ThomasNATION Movie Reviews - Big World! Big Adventures!
May 29, 2020
Hey all, JF here! Now that ThomasNATION has officially been revamped, it’s now time to get back into our habits of reviews of the latest, and previous, Thomas episodes and movies.
To begin, I’d like to address the current state of Thomas and Friends, and to be honest, it’s not looking too pretty. There’s a fair share of good episodes every now and again (like, it’s pretty obvious that the best writer nowadays is hands down Michael White), but most of the times, the episodes range from either meh, bad, or near unbearable. But we’re not going into those episodes just yet. Now, we turn our focus to what started the new era of Thomas: Big World! Big Adventures! This here’s a fascinating piece to talk about, considering it’s a highly controversial film for Thomas fans. Some like it, some don’t, but what do we think of it? Is it worth the watch, or is it truly the beginning of the end? Let’s begin.
First off, I’d like to note that the film’s concept is absolutely great. Essentially, the film is about Thomas going on a grand world tour, while meeting a slew of colorful characters and learning about the wonders of other cultures. That’s a really great idea, and it definitely warrants its 80 minute runtime. This is also the Thomas special that feels most like a feature length production, even if it doesn’t have that epic, cinematic tone that Lost Treasure does. This is also fuelled by its lack of narration, since its focus is put on the spectacle of Thomas’ travels. But unfortunately, in terms of the writing, this is where the positives end. The concept is fantastic, but the execution of it all is not all that great. The biggest problem here is that the story reuses a ton of the old Thomas and Friends clichĆ©s and barely does anything new with them, but none are done quite as bad as the “Thomas hates the new character” trope.
The way it’s used in this special doesn’t really give too much of a good reason for him to despise Nia. It’s not like The Great Race, where he dislikes Ashima because she nearly knocked him into the sea, or in Lost Treasure where Ryan is presented as bigger, stronger and overall better than Thomas. Here, Nia doesn’t give any reason for him to hate her, she’s just being nice to him. If anything, it makes Thomas seem more like a jerk for refusing Nia’s help. I’d go on about Nia, but I have more to say about her, we’ll get to it eventually. Another problem with the feature is that Thomas is pretty much out of character. In this film, he’s presented as kinda dumb and overly trusting of Ace. What I mean is he seems perfectly fine with going around the world with some guy he met five minutes ago, and just up and goes without thinking of the consequences this brings, or his branch line, or even his friends. He just flat out abandons his responsibilities because of a cool racecar he just met.
And one last problem the story contains is that the Sir Topham Hatt subplot goes absolutely nowhere. The film sets up that Sir Topham will eventually find Thomas on his world tour, but he never does. In fact, the subplot is never even resolved! Season 22 just starts off like it never happened. If there is one thing to praise within the writing, it would have to be its moral of teamwork, which is a nice message and is at least presented well. The writing here isn’t the worst that we’ve had in Thomas, it’s not even the worst in terms of movies. But it’s pretty telling that if they can’t write a world tour story too well, then maybe it’s not the best idea to base the rest of the series around it.
Now, let’s discuss the new characters. The film puts the focus on two new characters, Nia and Ace, and they’re pretty much 50/50. In regards to Ace, I really like him as a character. He’s slick and cool, but also a sleazy little bugger who can be a bit manipulative. That’s an excellent idea, and it delivers a message of not trusting who you just met without knowing who they truly are, and it’s a bonus that he does deliver some of the film’s most entertaining stunts. Another thing I like about him is his vocal delivery. For those of you unaware, they brought in Peter Andre for the voice of Ace, and he does a phenomenal job capturing the suavity and energetic nature. But I do have one problem with him: he works as a character, sure…but he doesn’t work as an antagonist. I like the idea of having him be the twist villain, but the way it’s written just makes his decision to trick Thomas into ditching Nia seem more like he’s just wanting Thomas to take a detour to the salt flats rather than pure manipulation. Heck, after this, he’s still presented as a nice guy, since he shows a bit of remorse when Thomas takes off to find Nia.
And speaking of Nia, she’s not all that great. Not only is she one-dimensionally nice, but she only really exists to jam the moral into the audience’s head, she can basically be considered a textbook Mary Sue (which is a character with no personality flaws to find, and that in itself being a flaw), having her be a part of the Steam Team is entirely unnecessary, and she doesn’t make up for it by being charming and fun like Rebecca is, and is it just me, or are her vocal deliveries in this film really bad? That’s nothing against Yvonne Grundy, she’s a great actress and to her credit, she does improve in Season 22. But here, she doesn’t sound at all invested in the role. But there is one thing to her credit: at the very least, her joining the Steam Team, while having no reason to happen, at least gives her room to develop as a character, and we can see her grow to overcome actual flaws like the inability to read numbers or having to deal with her friends living far away. Other than that, there isn’t much to talk about. The other new characters are mostly used for one second and don’t serve much purpose to the story other than pointing Thomas in the right direction. I’d also include Yong Bao in here, since he only really comes into the story once Thomas is in grave danger. To conclude, the key new characters are a double edged sword: one is really fun and entertaining, while the other is bland and uninteresting.
One interesting thing to note regarding the visuals is that the budget has had a bit of a decrease, so the animation kinda pales in comparison to the Arc specials of yore. But that’s not to say the animation is flat out terrible, it’s actually alright. One thing I like about it is how the backgrounds perfectly capture the essence of the areas around the world the characters visit, from the deserts of the Sahara, to the bright and vibrant Brazil, to the calm and peaceful China. Another element that’s well executed here is the action. This film contains a lot of high-speed racing scenes, and a lot of cool stunts from Ace, and they’re perfectly exhilarating and never too over-the-top…except for one.
The loop-de-loop in the canyon is way too silly for a down to earth series like Thomas and Friends. It’s absolutely preposterous and, just like the bridge jump in The Great Race, it’s never mentioned again after it happens. In fact, there are many problems with the animation. The textures aren’t all that great, the bouncing is way too over-the-top in areas, especially when some of the trucks start tilting off the rails, and the lighting just looks weird. The animation isn’t the best that it’s ever been, but it’s still pretty okay for what it is.
One thing I really do like about the special is the music. The songs are really good, despite not having the same amount of memorability that the music from The Great Race or Journey Beyond Sodor did. To start, there is one song that is actually pretty bad, and that’s We’re Friends. The composition is okay, but the lyrics are pretty generic and the song itself just hammers in the message of friendship. But other than that, the songs are a lot of fun. Where in the World is Thomas? is a great ensemble piece and the references are pretty clever, Wake Up and Enda Ulale are really catchy, plus it’s nice that it’s actually the trucks singing the number, and I have to give props for having certain lyrics in certain African languages, and Free and Easy is an insanely catchy number, as well as being well sung by Peter Andre.
If I had to name the best song of the special, it would probably be Sometimes You Make a Friend, which is really emotional as well as being well written. If there is one problem with it, however, it would be that the song is about Thomas missing Nia instead of his friends on Sodor, Percy especially. But to the series’ credit, they do touch upon that in the episode Wish You Were Here. In conclusion, the songs here are a lot of fun and make for one of the specials’ greatest highlights.
Overall, is Big World! Big Adventures! a good special? No. Is it the worst Thomas special to date? Not even close. It has some good animation and some really nice songs, but its poor writing really drags it down. To put it short, it's not flat out horrible, it's just average. If you're curious, go check it out, but set your expectations low. It’s a right shame that the specials had to finish on this low a note, but there’s no denying that this one should’ve been so much more, and that’s why I give this a 2/5.
Final Rating: 2/5
About the Author: JF the LOLZOR
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