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Thomas & Friends: The Great Race is a 2016 British computer-animated musical comedy adventure film and feature-length special of the British television series, Thomas & Friends. The film was produced by HIT Entertainment and animated by Arc Productions.

The Great Race
Directed by	David Stoten[1]
Written by	Andrew Brenner
Produced by	Ian McCue (HIT) Robert Anderson Lynda Craigmyle Jane Sobol (Arc)
Starring	Joseph May (US) John Hasler (Uncredited in the US) Kerry Shale Keith Wickham Tina Desai Rufus Jones Rasmus Hardiker John Schwab
Narrated by	Mark Moraghan[1]
Music by	Chris Renshaw Oliver Davis Andrew Brenner
Production companies	Arc Productions HIT Entertainment
Distributed by	HIT Entertainment National Amusements (UK, theatrical release)[1] Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (US)
Release dates	21 May 2016 (2016-05-21) (UK; Theatrical) 5 September 2016 (2016-09-05) (UK; DVD) 13 September 2016 (2016-09-13) (US)
Running time	60 minutes[1]
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Box office	$3.6 million[2]

The film stars the voices of Joseph May and John Hasler as the voice of Thomas in the US and the UK, respectively. It also stars the voices of Rasmus Hardiker, Kerry Shale, Christopher Ragland, Nigel Pilkington, Rob Rackstraw, Teresa Gallagher and Keith Wickham, with Mark Moraghan narrating.[3]

Tina Desai, Rufus Jones and John Schwab join the cast, with Jones taking on the role of the iconic real-life locomotive Flying Scotsman,[4] who appeared only in the Railway Series book Enterprising Engines and was reduced to a brief cameo role when the book was adapted for television. In an effort to expand the preschool franchise, the new engines are from locations around the world and include several female characters.[5][6][7] The film borrows concepts from the 1991 book Thomas and the Great Railway Show, but is not a direct adaptation of said book.

This was the last production to be animated by Arc Productions under their original name before they were bought by Jam Filled Toronto in August 2016.

Plot

While at Vicarstown Station, Thomas the Tank Engine is introduced to Gordon's brother, The Flying Scotsman, who is taking part in The Great Railway Show on the Mainland and encourages Thomas to try and take part as well. Although every engine on Sodor wants to take part, Sir Topham Hatt has not made up his mind yet, and Thomas fears he won't be picked to go to the competition.

At Brendam Docks, Thomas has a run-in with several of the competitors for The Great Railway Show when their rail ferry docks there by mistake, and as a result, one of them is left behind. Ashima, a beautifully-painted tank engine from India accidentally bumps Thomas in her hurry to try and make the ferry, nearly pushing him over the edge into the water. He quickly retreats from the docks.

Ashima is lost and the other engines are too busy to help her find her way. Meanwhile, at the Dieselworks, Diesel devises a trick that involves disguising Den, Dart, and Paxton as trucks, so as to trick Sir Topham Hatt into entering him into the competition instead of Henry. Ashima suggests to Thomas that he partake in the Shunting competition.

At Knapford Junction, Diesel's trick goes awry when Thomas tries to practice shunting with them. His buffer beam gets damaged in the crash, and his repairs mean he will not be able to go to the competition. Sir Topham Hatt reveals he was planning to enter Thomas into the shunting challenge the whole time, but because of his repairs, Percy will take his place. However, Thomas rushes to the mainland to deliver Gordon’s safety value when the value has not been properly installed while Gordon was being streamlined, despite not being fully repaired.

At The Great Railway Show, due to not waiting to have his safety valve installed, Gordon's boiler explodes and he loses the race after refusing to listen to Thomas about installing his safety valve. With Percy's insistence, Thomas takes his place in the shunting competition, but sacrifices his win to Ashima in order to save her from crashing into a derailed flatbed. However, the judges decide to award Thomas the win alongside Ashima for good sportsmanship. Sir Topham Hatt and the other Sodor engines are very proud of Thomas.

With The Great Railway Show over, everyone is helping Thomas to try and find Ashima so that he can say goodbye when Sir Topham signals for his engines to return to Sodor. Extremely forlorn, Thomas thinks he has missed his chance until he hears her singing as she fills up with coal. Elated, he invites Ashima to come back to Sodor with him, allowing them to spend some more time together before catching her rail ferry back to India from there.

During the credits, the Diesels look for Diesel at Brendam Docks. Diesel, stuck in a crate, calls for help as he sails away on a ship leaving Sodor.

Songs

• "Will You Won't You" – Full company
• "Streamlining" – Thomas, Annie and Clarabel
• "I'm Full of Surprises" – Diesel
• "You Can Only Be You" – Thomas and Ashima
• "The Shooting Star is Coming Through" – Gordon
• "Be Who You Are, and Go Far" – Thomas, Ashima, Philip, Emily, Gordon, Henry, James, Percy
• "He's Full of Surprises" – Ian McCue, Oliver Davis, Andrew Brenner and David Stoten

Voice cast

Actor/Actress	Region	Role(s)	Uncredited
Mark Moraghan	UK/US	The Narrator	Yes
John Hasler		Rheneas	US only
	UK	Thomas	Yes
Joseph May	US
Nigel Pilkington	UK	Percy
Christopher Ragland	US speaking voice UK singing voice		UK only
Jules de Jongh		Emily
Teresa Gallagher	UK		Yes
	UK/US	Belle, Gina, Frieda, Daisy, Marion, Annie and Clarabel
Keith Wickham	UK	[Edward, Henry, Gordon and James
	UK/US	Salty, Den, Norman, Stafford, Skarloey, Sir Handel, Arlesdale Bert, Sir Topham Hatt and some workmen
Rob Rackstraw		Axel, Raul, Étienne, Flynn and the Great Railway Show Announcer
	US	James and Stanley
Kerry Shale		Henry, Gordon and Kevin
	UK/US	Diesel and Scruff
David Bedella		Victor and Carlos
Matt Wilkinson	UK	Spencer, Stanley, Cranky, Kevin and the Dock Manager
William Hope	US	Edward and the Dock Manager
Glenn Wrage		Spencer and Cranky
David Menkin		Porter
Steven Kynman	UK
	UK/US	Duck, Charlie, Dart, Paxton and Peter Sam
Jonathan Broadbent		Bill and Ben	Yes
Bob Golding		Stephen, Sidney and Ivan	No
Jonathan Forbes		Connor
Rebecca O'Mara		Caitlin
Joe Mills		Oliver, Donald and Douglas
Tim Whitnall		Timothy and Mike
Robert Wilfort		Samson and a Great Railway Show Judge
Tom Stourton		Rex	Yes
Rasmus Hardiker		Philip	No
Tina Desai		Ashima
Rufus Jones		The Flying Scotsman
John Schwab		Vinnie

Reception

Box office

The film was originally theatrically released on 20 May 2016, in the United Kingdom. The film ranked tenth in its opening weekend, grossing $214,133 from 292 theaters with an average of $733 per theater. The film decreased 77.1% and fell to 19th in its sophomore weekend, grossing $48,944 from 205 theaters with an average of $238 per theater. The film ranked in 18th, 26th, and 27th place in its third, fourth, and fifth weekends.[8]

The film was re-released in China on 22 September 2017 and in South Korea on 30 November 2017. The film had a strong debut in China, ranking fifth in its first weekend and grossing $1.6 million. In its sophomore weekend, the film dropped 86.5% to 13th place, grossing $227,528. The film was less successful in South Korea, ranking 12th in its first weekend with $68,820 from 249 theaters, with an average of $276 per theater.[8]

Critical response

Renee Schonfeld of Common Sense Media awarded the film 3 out of 5 stars, writing, "Entertaining train tale with mild peril, positive messages".[9]

References

External links

• Thomas & Friends: The Great Race at IMDb
• Trailer
• Excerpt

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