The Little Engine That Could (2011) [HD]

A Nice Book into a Scary Movie...
This is my 3.5 year old's favorite book in the whole world. He has even memorized portions of it. When I saw there was a new movie coming out, I grabbed it as soon as I could. He was ecstatic. At first he was curious about the story and the personified engines and water-tower. It was all going well until the scary "bad dream" engine came along. Before I knew it, my son was completely in tears and was so afraid of what was going to happen to the sweet little blue engine and the little boy. I get the fact that if you're going to create a full-length movie from a fairly brief children's story that it has to have some plot to it. My problem with this movie is that this book is favored by YOUNG children who are oftentimes easily scared and while most of this movie is fairly sweet and innocent, just that one part with the big, scary, mean train was enough to poison my son's whole experience. If you have an older child who likes trains or a younger child who is not quite so...

Enjoyable for young and old - love the voices!
My 2.5 yr old son who is addicted to trains loves this movie. There is a scary bad guy that I think is bothering him, but overall it's a good movie for kids that are into trains. My favorite character is the caboose voiced by the guy from "Rules of Engagement". He's hilarious!! Jamie Lee Curtis was a good fit for the clown and Whoopi is good as the tower too. I don't know the younger voices, but it appears they are all rather famous too. Would have been better if some of the trains has names instead of just being called "Freight Train" etc. Like Rusty had a name...but oh well. Nice to see some of the proceeds go to a good cause. And of course, it's a great message for kids. Gotta wonder about the "mushroom forest" though, what was going on when the writers put that in hmmm?? Anyway, overall a good family flick!!

My son is still asking to watch this months after he first saw it
LIKES

- Wonderful animation, great textures
- Beautiful colorful landscapes
- A kinetic and interesting dream world
- A sweet and slightly cheesy children's story for the first 3/4 of the movie
- Interesting and exciting action sequences
- Good vs bad, good wins
- Bully vs victim, victim fights back (verbally) and wins
- Interesting characters and good voice acting

DISLIKES

- They overdid it when making the nightmare train. He's freaky and scary. My 3 year old watches the movie and at first was a little anxious but seems fine now. He has a creepy scary appearance, voice, and actions.

I'd love it if the bad guy was bad rather than creepy and evil, but I can't really say it's a problem because my son loves this movie.

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