Thomas & Friends: Calling All Engines!

Train warfare
This is one of our most played DVDs, mainly because there are so many of my son’s favorite characters crammed into the story. Thomas fans will be able to identify many of the trains, both steam and diesel, including Thomas, Lady, Diesel 10, Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy, Toby, Harvey, Mavis, Diesel, Iron ‘Arry and Iron Bert, and more.

There are five catchy songs, including “Busy” which will have you humming all day, and for shorter attention spans there are short breaks in the action for cartoon challenges.

In this story, there is to be a new airport built on Sodor, which will bring in lots of visitors to the Island. Unfortunately, this also brings the Steam Engines into close contact with the Diesels, and before long the island is in chaos as train warfare breaks out. To compound matters, a storm hits the island, further delaying the work schedule.

With the vacation season plans headed for disaster, Thomas rallies the...

HIT Entertainment Fall Short Again
My two-and-a-half year old and I have watched Calling All Engines approximately a dozen times since we purchased it about a month ago. We are both huge Thomas fans and so I write this review with mixed emotions. I would like to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this DVD, but alas, even my precocious wee one, likes this video less than its predecessor, Thomas and the Magic Railroad (2000)

The storyline of Calling All Engines is entertaining, the scenery, as in all episodes of Thomas and Friends, is outstanding, and the songs are entertaining. The DVD also contains bonus features including an interactive game, a read-along story, Diesel 10 Means Trouble, character gallery (the weakest of the bonus features), deleted scenes, and a music video. Although diehard Thomas and Friends fans will enjoy this video, there are problems with the film that make this Calling All Engines substandard.

Although HIT Entertainment has great success with its television programming, they...

PREVIEW FIRST -- Bad lessons taught
We were so excited to get this DVD because my 2 year old grandson loves his little rubber Thomas the Train engine. We started to view the first segment and were disappointed in the quality of the animation first of all, but then came the question to the viewer (most likely impressionable children) "Can you think of a way that Thomas can trick the diesel engines because he doesn't like them?" WOW! and it gets worse from there. Then further in the movie we expected that there would be some kind of reprimand or lesson about how bad it was for Thomas to do such a thing, but guess what -- that never occurred. We promptly removed the DVD from the player and threw it away. It would have been nice to know that this DVD contained questionable content inappropriate for young children. WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY.
Thomas & Friends: Calling All Engines!

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