Thomas & Friends: Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure

Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure is a 2015 CGI-animated children's epic fantasy adventure action musical film and the 9th feature-length special of Thomas & Friends.^[2]

The film stars the voices of Joseph May and John Hasler as the voice of Thomas in the US and UK dubs respectively. It stars the voices of Olivia Colman, Keith Wickham, Tim Whitnall, Rob Rackstraw, William Hope, Kerry Shale, Christopher Ragland, Glenn Wrage, Joe Mills, Teresa Gallagher, Jules de Jongh, Steven Kynman and Tom Stourton.

Eddie Redmayne, Sir John Hurt, Jamie Campbell Bower and Nathan Clarke join the voice cast, while Rex, Bert and Mike, the Arlesdale Railway Engines, also the central characters of the Reverend Wilbert Awdry's book, 'Small Railway Engines', made their first appearance in the TV series in this production, having only appeared in the Railway Series so far, until now. It also features a special cameo appearance from Wilbert Awdry himself in CGI.

When the film received a theatrical release in the UK during July 2015.^[1] It was met with mostly positive reviews from critics who praised the direction and solid plot though critical of the film's somewhat dark undertone.

Plot

In 2015, One day at Knapford Station, Thomas causes Gordon's express to fly off the tracks by accident while trying to disprove Gordon about "silly" tank engines, then Topham sends Thomas to the construction yard as punishment. At the site, the ground beneath the tracks begin to crumble and some engineers deem it unsafe. Meanwhile, at Arlesburgh Junction, the small engines burst into song to cheer Thomas up, but at the yard, he eagerly rolls over the track as it gives way for a large gap, his flatbeds pulling him into getting badly scratched. He sees, however, an old abandoned pirate ship inside and, when lifted out, he tries to tell Sir Topham Hatt about it, while an elderly man watches Thomas with his telescope.

The next night, Thomas suddendly wakes from and follows a sailboat flowing down the line. Just outside the sinkhole, Thomas accidentally makes himself be heard, and sailor John and sailboat Skiff introduce themselves. Thomas soon agrees to help find the treasure and lowers sailor John into the cavern, where the map is found. Late next morning, after badly chosen coal, sparks from Ryan's funnel light his dynamite, which him and some other engines pass around before Thomas shunts the trucks into the cavern, right before it explodes. Thomas is congratulated by others, but Sir Topham Hatt is furious, due to the scenario looking like Thomas was chasing Ryan with dynamite on purpose. Thomas tries to explain what actually happened, but Sir Tophan Hatt, fed up with Thomas refusing to own up to his mistakes and annoyed with him causing so much confusion and delay, sends Thomas to his shed for the rest of the afternoon in disgrace. That afternoon the diggers tried to dig out, but without the dynamite, they went to get some sleep, but while Marion finds a chest within the cliffside.

That night, Thomas agrees to help them again to find the treasure, but soon gets accused of finding it first. An upset Thomas bumps into Marion, who drops the chest onto him, revealing the treasure. Passing through Knapford, Thomas overhears Topham on the telephone, saying the treasure will be in his office overnight. That night, Thomas soon sleeps in wait just outside the station, when John blows up the safe and takes the treasure. The explosion wakes Thomas up, who begins pursuing him. To keep up with the two, Thomas has to race through a red signal and towards a hill, where he finds the pirate ship, set rolling down ahead.

As the morning sun rises, John tries multiple ways to stop Thomas, but then Skiff encourages Thomas to derail him. Thomas accidentally sends him down a wrong line, but soon notices that his line crosses over Skiff's - which runs into the sea. Thomas slips into it and rests atop of Skiff's chassis, while John sails away, despite Skiff asking him to throw off the heavy treasure, which an huge wave later sinks to the bottom of the sea. Later that morning, the police turns up and arrests John. Upon seeing Sir Topham Hatt, Thomas, worried that he still might be cross, especially after his previous mishaps, tries to apologize, but Sir Topham Hatt is proud of his heroism, which Ryan told him all about. At last, the construction is complete. A fully-repaired Thomas leads the other engines down the new branch line, meeting up with Skiff again, who is now carrying out railboat tours to visitors, while the Divers recover the treasure.

Cast

Reception

Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure currently holds an 80% "fresh" approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 5 reviews.^[3]

References

External links

• Thomas & Friends: Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure on IMDb

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