Floridian: Thomas keeps chugging along

Thomas keeps chugging along

The train, so popular with the younger crowd, stays true to its small-screen beginnings in its theater debut. It's low on technology, but high on principles.

By STEVE PERSALL

Maybe it's too easy for children to be enchanted by movies these days. Thomas and the Magic Railroad recalls a time when computer animation didn't provide all the necessary imagination for young minds.

The boldness of this film is its drastic simplicity, the way talking trains never move their mouths and actors playing miniature characters don't quite line up with life-size objects blue-screened around them.

Disappointment is the first impression, after being spoiled by technology that makes dinosaurs and toys seem human or better. Thomas and the Magic Railroad looks cheap, but so does that elementary school play that you wind up enjoying in spite of yourself. Purity and earnestness still count for something.

Of course, this comes from an adult perspective. The core audience for Thomas, the steadfast choo-choo, and his mates is slightly younger than for Pokemon.

Watch this movie through the eyes of toddlers, for whom this is possibly the first theater experience they can call their own. The messages are what parents should want children to hear, the three R's born at home: "Be responsible, reliable and really useful."

Thomas lives by that motto, chugging through the storybook countryside of the island of Sodor. His mild adventures have inspired a slew of books, videos and the PBS series, Shining Time Station. Thomas' rival, if such a gentle soul can have one, is an impatient bully-engine named Diesel.

These locomotive personalities are conveyed like pages of a storybook rather than a motion picture. The trains seem to communicate telepathically, rolling their round eyes for emphasis but never moving their lips or cheeks until the next abrupt edit. Very low-tech, but also vaguely nostalgic, keeping in line with the plot's innocence.

The village of Shining Time is facing a joy crisis. The only cure is the reappearance of a legendary train named Lady, built by young Burnett Stone and hidden inside Muffle Mountain. Now, Burnett is a glum grandpa (Peter Fonda) hosting his plucky granddaughter, Lily (Mara Wilson). Diesel knows where Lady lives, and he doesn't want competition.

Meanwhile, tiny Mr. Conductor (Alec Baldwin) bemoans a shortage of mystical gold dust that would help him solve the mystery of Lady and save Shining Time. He contacts his goofy nephew, Junior (Michael Rodgers), to have more dust delivered.

This isn't a taxing assignment for human actors. Yet, everyone gives line readings the extra oomph of a bedtime reading session for children they love. Baldwin appears happier than anyone else to be here, his blue eyes sparkling more than usual. There is nothing condescending about his performance; Baldwin locates the kid inside himself, having fun rather than simply doing something admirable.

Fonda is a bit more problematic, mostly due to his depressed role. He also doesn't seem as comfortable as the other actors speaking to inanimate objects. Fonda's laconic ways aren't well-suited for such a lark.

All of this tame tension is played with reassuring optimism and reminders of why eating vegetables and being polite are important. Nothing fancy, but always fanciful. It's easy to imagine parents invoking Thomas' name to steer a child's good behavior, or warning them not to act like Diesel when they're cranky.

The plot is stretched at least 20 minutes beyond what it deserves, the only concession writer-director Britt Allcroft makes to modern moviemaking. Everything else about this movie is immediately antique except its warmth. Something about its imperfections becomes endearing, even those clunky cut-and-paste expressions on the trains' faces.

Last week's schedule of critics' screenings began with the frantic commercialism of Pokemon the Movie 2000 and ended with the PG-13 shadiness of Loser. Then along came Thomas and the Magic Railroad like a sweet sorbet cleansing a soured palate. Not a timeless film, but one arriving at the right time, on the right track.

Thomas and the Magic Railroad

Grade: B

Director: Britt Allcroft

Cast: Alec Baldwin, Peter Fonda, Mara Wilson, Didi Conn, Russell Means, Michael Rodgers

Screenplay: Britt Allcroft

Rating: G

Running time: 85 min.