DVD Review Thomas and Friends: Engine Friends

Thomas the Tank Engine and his engine friends, who live on the Island of Sodor and all strive to be Really Useful Engines, are some of the most charming and beloved characters in children’s literature and animation. In America, they are familiar to children and their parents from the hit series Shining Time Station.

With Thomas and Friends: Engine Friends, children and the adults who love them can discover the greatest stories from the classic series of friendship, courage, and loyalty on two discs. Altogether, the collection provides hours of viewing fun.

With no use of fancy effects or complicated animation techniques, the stories rely on the plots and the narration as much as the action to hold children’s attention. Some of the narration is done by Ringo Starr, some by George Carlin, others by Alex Baldwin and Michael Brandon. All of them prove to be skilled storytellers.

Here, young viewers will learn how the Steam Team first was formed, how Thomas and Percy became best friends, and will get to know Emily, Whiff, Bert, Trevor, Toby, Edward, and all the other members of the team.

Along the way, the engines learn to deal with jealousy, selfishness, pride, and other emotions and to realize that everything is better with your friends. The lessons here are simple but important and stress the value of cooperating and working together but also of having fun.

Included on the disc are four never-before-seen episodes and a number of bonus features: Sir Topham Hatt’s scrapbook, a picture game, picture puzzle, memory and spot the difference games.

Overall, Thomas and Friends: Engine Friends provides hours of wholesome and engrossing viewing fun for little ones with enough episodes to choose from to keep adults from having to watch the same ones over and over again, making it a great purchase for any family with small children.