ThomasNATION Movie Reviews - Race for the Sodor Cup
March 26, 2022
Man, it feels so weird having a new special after all this time.Yeah, this was the first Thomas special since Big World! Big Adventures! three years ago. Sure, you had the half-hour specials like The Royal Engine and Digs and Discoveries, but as for those that lasted an hour (or more), those just kinda stopped after the aforementioned Big World! Big Adventures!. On the other hand, this comes to us from All Engines Go, and if you know me, you know I'm not the biggest fan of this, in spite of a couple of decent episodes. But with that, how is the reintroduction to the Thomas specials? Let's begin.
There's a big international race going on and Thomas wants to join, but he isn't the right type of engine that's able to take part. However, some unforeseen circumstances lead to Thomas joining the race.
Sound familiar? Yeah, this plot is almost the exact same as The Great Race. To its credit, it tries some things to differentiate itself from the 2016 film, but overall, it's pretty much the same plot that was done before. The only difference is, where The Great Race had a ton of entertainment value, Race for the Sodor Cup can feel really boring at times. A lot of scenes just feel like meandering, where the engines just kinda sitting around talking about the race, and those scenes go on at a snail's pace. The race itself doesn't do it any favors, since not only is it insanely predictable and surprisingly slow-paced (especially for a show like All Engines Go), but also pretty tensionless. Here's what I mean: the big threat of the movie is the chance of Kana and Thomas coming off the tracks during the race. Yeah, knowing All Engines Go...
...I think all those established stakes have just been thrown out the window, especially since there's a scene in which they literally jump off the tracks to catch up with Bulstrode. Does that not apply in the 'first timers always derail' rule? And as per the course with All Engines Go, some moments can get really dumb. Take for instance the scene in the mines. Thomas says that he and Kana need to rely on their other senses to race after Kana busts her headlight. Good idea, but while Kana's headlight is broken...Thomas' isn't. What's stopping him from just turning his on? The one thing I will praise here is that some of the jokes can be legitimately funny, particularly with Diesel following Farona and Frederico around. But overall, with how predictable and low-octane the story is, it doesn't leave a good enough reason to get the viewer invested.
If there is one great aspect of the special, it's the new characters. First, you have Farona and Frederico, the villains of the feature who make it their mission to win at all cost. While their motivations aren't that great, they get some of the more entertaining interactions with the other characters, including themselves.
Then you have Riff and Jiff, easily the funniest characters in the film with how they don't care about racing, they just like being together. But then you have the characters reintroduced to the show, like Hiro, who is the same wise old man he was in the original show, Kenji, who's more of a father figure to Kana, and Harold, who-
OH MY GOD LOOK HOW THEY MASSACRED MY BOY
They don't add too much to the story, aside from Kenji whose derailment sets up the idea of Thomas teaming up with Kana. The characters here are pretty entertaining, making the viewing experience at least kinda worth it for them.
As for the songs, I'll admit that they're somewhat okay. There is only one song here I'd call legit bad, and that's When I Go Fast. It's not awful, but the lyrics are lazy and the rhythm doesn't flow super great. Other than that, the Training Song (or When You Work as a Team) is a decent song with a nice beat, and Look, It's Us is a nice finishing number. The only real problem with all of them is that while they are good (except When I Go Fast), they're pretty forgettable and don't have the 'wow' factor the original show had. I know that comparison's unfair, but the musical numbers from the original really gave it their all, making a spectacle out of every scene. Here, you could cut the songs out of the special and miss nothing. But still, they are at least pretty decent.
Overall, Race for the Sodor Cup is a bit of a mess. On one hand, the characters are really funny and the songs are okay. On the other, the writing is so bad that it weighs it down immensely to the point where it just feels like a watered-down version of The Great Race. I guess if you're curious, you can give it a watch, but all I gotta ask here is what's the point of me watching this when I can just watch The Great Race instead? Yeah, that's not a great special either, but it at least has some form of substance, like with its songs and the stuff involving Gordon and the Flying Scotsman. This is just a cheap, boring and all-around lazy attempt to redo what's been done better before, and as such, it gets a 1.5/5.
Final Score: 1.5/5
About the Author: JF the LOLZOR
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