Thomas is back on his best form in hour-long special Tale of the Brave!
A quick summary of the movie: Thomas sees some giant footprints at the Sodor China Clay Pits and Percy jumps to the conclusion that there must be a monster roaming about on Sodor - much to the amusement of the other engines. James tricks Percy by making a monster out of scrap metal and Percy's best friend Thomas doesn't believe that Percy has really seen a monster. This causes Percy to fall out with Thomas and befriend a new visiting locomotive called Gator. Wise old Gator teaches Percy to be brave and confront his fears which Percy does as the movie reaches its climatic conclusion.
This movie introduces four new characters: Timothy and Reg (both voiced by Tim Whitnall), Marion (voiced by Olivia Colman) and Gator (voiced by Clive Mantle). Reg is a crane who works at the scrap yard. He only has one scene and is a rather pointless inclusion, but still plays a vital role to the plot. Marion is a very chatty and enthusiastic steam shovel. She is the best new character in this movie in my opinion and is sure to make children and adults alike laugh. Timothy is a small tank engine who works with Bill and Ben at the Clay Pits and Gator is an engine with a sloping boiler which makes him look like an alligator (hence his name).
This DVD also contains some amazing and entertaining bonus features. There are some Guess Who? puzzles and Mr. Perkins the engine driver reads the Railway Series story "Thomas and the Breakdown Train". Mr. Perkins also teaches us about The Sodor Steamworks where all the engines are repaired. There are also two sing-along songs. "Let's Be Brave" is rather upbeat and fun and "Monsters Everywhere" is rather spooky, but not too spooky that it will scare children. The music in the movie is excellent as always. One of the only disappointing things about this DVD is that one song which is suitably called "Tale of the Brave" is used during the movie, but is not included as a sing-along bonus feature. Presumably because it's rather slow and quite sad, but it's still excellent. Anyway, that's a rather minor nitpick.
To summarise, I will guarantee that this special will entertain children and parents alike. It's full of suspense, friendship, excitement and action. Perhaps, best of all, is the moral of the story which teaches children that things are never as scary as they first seem. Also, it teaches children that bravery can come in many different forms; you even have to be brave to say "goodbye" to a close friend.
I'd give this five-out-of-five. If Amazon would allow it, I'd easily give it more. Fantastic film.