Movie Reviews Revisited P.II - The Adventure Begins (2015)

I kept the review for May 12th because it's just right. This special was made with the 70th anniversary in mind back in 2015 and of course five years had passed and we are now here celebrating the 75th anniversary. Despite no sequal for this movie, I'm just very happy that something like this had happened. But is it as good as it was when it was released back in 2015? Let's find out. But first: 

THESE ARE SOLEY MY OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FANBASE

THE ADVENTURE BEGINS (2015)

Originally Written by

The Rev.W.Awdry

Adapted by

Andrew Brenner

Directed by

Don Spencer

Produced by

Ian McCue (HIT)

Jennifer Hill (Arc)

Release Date

3/03/15 - USA

27/07/15 - UK

4/11/15 - AUS

Distributor

HIT Entertainment

MY VIEWS

It's hard to believe that this, I'm not overstating it here, masterpiece is now five years old and after rewatching it for this review, it still makes me amazed that the Thomas production team had nailed this, and I do say this rarely, perfectly! One thing I'm glad to see from this special was that while it was based on the works of the Rev.W.Awdry it tries to be its ownself by adding its own twists and turns to not make it as a replica of what we got before. I remember reading on twitter from a fan who had spoken to Sam Wilkinson at a Star Tugs Trust event that originally the special was a last minute idea and that it was going to be a combination of Awdry's and Allcroft's dialouge and I'm glad it wasn't because I had the first series already. To me having something that stands out is more important than trying to be something that was.

 I love the Thomas and Edward dynamic in this special. Edward feels like the teacher to Thomas and it was done well and this special also shows how much Edward works as a secondary character instead of trying to give him a lead role in an episode that would just be the same story over and over again. Edward was giving Thomas wise advice and confidence as well. It would be great to see him helping out other characters too. The two characters were brilliant and I remember after watching this for the first it gave me so much love for Edward. I also like that Edward was scolded by the Fat Controller too, shows that while Edward is wise he can make some mistakes.

I like Thomas in this special. He retains his Awdry persona by being cheeky to the big engines but they've also added some naivety and child like traits within him as well. Gordon was also brilliant too, his character feels very Awdry like with his arrogance and boastfulness same can be said about the Fat Controller's father figure character, brilliant! I will also say while Henry wasn't excatly Awdry like in this special, I actually like him more here than what he was originally. Henry was actually begin scared of the rain was actually stated in the books and even in the picture he looked sad and worried too. But of course Henry was arrogant and grumpy about the rain spoiling his green paint but I think his scaredy attitude here just makes him stand out more and even during the year this was released, 2015, the writers I think got his scaredy persona right like with him being overly worried about chicken pox or an abominable snowman because those are things he'd never encountered before as an engine. Sure that isn't the Henry we all know from the classic series or the books but over the years I did see more of Gordon and James in Henry's original persona and I still stand by that.

And yeah, he wasn't in his old shape too but here's the thing. What would they use for his old shape after the movie? Ever since the movie's debut we never saw any episode or movie regarding any flashback. We now have the fantasy sequences in BWBA but they would hardly be used for flashbacks, I mean sure there was that one from 'Chucklesome Trucks' but it still does kind of come off as rare and I think the animators would still use Henry's new shape regardless of accuracy and pandering to older fans, because I also think its familarisation towards kids and parents of the general public. If Henry was given any toy with his old shape, that little bit of detail would probably be overlooked and wouldn't generate any sales. The last time we saw Henry in his old shape was back in 1984 and while some kids do have access to the classic series through streaming platforms and digital downloads it would only be for a short brief moment. 

The music recreated by Peter Hartshorne was a fantastic recreation of Mike O'Donnell & Junior Campbell's music. Sure there are some fans who would want to have the actual originals in this special, although that would be bad because to be honest the music that were created by them in the 1980's, while amazing and brilliant, do come off as rather dated with the modern animation, I mean if you watch any video from the CGI era that has there music on top to make it as a classic series episode, which doesn't make the episode anymore like what we had in the past, you can see why. The songs were great too of course. The camera angles and animation by Arc Productions was superb too. I especially like the scene with Thomas working hard in the yard and you have the day transitioning itself from day until night, brilliant! I had been reading SiF's Simon Martin's view on the movie and despite that I understand and respect his word on this film, I will disagree on him of this being a reboot. I had stated that term has becoming a dead meaning nowadays because some old show that have been revived just so it continue its story after so many years leaving it as a cliffhanger (e.g - 'Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie') people still call it a reboot. I mean after this movie we still have references to past episodes as little easter eggs. The term has more meaning when something is an actual reboot, although some of them do turn out to be inferior versions of the original. I remember listening to ChrisTheXelent's, creator of 'Steam Locos In Profile' on YouTube, podcast review of the movie once a few years ago and he was saying that some older fans have concern about the continuity of the show and the purpose of the model era. While I understand there fear, there's this I always see when it comes to 'The Adventure Begins'. Look at all of the countless adaptations of Charles Dickens 'A Christmas Carol'. There had been countless and countless of adaptations of the Christmas classic through every form of media from film, television, various other books to stage plays and radio dramas, do you think people might've had some concern about the 'true' version? While that book had no continuity compare to Thomas, I just see it as another interpretation of Awdry's books. As the years passed since this special was released, we still had classic series references being made, even some being made as flashback like Terence and the ice. The classic series is still in tact and nothing has been disrupted.

In the end, the special was brilliant, it had aged very well like fine and despite no sequel to it, it still amazing that we had something like this done and it's still fitting for the 75th and any anniversary year in future. While I would love to see a sequel, and given how the show now has two 20 minute specials, I think it can work with the Railway Series. If you are a parent and your child is starting to like Thomas, I highly recommend it. It's on Stan here in Australia for streaming, even on buy it or rent on YouTube and Google Play too, it's still availble on DVD and digital download too.

OVERALL RATING

10/10