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I think you just can't go wrong with Thomas & Friends. The programs always contain positive messages, they are wholesome in nature and yet still exciting enough for children to enjoy. There are always great lessons in that the characters make the same types of mistakes that everyone is prone to make. We see the consequences from being in a hurry or just plain fooling around, becoming jealous of others or lying to cover up mistakes.
These episodes feature the new CG animation, which means better facial expressions for the trains and townspeople. As always, the same great life lessons of discovery, friendship and cooperation are most certainly included.
In Thomas and the Billboard, Thomas becomes upset when he is inadvertently excluded from a photo taken of all the trains. Although it was a genuine mistake by the photographer, Thomas heatedly blames another train, which causes a whole new set of problems.
Steady Eddie refers to Edward, one of the older and most reliable trains. Because of his reputation, Steady Eddie is given the special job of delivering valuable cargo. He feels proud of his status and takes an alternate route where more people can admire him, instead of taking the directed path and gets himself into hot water.
Rosie's Carnival Special: Rosie is specially requested by Sir Topham Hatt to be one of two trains to transport the Carnival Special. Rosie is greedy and wants to do it alone, which causes an accident. She realizes that working together as a team can be very rewarding.
These are three of the six episodes on the disc. Also included are Mountain Marvel, Henry Gets it Wrong and Don't Go Back. Each one has its own valuable lesson which kids will benefit from, and plenty of action in the train yard they will enjoy.
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This DVD is a new series where Thomas and every characters are animated. It's pretty neat to see them animated and move more than just their eyes and their mouth expressions. PBS started playing these episodes and I'm glad they are finally out on DVD for when we travel. My 4 year old LOVES Thomas and I have to admit I was pretty excited when these episodes came out on tv too.Best Deals for Thomas & Friends: High Speed Adventures (2009)
I bought this movie for my 3 year old son. At first he was not happy about "talking thomas" and wanted to watch an old Thomas movie. The next day he asked to watch "talking thomas" and enjoys watching it every time now.I am also a preschool teacher, and for a special treat on Fridays we watch a movie. I brought in this movie to watch, every single boy I have LOVED it and always ask me if we can watch "Talking Thomas" for movie day.
Honest reviews on Thomas & Friends: High Speed Adventures (2009)
Normally I *HATE* CGI but the Thomas animators have done a reasonably good job with the technique. Eyes aren't deadened (they move around and blink), faces don't look overly plastic, and nobody wobbles around like a car dash head bobber (as they do on the CGI-"enhanced" Bob the Builder). The animators have been wisely conservative in keeping the look & feel similar to the older episodes, and minimizing the flashy stuff. Even with the famously grey faces and wooden dialogue, I didn't find the new characterizations any creepier/more uncanny valley than the old ones. Which is creepier, an anthropomorphic engine that moves its mouth when it speaks, or one that keeps the same frozen expression while you're looking at it but MOVES as soon as you look away? (::shudder::) All in all, a good job.On the other hand, I find the story-telling to be less well-executed. Most stories are trite, repetitive, and predictable (even for Thomas!). Realistic railway details are de-emphasized while engines & their personalities are overly emphasized. I could do with a bit more respect for the Rev. Audry's original vision, and stories that made more sense (are there no tarps on Sodor???? every load is left uncovered and ready for disaster!).
Incidentally, my son wasn't afraid of the moving faces -in fact he LOVED them. Possibly because he's 3 years old, and developmentally normal? I feel for the parents whose kids didn't like the change, but it looks like they are in the minority. Given that there are more Thomas episodes than there are days in the year -25+ years' worth of material, most of it with old skool modeling -I think the minority can cope. (Not to mention there are tons of Railway Series books to read, and YouTube for DIYers with Tomy models and video cameras!)
Fixing what isn't broken? Well, I'm not sure about that. Besides the points I already made, look at this from a business perspective. Having some insider knowledge of this industry, using actual models is far more expensive than CGI, and even for a franchise as obviously popular as Thomas, the model-making must have been a drain on resources. HIT Entertainment can now make more episodes more quickly for us insatiable Thomas fans, and employ more people to boot.
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