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

Thomas & Friends: Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure
Thomas & Friends: Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure
Directed by	David Stoten
Screenplay by	Andrew Brenner
Produced by	Ian McCue; Jennifer Hill;
Starring	John Hasler; Joseph May; John Hurt; Jamie Campbell Bower; Eddie Redmayne; Keith Wickham; Olivia Colman; William Hope; Kerry Shale; Rob Rackstraw;
Narrated by	Mark Moraghan
Edited by	Matthew Ahrens
Music by	Robert Hartshorne; Peter Hartshorne;
Production; company	HIT Entertainment
Distributed by	HIT Entertainment
Release date	17 July 2015 (United Kingdom);
Running time	60 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Box office	$3.4 million

Thomas & Friends: Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure is a 2015 British animated fantasy adventure film and the ninth feature-length special in the Thomas & Friends television series.^[3] The film is produced by HIT Entertainment with animation production by Arc Productions. The film centres on Thomas unwillingly getting caught in a conspiracy to steal recently discovered pirate treasure as he tries to regain his position as Sir Topham Hatt's number one engine following an accident that caused him to lose his favourite job. The film stars John Hasler and Joseph May as the voice of Thomas, alongside special guest stars Sir John Hurt as Sailor John, the film's main antagonist and Eddie Redmayne as the purple tank engine Ryan. It also stars Jamie Campbell Bower as Skiff the sailboat, who would later reprise his role in the series.

The film received a limited theatrical release in the United Kingdom in July 2015.^[1] It was met with generally positive reviews from critics.

Plot

Thomas the Tank Engine wins a race against Bertie the Bus, who mentions that a new branch line is being built. This concerns Annie and Clarabel, who fear Thomas's branch line may be closed down. The next morning, Thomas plays a prank on Gordon the Big Engine which causes a derailment. As punishment for his misbehaviour, Sir Topham Hatt reassigns Thomas to assist in construction of the new branch line, while new tank engine Ryan is given Thomas's job while he’s away.

At the construction site, part of the ground subsides beneath the new track. Thomas misses the caution signs and falls into a cavern where he finds a pirate ship. He tries to tell Sir Topham Hatt about the ship, but Hatt thinks Thomas is making excuses. Rocky the crane is instead credited with discovering the ship, which is put on display at Arlesburgh Harbour.

Thomas meets Sailor John and his boat Skiff, the latter of whom has been fitted with wheels that allow him to travel on rails. John says he is looking for treasure but is hesitant to give Thomas details. The next day, Thomas neglects to tell Ryan about a faulty coal hopper, which leads to Ryan's wagons full of dynamite igniting. Thomas saves Ryan and disposes of the dynamite, but Hatt is furious with him, thinking that he was chasing Ryan with the dynamite. Hatt punishes Thomas by confining him to his shed for the rest of the afternoon.

Marion the steam shovel finds a treasure chest full of gold and jewellery, which Hatt keeps in his office overnight intending to donate it to a museum. Thomas meets a furious John, who demands the treasure be handed over. Thomas says Hatt has the treasure and refuses to help John take it. That night, John breaks into Hatt's office and steals the treasure, using Skiff and the pirate ship as his getaway. Thomas chases them through a junction where the minimum-gauge engines slow the ship by derailing their open wagons. A loose rope is caught on Ryan, who derails the flatbed carrying the ship, leaving John with only Skiff and the treasure.

At Arlesburgh Harbour, Thomas tries derailing Skiff to no avail. At the rail-boat launch ramp, John rows Skiff out to sea, and Thomas ends up partially submerged. Skiff knocks John and the treasure overboard. The treasure sinks to the bottom of the harbour, and John is arrested by the police. Thomas is rescued and attempts to apologise to Hatt, fearing he will be furious with him. Instead, Hatt is proud of Thomas as Ryan had explained everything to him, and Hatt assures Thomas that he will always be his "number one engine".

When the branch line is completed, Sir Topham Hatt gives a fully-repaired Thomas his old branch line job back, and lets him cut the ribbon to the new branch line, which he entrusts to Daisy the Diesel Railcar. The treasure is recovered and, now free of Sailor John, Skiff gives rail-boat tours of Arlesburgh Harbour.

Voice cast

Keith Wickham as Salty, Bert, Sir Topham Hatt, Bertie, and additional roles
Eddie Redmayne as Ryan^[4]
Jamie Campbell Bower as Skiff
John Hurt as Sailor John
Steven Kynman as Duck
Joe Mills as Donald, Douglas, Oliver, and Toad
Olivia Colman as Marion
Tim Whitnall as Mike and Oliver the Excavator
Teresa Gallagher as Daisy, Annie, Clarabel, and some children
Tom Stourton as Rex
Jonathan Broadbent as Bill and Ben
Nathan Clarke as Alfie
David Bedella as Victor

United Kingdom

John Hasler as Thomas
Keith Wickham as Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, and Percy
Rob Rackstraw as Toby
Teresa Gallagher as Emily
Matt Wilkinson as Cranky, and Kevin
Steven Kynman as Jack

United States

Joseph May as Thomas
William Hope as Edward and Toby
Kerry Shale as Henry, Gordon, and Kevin
Rob Rackstraw as James
Christopher Ragland as Percy
Jules de Jongh as Emily
Glenn Wrage as Cranky
David Menkin as Jack

Reception

Box office

The film grossed £889,927 in the UK, US$72,928 in Hong Kong and US$2,510,062 in China for a total of $3,472,917 worldwide.^[2]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 80% of 5 critics' reviews are positive.^[5] Andrew Pulver of The Guardian gave the film a 3/5 stating, "Like Tale of the Brave, Lost Treasure jams locomotive action together with a pop motif supposedly beloved of kids: Brave had dinosaurs, Treasure has pirates."^[6] Renee Schonfeld of Common Sense Media gave it two out of five stars, writing that it has "more suspense, peril, and potential scares than usual".^[7]