show, but why such a departure from reality and good sense? Why leave parents having to explain these strange things? In a later TV episode, Bash, Dash, and Ferdinand show Thomas how to catch the Jobi wood that Wheezy throws. They go to a certain spot and the thrown logs magically stack on their flatbeds. Where is the Thomas I like letting my son watch? If you're going to add new engines, why not make them interesting and meaningful? It's just so disappointing and didn't have to be.

Again, my 3 year old loves it and re-enacts scenes from the movie with his Thomas set. But I would rather play Thomas TV episodes for him and not this silly, "what on earth were they thinking?" story.

As a parent I very much enjoy watching Thomas shows and movies. I rather like trains and Thomas is the standard for child train movies. However this movie is a dramatic deviation and has a thoughtless story line decorated with absurdity. In short, Thomas accidentally drifts off to a island five miles directly offshore of Brendam docks. Despite the FIVE MILE undersea train tunnel linking Sodor to Misty island and the close proximity to shore, none have seen Misty island. Thomas meets new trains on misty island (Dash, Bash and Ferdinand)who were sent to exile on the island for being not really useful and together they work hard to exploit an endangered tree to build a rescue station. Everything works out in the end but they waste valuable story time by logistical reasons of finding some of the people who were out finding Thomas before he rescued himself (if that makes sense). It should have at least made sense to the writers that this was a horrible story.

Also, introduced in this story is the Captain (a boat) who is the only one who has an English accent as all sea-going people have English accents.

Finally, Hit entertainment, who puts together Thomas movies, makes getting to the actually movie another logistical challenge by removing function of the "menu" button thus bypassing previews is only achievable through pressing the "skip" button a million times. I though i was paying for the movie not Hit entertainments free reign of smothering my child with previews of their other products.

This show's had its ups and downs over the years, and after Hero of the Rails provided a recent high point for the show, I was hoping this movie would be enjoyable too. However within minutes of watching I had a feeling my expectations would be let down harshly.

Animation's hardly the problem, it all comes back to the script. First, the writers feel the need for the narration to carry on almost constantly, rarely allowing the viewer to simply enjoy the scenery, or to let the story be told through character interaction. Second, there's a focus on rhyming and repetition, which add little to the story but to spell out to the audience what's happening (Thomas repeats, at least FOUR TIMES, a rhyme about how smart and brave he is, right after arranging some ill-conceived plan). There's also little realism - engines cross the ocean on a whim (on one occasion, trailing a steamship *unsecured* on a raft), use *ziplines* to cross gaps, and travel through a tunnel under the ocean with early 1900s technology (a reminder: Thomas' creator Reverend Awdry was a stickler for realistic railway practice, and former showrunners Britt Allcroft and David Mitton tried their best to respect this in the TV adaptation).

There's four new characters who contribute next to nothing to the story - Captain the lifeboat has maybe two lines, and the logging engines are repeatedly foolish and rude - which wouldn't be a problem if the story had actually played off those faults. The established characters aren't at their strongest, either. They bluntly explain their emotions, show little common sense, and Thomas is frequently rude, but never called on it. While a secondary character (Whiff) plays a big part for a change, it still feels really rushed and underdeveloped.

Overall the movie is poorly-written, difficult to watch, and does little more than show off new toys. Steer clear.

If you are looking to painfully entertain your children while promoting the latest and upcoming Hit Entertainment Thomas and Friends toys for Christmas, then this film is for you! A true waste of time for anyone looking to share moral and ethics lessons with their favorite blue engine. The story is as deep as a mud puddle. I'd go as far to say it not only insults the Awdry/Thomas legacy, but our kids intelligence as well!

Hero of the Rails was bad enough, but Hit has slumped to a new Low with this pitiful outing. It makes me glad I spent so much years back on Thomas DVD's for our first round of kids, now the little ones can enjoy the "better" stories of Sodor, and this garbage can be forgotten on the shelf.

The one star is for Ferdinand, the 3-Truck Climax locomotive, one of our favorite prototypes.

Pass on this DVD, you'll be glad you did-for the kids sake...

and while I have you.

Who comes up with these titles? New Thomas Christmas film-Thomas & Friends: Merry Winter Wish....Have you ever wished someone "Merry Winter"? the audacity.

I don't know how to explain it, but my children LOVE this movie. Maybe it's that Thomas is so obviously steaming in the wrong direction, making mistakes and being prideful, but it works on a level that gets through to kids.

My son got the movie and wooden Bash, Dash, and Ferdinand as a birthday present. The whole family has watched it.

Torture for adults to watch, but the little ones LOVE it.