'Thomas & Friends: Journey Beyond Sodor' (2017) - SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

Hello, and welcome to my blog!

In-keeping with its intended focus, let's begin with the latest production to from the Thomas & Friends series - Journey Beyond Sodor.

And may I just say, what a film.

The basic premise of the story goes something like this:

The Fat Controller needs an engine to deliver a heavy goods train to the Mainland, and assigns the job to James - who is bragging to anyone who will listen (more than he usually does) that he is the favourite engine on the Railway, much to Thomas's chagrin. To try and one-up James, Thomas - in his cheeky way - takes James' trucks from Sodor to the Mainland, in an effort to prove himself to everyone; at first, he ends up meeting some experimental engines, before continuing on his way and arriving at a Steelworks - where two more engines come onto the scene...

...and I shall say no more, for I don't want to give away the entire plot of the film!

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However, what I SHALL talk about is my overall reaction to the film - so as to give the readers (i.e. you guys) a general impression - as both a Thomas fan and a budding filmmaker, so let's get underway:

The overall narrative arc of this film is consistent and exciting, and will surely go down a treat with audiences.

Trains always look good on the big-screen - and here, they've never looked better:

Following on from last year's The Great Race, the storyline of this film builds on the idea of Thomas and the other engines from Sodor visiting the Other Railway in England. This is an aspect of the series that goes as far back as the Reverend Awdry's books, sometime around the 1950s' with Eight Famous Engines - and has since been toyed with over the years.

What makes this instance stand-out however, is that we tend to see the Mainland (Great Britain) in its fullest appearance to date in the series - making it the predominant setting of the film's narrative, and through the eyes of Thomas as a character: something which has never been fully realised before. There is, however, no permanent nor serious deviation from Sodor - as setting-wise, it will always be the mainstay for the vast majority of the series (after all - you can take Thomas away from Sodor, but you can't take Sodor away from Thomas).

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Thomas (played by John Hasler) with the Experimental Engines: from left-to-right;
Theo (Darren Boyd), Lexi (Lucy Montgomery) and Merlin (Hugh Bonneville)

The Steelworks Engines, Hurricane (voiced by Peep Show alumni Jim Howick)
and a diesel called Frankie (Sophie Colquhoun).

The film introduces us to six new characters all encountered by Thomas on his adventure: three experimental engines - Lexi, Theo, and the intriguing Merlin, along with the Steelworks engines - Hurricane & Frankie, and a gantry-crane called Beresford; despite the large number of newcomers though, none of them ever feels contrived, and they are each given a decent amount of screen-time.

Beresford, a blue grantry crane (Colin MacFarlane) on the Mainland.

While these new characters are fairly important to the story though, it's safe to say that viewers can put their fears to rest - as the series' regulars all appear as well:

James is vital to the story, serving as the other leading protagonist opposite Thomas - and the instant that he first appears as a focal point of the film, it's hilarious and entertaining, which had me in stitches upon first viewing.

Seriously, James steals the show in this one.

As well as this, we also get plentifuls of the Troublesome Trucks (part-hilarious, part-bonkers), Percy, Henry, Annie & Clarabel, and last but not least, the Fat Controller - who gives us an absolute wad of laugh-out-loud comedy whenever he appears, along with Edward, Gordon, Toby and Emily in smaller roles.

In fact, there are cameos from almost the entire ensemble over the past seventy-odd years that the series has existed, making it a lot of fun to pick out certain favourites here or there.

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The way in which the film is written is also a lot of fun too; in his latest helping as the leading writer for the series, Andrew Brenner offers plenty of gags, visual and verbal - right up to the very last second, along with the standard nods to years-gone-by that parents and older fans will appreciate - evoking the spirit of the Reverend Awdry through his work, whilst balancing action-packed cinematic moments throughout.

The animation is on point too - the first production brought to us by JamFilled Entertainment, following last year's abrupt closure of Arc Productions, even though much of the same production team as the last few years has been retained.

As for the genre aspects of the film, the set pieces - such as musical numbers (continuing the trend bucked with 2015's Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure) and visual moments - are really exciting.

Overall, the film really benefits from a slightly longer running-time than we've had previously, allowing the characters and story to be fleshed out and enjoyable, the songs to be catchy and varied, and the thrills are...well, thrilling.

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To conclude, a few final thoughts:

Journey Beyond Sodor is an exciting, funny and uplifting film - best seen at the pictures, as a late-summer treat: centering around themes of friendship, favouritism and opportunity, it continues to develop the stories and characters in the best way possible - as well as building on the idea of Thomas seeing the world beyond his branch line, due to be continued at large in next year's series, 'Big World, Big Adventures!'

However, while I am a tremendous supporter of this idea - as it presents a lot of new storytelling opportunities - home is where the heart is, and even Thomas the Tank Engine can't spend all his time rushing off to "see the world"; if that is his big wish in the series, one which will likely eventually be fulfilled, where does he go from there??

Indeed, this is a notion presented at one point during the film, and is something worth thinking about for the production team - led brilliantly by producers Ian McCue & Micaela Winter, and of course - Andrew Brenner.

So, who knows what the future holds in store?

Perhaps once Thomas has returned from his worldwide exploits in both this film and in the future, maybe a 'Journey TO THE CENTRE OF Sodor' might be worth considering again in years to come...

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But for now, go and see Thomas & Friends: Journey Beyond Sodor at the earliest convenience: it's easily the best film brought to us from the series to date, and a thoroughly enjoyable experience for the whole family.

Joe Gibbons, 31st August 2017

'Thomas & Friends: Journey Beyond Sodor' is currently showing in UK Cinemas, and comes to DVD Nationwide, 14th October