THESE ARE SOLEY MY OPINIONS AND THEY DO NOT REFLECT FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE
NWR EDITORIAL:
THE WWII MOVIE
Back in 2009, I believe, HIT Entertainment had announced that they will make a movie division in L.A under the name 'HIT Movies' and had announced that there'll be films of their brand which includes Bob the Builder, Angelina Ballerina and Thomas & Friends. HIT had announced that the film was to have a late 2010 release in time for the 65th anniversary, but was pushed aside for 2011/2012 release.
In mid-2011, more info was released about the film's promotion and a brief plot from Shane Acker, director of '9', telling us that the film is all about a pre-teen boy introducing to the world of Sodor, that his father had forgotten about after they drifted apart, the relationship. In 2013, it was 'announced' that the film was 'cancelled' due to low enthusiasm, however those comments were refuted by the person behind Shance Acker, rather pathetically by using someone else's name which is highly illegal as it's identity theft.
In my opinion, there are negative sides on the film, the plot seems to be more focused on the father and son rather then Thomas or the other characters, making into a rehash plot of 'Magic Railroad' (Shining Time Station: The Movie). Thomas & the Magic Railroad was terrible because of the amount of focus on the humans rather then the characters. Plus it's a whole 'Steam vs. Diesel' cliché plot as well (WWII movie), possibly to make the movie more interesting despite that it's been way overused for years and highly inaccurate as diesel weren't built until 1947, which was two years after the second world war.
Plus there's Josh Klausner, who had written not many great films, which includes the last two Shrek animated films. I doubt that he knows about Thomas the Tank Engine, unlike the fans and the new production team behind the series. There are other writers too such as Chris Viscardi and Will McRob, who wrote the first bad, but tried, first Alvin and the Chipmunks movie, which has unfortunately suffered through the 'what's hot' phase, singing songs that kids know today, which they've done for so many years (the Chipmunks franchise) but with poor characterisation and dull storyline, plus many cliche's and are followed with poor sequels with a fourth coming next year. Plus they wrote 'The Tale of Desperaux' and although it's been praised by its animation, critics have said that the plot seems scrambled and unoriginal. I haven't seen the movie myself though so I won't go all judgemental. I understand that there are fans waiting to see this movie and they rightly so can keep hope. But me, I gave up on the entire project. The plot looks like a ridiculous rehash, the whole father and son relationship could be entire cliche to deal with and, like I said before, the plot would be more focused on the father and son then Thomas himself. When it comes to movies about Thomas I rather have the DVD specials be the theatrical releases, the specials focus more on the engines. The positive outcome for me of the WWII film so far is the E2 locomotive Thomas that Nitrogen studios had made for the teaser poster above, it looks amazing! If they ever decide to create a Thomas movie, with the focus on him and the other characters, they should transform the characters as there basis. All I know, like many other fans, about the movie from official sources is that there's no conformation at this point in time and that was written last year when 'news' broke out about the film's 'cancellation'.
